---
name: "Julian Dennison"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/julian-dennison"
fi1m_id: "julian-dennison"
imdb_id: "nm5421877"
tmdb_id: 1139349
wikidata_id: "Q24189388"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "26 October 2002"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 65
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-05T14:28:06.141093+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Julian Dennison

## Identity

Julian Dennison

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/julian-dennison
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** julian-dennison
- **IMDb ID:** nm5421877
- **TMDB ID:** 1139349
- **Wikidata ID:** Q24189388
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Dennison, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24189388, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5421877/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1139349

Actor. Born 26 October 2002 in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 26 October 2002, Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand
- **Active:** 2016–present
- **Also known as:** جولیان دنیسون
- **Frequently works with:** [David Leitch](https://film.one/person/david-leitch.md), [Josh Brolin](https://film.one/person/josh-brolin.md), [Morena Baccarin](https://film.one/person/morena-baccarin.md), [Paul Wernick](https://film.one/person/paul-wernick.md), [Rhett Reese](https://film.one/person/rhett-reese.md), [Ryan Reynolds](https://film.one/person/ryan-reynolds.md), [Simon Kinberg](https://film.one/person/simon-kinberg.md), [Zazie Beetz](https://film.one/person/zazie-beetz.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 65, as actor, over 5 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 68 (3), 2020s 61 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 65 to 61 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 5 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Adventure 5, Action 4, Comedy 3, Family 2, Drama 1, Fantasy 1
- **Screen time:** 10 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,968m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Dennison, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24189388, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5421877/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1139349

## Coming up

- *How to Train Your Dragon 2* (2027-06-10), as Fishlegs

## Streaming the US now

- **Peacock:** [*Hunt for the Wilderpeople*](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md) (82)
- **Disney+:** [*Deadpool 2*](https://film.one/film/deadpool-2.md) (72)
- **Netflix:** [*How to Train Your Dragon*](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon.md) (60)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Julian Dennison

> Julian Dennison knows how to make a self-important boy funny without hiding his need for company. We rate him most highly when he is allowed to be awkward as well as endearing; smaller comic parts can undersell him.

Ricky keeps trying to get a response from Hec, and Julian Dennison makes the persistence both irritating and hard to resist. In *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), he plays a boy whose self-importance cannot quite conceal how badly he wants company. We laughed at his efforts with Sam Neill’s unresponsive Hec, then felt protective when the uncertainty beneath the bluster became clear. Dennison lets Ricky be a nuisance without asking us to stop caring about him.

Taika Waititi sometimes fusses over the film’s quirks, but the friendship gives it something firmer to rely on. Dennison understands that Ricky does not think he is being funny, and lets the boy’s seriousness do much of the work. Neill is a particularly useful partner because Ricky’s persistence has someone unresponsive to work against. The sweetness survives because Dennison has not tidied away the habits that would make Ricky exhausting company.

He began with a supporting role in *Shopping* (2013), then gained international notice with *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*. Russell Collins in *Deadpool 2* (2018) took him into Hollywood supporting work. He continued with New Zealand-led films, taking the lead as Josh Waaka in *Uproar* (2023). Those leading parts matter when considering what he can do, because the larger productions have not always given him more to play.

*How to Train Your Dragon* (2025) offers much less room. Dean DeBlois’s live-action remake casts him as Fishlegs, one of the trainees given much the same jokes as before and little else. Nick Frost’s Gobber has the film’s best timing, while Dennison has too little material to make a comparable impression. We found the film decent but needlessly slow, and the thinness of his part tells us more about the script than his abilities. Start with *Hunt for the Wilderpeople*; do not take Fishlegs as the measure of what Dennison can do.

## Biography

Julian Dennison is a New Zealand actor. Born on 26 October 2002 in Lower Hutt, he was educated at Hutt International Boys' School. He began acting in the 2013 film *Shopping*, for which he won the Rialto Channel New Zealand Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Dennison is known for his role as Ricky Baker in *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), directed by Taika Waititi, which became New Zealand's highest-grossing film. He later appeared as Russell "Firefist" Collins in *Deadpool 2* (2018), Josh Valentine in *Godzilla vs. Kong* (2021), and Fishlegs Ingerman in *How to Train Your Dragon* (2025). He has also voiced characters in *Star Wars: The Bad Batch* (2024) and starred in *Uproar* (2023) and *Y2K* (2024).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *How to Train Your Dragon* (2025), Fi1m 60, as Fishlegs — [page](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon.md)
- *Godzilla vs. Kong* (2021), Fi1m 62, as Josh Valentine — [page](https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-kong.md)
- *Deadpool 2* (2018), Fi1m 72, as Firefist — [page](https://film.one/film/deadpool-2.md)
- *Once Upon a Deadpool* (2018), Fi1m 50, as Firefist — [page](https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-deadpool.md)
- *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), Fi1m 82, as Ricky — [page](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md)

## Complete filmography (17)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *How to Train Your Dragon 2* (2027), as Fishlegs
- *How to Train Your Dragon* (2025), as Fishlegs — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/how-to-train-your-dragon.md)
- *Y2K* (2024), as Danny
- *Uproar* (2023), as Josh Waaka
- *Star Wars: The Bad Batch* (2021), series, as Deke / Stak (voice)
- *Godzilla vs. Kong* (2021), as Josh Valentine — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/godzilla-vs-kong.md)
- *The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two* (2020), as Belsnickel
- *The Strange Chores* (2019), series, as Pierce (voice)
- *Once Upon a Deadpool* (2018), as Firefist — Fi1m 50, [page](https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-deadpool.md)
- *Deadpool 2* (2018), as Firefist — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/deadpool-2.md)
- *Chronesthesia* (2016), as Beni
- *Hunt for the Wilderpeople* (2016), as Ricky — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/hunt-for-the-wilderpeople.md)
- *Paper Planes* (2014), as Kevin
- *Blazed* (2013), Actor
- *Aroha Bridge* (2013), series, as Tapi (voice)
- *Shopping* (2013), as Solomon
- *Just Picture It*, Actor

## Gallery

- ![Julian Dennison from a scene in Paper Planes (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-4f32b76ce03d.jpg) Julian Dennison from a scene in Paper Planes (2013) — Robert Connolly, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Julian_Dennison.jpg/1280px-Julian_Dennison.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-c3d9e55bb249.jpg) Julian Dennison — US Embassy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Julian_Dennison_2016.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Temuera Morrison and Julian Dennison at the US Embassy in NZ (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-4d34b39396d8.jpg) Temuera Morrison and Julian Dennison at the US Embassy in NZ (2016) — US Embassy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Temuera_Morrison_and_Julian_Dennison_2016.jpg/1280px-Temuera_Morrison_and_Julian_Dennison_2016.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-d84ebbb72431.jpg) Julian Dennison — Image via TMDB
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-a393f9b551ba.jpg) Julian Dennison — Image via TMDB
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-5a3d6395e6e2.jpg) Julian Dennison — Image via TMDB
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-cfeffbed61ea.jpg) Julian Dennison — Image via TMDB
- ![Julian Dennison](https://film.one/media/person/8386/gallery-f6daf7b01571.jpg) Julian Dennison — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/julian-dennison