Witwer was born on October 20, 1977,[2] and grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. Ever since he was a child, Witwer showed enthusiasm in other pursuits he enjoyed more than school. He spent his free time huddled over a computer, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or making music.
He attended Glenbrook South High School, during which time he was involved in drama and theater classes, as well as being the lead singer of a high school band called "Love Plumber". After barely graduating high school, his parents made him apply to drama departments of various schools. Finally getting accepted to the Juilliard School. When he was 18 he became friends with fellow actor Glenn Howerton.[3]
After 2 years at Juilliard, Witwer got kicked out from school as he didn't take it seriously enough.[4] He finally made the decision to pursue acting after asking actor Bruce Campbell for advice on the AOL website.[5]
Witwer's first on-screen credit was that of a Chicago Bulls commercial. He soon found himself in speaking roles on hit television series, such as ER.
Witwer's first major recurring role came in the form of portraying raptor pilot 'Crashdown' (his call sign) on Battlestar Galactica,[6] although he has credited much of his current success to his role as Neil Perry on the Showtime series Dexter.[7] Witwer also appeared as Private Wayne Jessup in the film The Mist.[8]
From 2008 to 2009, Witwer was cast in season 8 of Smallville as Davis Bloome, a charming paramedic who struggles with a darkness within as he is the human camouflage of Doomsday. Witwer played Davis while Doomsday was played by stuntman Dario Delacio. Witwer's performance in Smallville was incredibly well-received, and he has stated that his experience on the show had opened more opportunities for him in the future of acting. Witwer’s contract gave him the option to return in season 9 as Zod, though he ultimately declined. Though he considered his time on the show enjoyable and was flattered by the offer to stay on, he passed on the role as he felt it would be difficult for both the characters and audience to accept.[9]
Witwer made a cameo appearance in The Walking Dead as a dead zombie soldier in a tank in the season 1 episode "Days Gone Bye" which reunited him with director Frank Darabont from The Mist.[10] Coincidentally, in 2019 he went on to portray the main protagonist (both voice and motion capture) of a video game called Days Gone, which also tackles the topic of zombie apocalypse.
From 2011 to 2014, Witwer starred in the North American remake of Being Human. He played the lead role of vampire Aidan Waite.[11] The show, as well as his performance, was well received and lasted 4 seasons.[12]
In January 2017, he appeared as a guest on a play-through of ScratchPad Publishing's Dusk City Outlaws, alongside Elisa Teague, Tom Lommel, Spencer Crittenden, and game designer Rodney Thompson.[20]
For Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Witwer had also vocally performed the Son in a three episode story arc (known as the Mortis trilogy) in season 3 as well as the iconic former Sith Maul in the season 4 finale episodes, four episodes of season 5, and the "Siege of Mandalore" arc in season 7. He also lent his voice for Maul in other projects such as the Star Wars: Episode I Brisk commercial as well as the Cartoon Network special Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, and again for Star Wars Rebels.[23] On September 27, 2012, a feature-length "director's cut" of Witwer's season 4 finale episodes of The Clone Wars were released as a direct-to-video film, Darth Maul Returns, initially made available exclusively at Target.[24]
Witwer attended The Clone Wars season 5 Red Carpet Premiere in Orlando, Florida on August 24, 2012, during Celebration VI along with some of his co-stars Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kane, Daniel Logan, Stephen Stanton and Ashley Eckstein, as well as Supervising Director Dave Filoni. During Celebration VI, he also had his own panel called: Sam Witwer "The Maul Within" on August 26, 2012.[25] In 2013, he attended for the first time the annual event, Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida for a three-day weekend[26] and fans praised him for his roles in The Force Unleashed games and on The Clone Wars. During the live show "Behind the Force", Sam showed his acting skills by saying one or two lines of the characters that he's played in the Star Wars universe.
In 2018, Witwer reprised his portrayal as Maul and performed the voice acting role for the character in Solo: A Star Wars Story, marking the sixth project for which Witwer voices Maul, and the first live-action performance.[28]
In 2020, Witwer was cast as an unidentified dark side character in the StarWarsKids.com and YouTube game show Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, which premiered on June 3, 2020.[29][30]
Star Trek
In 2024, Witwer took part in the OTOY's[31] production titled 765874 - Unification,[32] where he played the role of Capt. James T. Kirk, along with William Shatner. The role involved the use of "digital prosthetic" technology, where Shatner's facial features were overlaid onto Witwer's, as Witwer performed the role of Kirk in three different timelines. Discovering Shatner’s lack of “inner monologue,” as the actor has described in an autobiography, greatly informed Witwer’s performance. Not only in words, he said, but in action and presence. Witwer made the discovery when he viewed his performance in one take and was unhappy with how “un-Kirklike” it seemed. “Shatner would never passively walk into a scene,” Witwer said in an interview. “He leads us into a scene. He takes the audience with him and they go on a story.” With that, Witwer adjusted his performance and was much happier with it.[33]
Music career
Witwer serves as the front-man for the band The Crashtones, whose first studio album Colorful of the Stereo was released February 15, 2006.[34] Witwer released a new album on May 7, 2019, entitled Revenge of the Crashtones.[35]
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