Andy Whitfield Biography

Birth Name : Andy Whitfield
Popular Name : Andy Whitfield
Date of Birth : 17 July 1972
Place of Birth : Amlwch, Wales
Died : 11 September 2011, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia


Whitfield was born in Amlwch, Wales. He studied engineering at the University of Western Sydney and worked in Lidcombe as an engineer before moving to Sydney in 1999.He attended Screenwise Film & TV School for Actors, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He has appeared in several Australian television series, such as Opening Up, All Saints, The Strip, Packed to the Rafters and McLeod's Daughters.

Whitfield gained his first prominent role in the Australian supernatural film Gabriel. He also starred in the 2010 television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which is filmed in New Zealand.He played the part of Spartacus, a soldier condemned to fight as a gladiator and who ultimately leads a rebellion against the Romans (the Third Servile War). Whitfield also appears in the upcoming Australian thriller The Clinic starring opposite Tabrett Bethell (of Legend of the Seeker fame) which was shot in Deniliquin. In August 2010, Whitfield teamed up with Freddie Wong and created a 2 minute long YouTube video named "Time Crisis", based on the game Time Crisis. Whitfield made a brief, uncredited voice-only appearance in the prequel mini-series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which premiered on 21 January 2011

In March 2010, Whitfield was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and began undergoing treatment immediately in New Zealand. This delayed production of season two of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. While waiting for Whitfield's treatment and expected recovery, the network produced a six-part prequel, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, with only a brief uncredited voiceover from the actor. Although declared cancer-free only two months later, he suffered a recurrence of the disease later in the year and was ultimately forced to leave the role. Starz recast Australian actor Liam McIntyre as Spartacus.

A short 18 months after his cancer diagnosis, Whitfield died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on 11 September 2011. The actor's manager, Sam Maydew, and Whitfield's wife, Vashti, issued a statement confirming his death in Sydney, Australia, 'surrounded by his family'. In her statement, Vashti said: "On a beautiful sunny Sydney ... morning, surrounded by his family, in the arms of his loving wife, our beautiful young warrior Andy Whitfield lost his 18-month battle with lymphoma cancer."He is survived by his wife and two children.

Steven DeKnight, the creator of Spartacus, said "No words to express the depth of such a loss. You will be deeply missed, my brother." Lucy Lawless, Whitfield's co-star in Spartacus, described him as "a gentle man who never said a bad word about anyone, a gifted photographer, engineer (no really!) and a brilliant actor. Andy’s incandescent film presence made men want to be him and women want to marry him. Andy’s two babies will always know that their Daddy cherished them and their mother, Vashti, above all things. How lucky we were to have him grace all our lives. Godspeed, Andy!"
(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Whitfield)