Born in Marrickville Wenham attended CBHS Lewisham before graduating from University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Performing Arts) in 1987. Wenham’s television credits include several telemovies, such as his AFI award-winning role in the 1996 telemovie Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies; and his role as the outwardly laid back but deeply enigmatic diver Dan Della Bosca in the 1998 and 1999 seasons of the highly successful ABC television series SeaChange.
He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing, Dilios in 300 and its sequel 300: Rise of an Empire, Al Parker in Top of the Lake, and Lieutenant John Scarfield in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
He is quoted as saying “I was 11 when a teacher suggested to my parents that they should send me to drama classes to curb my disruptive ways in the classroom. The next Saturday I was acting, and thereafter it became a ritual of my youth to see a show at the Belvoir on Sundays and, if I was lucky, another at the Opera House on Monday after school.”