Chris Wood

The Villain Who Saved the Audience

Chris Wood didn't step onto a television set until his musical theater skills were sharp. He trained at Elon University, where he learned that technique is secondary if instinct is missing.

In 2013, he landed his first major role in The Carrie Diaries, playing Adam Weaver. But the industry didn't cast him as a traditional leading man for a long time.

The real change of pace came in 2014, when he joined the cast of The Vampire Diaries.

Played Kai Parker.

That sociopath with a sense of humor broke the monotony of a show that already had six seasons under its belt. Wood wasn't trying to be liked, and that's exactly why he drew all the attention from specialized critics.

And the audience loved him.

Because his performance avoided the exaggerated gestures of other network villains. Instead of yelling, he preferred to whisper threats while eating cereal in front of his victims.

From Medical Drama to Steel Suits

The CW decided Wood was too valuable an asset to let go. In 2016, he starred in Containment, a miniseries about an epidemic in Atlanta that demanded a different kind of physical and emotional effort from him.

Soon after, he put on the cape in Supergirl. For two years, he played Mon-El. That shoot changed his personal life, because he met Melissa Benoist, whom he married in 2019.

Nobody saw it coming.

In 2020, he decided he wanted to explore writing and directing. He wrote and directed the short film Snowmen. That same year, he stepped up his work with the I Don't Mind organization to talk about mental health in schools and universities.

But the actor never let go of his vocal training. That allowed him to move into projects where his face wasn't needed to convey tension or heroism.

The Leap into Animation and Fictional Journalism

His voice became his best professional tool in 2021. Kevin Smith chose him to voice Prince Adam in Masters of the Universe: Revelation for Netflix.

He recorded his voice sessions in isolated booths during the lockdown months. He earned the standard union pay for the first dubbing sessions, before the show became a global product.

In 2024, he returned to live-action with The Girls on the Bus. He plays a journalist in a story inspired by Amy Chozick's memoir about U.S. presidential campaigns.

So Wood went back to long-running productions. The first season's shoot wrapped after 112 production days on location in New York.