John Alieu Carew (born 5 September 1979) is a Norwegian actor and former professional footballer who played as a striker.

[7] During his two-year period at the club he played 58 matches and scored 30 goals, while his profile rose even more due to his combination of strength and goal-scoring ability.

During the summer of 1999, Carew joined Norwegian football's most successful club of the past decade and Champions League mainstays Rosenborg in a deal worth 23 000 000 kroner.

[8] After a string of impressive displays in the Champions League, Carew moved to Spanish club Valencia in an €8.5 million transfer, where he managed to win the La Liga title once in 2002.

His goals in the campaign were crucial, including a 75th-minute header in a 1–0 home win against Arsenal in the second leg of the quarter-final, which saw Valencia advance to the semi-final.

[10] While Carew was playing in Europe he was constantly linked with a move to the English Premiership and several failed attempts were made to sign him.

[23] He quickly added his 3rd of the season in the 2–1 defeat of local rivals West Bromwich Albion; and with Gabriel Agbonlahor on the scoresheet again the pair began to form a formidable partnership.

He was fined two weeks wages by Martin O'Neill for being in a pub near a Birmingham lap dancing club the night before Villa's UEFA cup group stage match with Ajax.

[26] During this time, Villa boss Martin O'Neill signed England international striker Emile Heskey to fill the gap left by Carew's absence.

[27] In the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, Carew earned Villa a first leg draw with CSKA Moscow, after going 1–0 down to Vágner Love's goal.

On 1 March 2009, Carew came off the bench to score a lob-shot volley in the 2–2 draw against Stoke City in the Premier League, which was later voted the team's goal of the season.

Due to the persistence of fellow strikers Heskey and Agbonlahor, Carew initially struggled to hold down a regular spot in the starting eleven at the beginning of the 2009–10 campaign.

On 7 March 2010, manager Martin O'Neill chose to include Carew in the starting eleven in an FA Cup game against Reading.

He took the opportunity characteristically and scored a hat-trick as Aston Villa came from two goals behind to defeat Reading 4–2 in the FA Cup quarter final.

This made Carew the competition's top scoring striker, raising questions as to why the Norwegian was rarely included in Villa's starting eleven.

However, due to both injury concerns of his own and a loss of form, his place in the team was taken by Emile Heskey limiting him to cameo appearances from the bench.

[30] Carew spoke out about his limited chances under the new system under manager Gérard Houllier to a Norwegian TV station.

Despite ongoing rumors in the press about a dispute between the former Lyon pair, Houllier revealed that Carew had been left out of the Aston Villa squad to work on his fitness.

[42] On 6 August 2011 Football League Championship side West Ham United announced the signing of Carew as a free agent.

[44] On 23 May 2012, Carew was released with five other players including Julien Faubert, Frank Nouble, Papa Bouba Diop, Abdoulaye Faye and Olly Lee.

[51] In 2019, Carew played the role of Jungle Warrior in the Disney's dark fantasy adventure film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil alongside Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

[53] A lower court trial began in October 2022, with Carew accused of several counts of tax evasion amounting Norwegian kroner 5.4 million[54] between 2014 and 2019.

[64] In June 2023, media said that Carew is working as a permanent employee for the Norwegian Football Federation, or NFF; also, the justice system mandated that he [continue to] wear Electronic tagging [until his sentence has been served].