Jared Turner was born in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand on April 12, 1978. His family moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1980. Jared grew up living in the western suburbs of Sydney. Jared graduated from Theatre Nepean, University of Western Sydney in 2000 at the age of 22. He went on to act in numerous theatre productions, both in Australia and abroad, as well as local TV drama, All Saints (1998), before landing a lead role on the award-winning New Zealand feature film, Fracture (2004). Upon returning to New Zealand, Jared was guest cast in acclaimed NZ comedy-drama, Outrageous Fortune (2005), followed by regular appearances in the TV series, Go Girls (2009). Shortly after, Jared was cast in one of the lead roles for the international hit show, The Almighty Johnsons (2011), playing "Ty Johnson", the human incarnation of Hod, the Nordic God of all things dark and cold. Jared has since become a well-known figure in New Zealand, appearing on numerous local film and television productions over the last several years. Most recently, Jared was a member of the lead cast in the new Australian drama, The Secret Daughter (2016), which also stars Australian Pop music sensation, Jessica Mauboy. Jared has also appeared in numerous international productions including "30 Days of Night" (2007)", "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (2009), Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010), and as Slanter, the leader of the Gnome rebellion in MTV's hit fantasy series, The Shannara Chronicles (2016)