Michael Dorman

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Michael Dorman
Dorman in 2017
Born (1981-04-26) 26 April 1981 (age 43)
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationActor
Years active2001–present

Michael Dorman (born 26 April 1981) is a New Zealand actor, best known for his starring roles as NASA astronaut Gordo Stevens in Apple TV+'s sci-fi series For All Mankind and as John Tavner in the comedy drama series Patriot.

Early life

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Dorman was born in Auckland, New Zealand. His mother's side of the family is Māori (specifically, Ngāti Porou people from the east coast of the north island), and his father's ancestors are Pākehā (the Māori term for non-Māori, but most commonly applied to New Zealanders of European descent). He moved to Australia with his family at the age of ten, and settled in Bundaberg, Queensland, where he attended Bundaberg State High School.[1] He subsequently studied a degree in drama at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane.[2]

Career

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Dorman's first role was as Christian on The Secret Life of Us. He was a fan of the show when it premiered in 2001 and he was in his final year of university. He landed the role in 2002 after having moved to Sydney.[2]

One of Dorman's breakthrough performances came in the critically acclaimed Australian film Suburban Mayhem (2006). Other lead roles followed in the Australian films Prime Mover (2009) and Needle (2010), as well as supporting work on further Australian films such as West (2007), Acolytes (2008), Triangle (2009), Daybreakers (2009) and Killer Elite (2011). Notably, he also featured in a main role as Tom Wilcox in the Australian television comedy-drama Wonderland for the entirety of its run (2013-2015).

After befriending Russell Crowe while working on The Water Diviner (2014), Crowe paid for Dorman's flight to the United States to further his acting career there.[1] He picked up significant roles in TV series For All Mankind and Patriot, and a small role in blockbuster film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). Dorman went on to star as Tom Griffin in the horror film The Invisible Man and as Jesse in Hard Luck Love Song (both 2020).

In 2021, it was announced that he would star as the title character of the Joe Pickett television series, based on the books by C.J. Box. The show premiered for viewing on the Spectrum Network in December, 2021 and Paramount+ streaming service in February, 2022. He has been cast as Gol D. Roger in Netflix's series One Piece (2023).

Filmography

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Film

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Year Film Role Notes
2000 A Love Story Ben Short film
2001 Spudmonkey Trent
2002 Stuffed Bunny Chris Short film
2005 Rob God Jeff Short film
2005 Small Claims: White Wedding Sean TV movie
2005 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Jamie
2006 The Silence Eddison TV movie
2006 Suburban Mayhem Rusty
2007 West Mick
2007 Walnut Isaac Short film
2007 Katoomba Aaron Short film
2008 Acolytes Gary Parker
2008 The Weight of Sunken Treasure Michael Dooley (young) Short film
2009 Prime Mover Thomas
2009 Triangle Greg
2009 Daybreakers[3] Frankie Dalton
2009 Change Given Jon Short film
2009 At the Breakfast Table Short film
2010 Needle Ben Rutherford
2010 The Premonition Nate Short film
2010 Post Apocalyptic Man Hunter Short film
2010 How to Make a Monster Jesse Short film
2011 Blood Brothers Jeff Gillham TV movie
2011 Killer Elite Jake
2011 Sleeping Beauty[4] Cook
2013 Breath Michael Short film
2014 The Water Diviner Greeves
2016 Lifeline Jonas Short film
2016 Goldstone Patch
2017 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales First Officer Wade
2020 The Invisible Man Tom Griffin
2020 Hard Luck Love Song Jesse

Television

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Year Film Role Notes
2002–05 The Secret Life of Us Christian Hayden
2010 Sea Patrol Travis 1 episode
2011 Rescue: Special Ops Will Pike 1 episode
2011 Wild Boys Dan Sinclair 10 episodes
2012 Reef Doctors Scottie
2012 Underbelly: Badness Paul Leaske Miniseries
2012 The Time of Our Lives Joel 3 episodes
2013 Serangoon Road Conrad Harrison Miniseries, 10 episodes
2013–2015 Wonderland Tom Wilcox 44 episodes
2015–2018 Patriot John Tavner 18 episodes
2016 Black Comedy 1 episode
2019–2021 For All Mankind Gordo Stevens[5] 20 episodes
2020 The Secrets She Keeps Jack O'Shaughnessy 6 episodes
2021-2023 Joe Pickett Joe Pickett 20 episodes
2023 One Piece Gol D. Roger

Theatre

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Year Film Role Notes
2000 Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Joe QUT
2001 The Taming of the Shrew Lucentio QUT
2001 The Art of Success Frank QUT
2001 48 Shades of Brown Dan La Boite Theatre Company

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References

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  1. ^ a b "An episode with Michael Dorman". NZ Herald. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Australian Television: The Secret Life of Us: profiles". www.australiantelevision.net. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  3. ^ Catsoulis, Jeanette (7 January 2010). "'Daybreakers': Futuristic World Where Vampires Rule [NYT Critics' Pick Directed by Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller R 1h 38m]" (movie review). The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  4. ^ Davis, Cindy (17 April 2011). "Date Rape for Pay: Sleeping Beauty Trailer" (movie review). Pajiba. Retrieved 10 June 2016. Sleeping Beauty also stars Michael Dorman (Daybreakers), Mirrah Foulkes (Animal Kingdom)…
  5. ^ "'For All Mankind' to launch alternate space race on Apple TV+". collectSPACE. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  6. ^ https://shanahan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DORMAN-Michael-110418.pdf [bare URL PDF]
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