Matt Day

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Matt Day
The Sapphires movie premiere at State Theatre, Sydney, Australia, 2012
Born
Matthew Day

(1971-09-28) 28 September 1971 (age 53)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation(s)Actor, filmmaker
SpouseKirsty Thomson
Children2

Matthew Day (born 28 September 1971) is an Australian actor and filmmaker.

Early life

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Day was born in Melbourne, Victoria.[1] When he was 11 years old, he went to live in the United States with his father, a newspaper correspondent, where he became interested in acting.[2] On his return to Australia, he attended Princes Hill Secondary College, in Carlton North and joined St Martins Youth Arts Centre in South Yarra.[2]

Career

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Day was spotted by an agent[2] at the age of 14 and was soon cast in his first role in the ABC television series c/o The Bartons. At 17, he left his home in Carlton and relocated to Sydney for the role in the television series A Country Practice that was to be his first big break.[3]

He has since gone on to establish a reputation as one of Australia's leading film, television and theatre actors, appearing in numerous Australian television series and telemovies including Rake,[4] Tangle, Hell Has Harbour Views,[5] My Brother Jack and Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. Feature credits include Touch, My Year Without Sex, Love and Other Catastrophes, Muriel's Wedding, Woody Allen's Scoop and Kiss or Kill, for which he received nominations for a Film Critic Circle Award and an AFI Award for Best Actor. His international television credits include Shackleton with Kenneth Branagh, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Commander, Spooks, Hotel Babylon, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Bruce Beresford's And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself.

Short films as writer/director include Beat (2011 St Kilda Film Festival) My Everything (2003 Toronto Short Film Festival) and Wish (Turner Classic Shorts 2008 Winner - Special Mention, London Film Festival, Encounters Short Film Festival, Foyle Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival).

In 2017 he won the 25th Tropfest short film festival for his comic short film The Mother Situation, which he both directed and acted in.[6]

In 2022 Day was announced as part of the cast for channel 9 drama Human Error.[7] In 2023 Day was named for ABC musical drama In Our Blood.[8] Day would return for the second season of Strife.[9]

Personal life

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Day's parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an English teacher, took him around Europe for six months when he was 7 and his brother Michael was 9.[2] He said later that "the whole experience went definitely some way to influencing my wanderlust".[2]

Day moved with his wife, journalist Kirsty Thomson, to London in 2000, not returning to Australia until 2007. The couple now live in Sydney and have two sons, Jackson and Rufus.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Type
1994 Muriel's Wedding Brice Nobes Feature film
1996 Love and Other Catastrophes Michael Douglas Feature film
1996 Dating the Enemy Rob Feature film
1996 The Beast Cosgrove TV movie
1997 Kiss or Kill Al Fletcher Feature film
1997 The Two-Wheeled Time Machine Henry Howard Short film
1997 Doing Time for Patsy Cline Ralph Feature film
1998 The Sugar Factory Harris Feature film
2000 Muggers Brad Forrest Feature film
2000 The Love of Lionel's Life (aka Open Life) Lionel TV movie
2001 My Brother Jack David Meredith TV movie
2001 The Green-Eyed Monster Liam McGuire TV movie
2002 The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Henry Baskerville TV movie
2003 And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself John Reed TV movie
2005 Hell Has Harbour Views Hugh Walker TV movie
2006 Scoop Jerry Burke Feature film
2008 The Informant Cameron Clifford TV movie
2009 My Year Without Sex Ross Feature film
2013 The Outlaw Michael Howe Magistrate Robert Knopwood TV movie
2014 Dawn John TV movie
2015 Touch
2017 Dance Academy: The Movie Barrister Jeff Menzies TV movie
2017 Sweet Country[10] Judge Taylor Feature film
2017 The Mother Situation Short film (also director)
2018 Reaching Distance Martin
2024 Runt Fergus Fink

Television

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Year Title Role Type
1988 c/o The Bartons Paul Barton TV series
1988 House Rules
1989-93 A Country Practice Julian 'Luke' Ross TV series
1994 The Bob Morrison Show Jake Duffy TV series
1995 Snowy River: The McGregor Saga Pete Reilly TV series
1996 Water Rats Matthews TV series
2000 Farscape Councilor Tyno TV series
2002 Shackleton Frank Hurley Miniseries
2003 Wild Down Under Narrator TV series
2006 Hotel Babylon Richard TV series
2006 Spooks Neil Sternin TV series
2007 The Commander Eric Thornton Miniseries
2009-10 Tangle Gabriel Lucas TV series
2010 Underbelly: The Golden Mile Sid Hillier TV series
2010-18 Rake David Potter TV series
2011 Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo Daniel Ritchie Miniseries
2011 Secret Diary of a Call Girl Receptionist TV series
2012 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Henry Rhodes TV series
"King Memses' Curse" (S1:E13)
2014-18 Black Comedy Various roles TV series
13 episodes
2017 Love Child Father Ross TV series
2017 Wolf Creek Brian TV series
2019 Les Norton Gecko TV series
2019 Get Krack!n Brendan O'Hara TV series
2021 Harrow Dr Bramson TV series, 2 episodes
2021 The Unusual Suspects Garth Miniseries
2023 In Our Blood Jeremy Wilding 4 episodes
2023-present Strife Jon Jones 8 episodes
2024 Human Error Luke O'Rourke 6 episodes

Theatre

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Year Title Role Type
2016 Black Rabbit
The Game of Love and Chance New England Theatre Company
Man of the Moment Ensemble Theatre
1998 Six Degrees of Separation STC
1999 Fred STC
2008 Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot Playhouse
2009 The Wonderful World of Dissocia STC
2015 North By Northwest MTC[11]

Writer/director

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Year Title Type
2011 Beat Short film
2003 My Everything Short film
2008 Wish Short film
2017 The Mother Situation Short film (also actor)

Awards and nominations

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Year Nominated work Award Category Result
1997 Kiss or Kill Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated
1997 Kiss or Kill AFI Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated
2008 Wish Turner Classic Shorts 2008 Winner Special Mention
2017 The Mother Situation 25th Tropfest Short Film Festival 2017 Winner Won

References

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  1. ^ Matt Day @ filmreference.com
  2. ^ a b c d e Rand, Hannah (3 May 2009) "Passions in practice", Sunday Magazine, p. 28
  3. ^ Rand, Hannah (3 May 2009) "Passions in practice", Sunday Magazine, p. 27
  4. ^ Thomas, Sarah (1 September 2012). "Entertain us: Matt Day". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  5. ^ Moloney, Phoebe (11 February 2017). "Matt Day's dark comedy wins at 2017 Tropfest short film festival". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Matt Day's topical comedy on euthanasia wins Tropfest". ABC News. 12 February 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  7. ^ Knox, David (2 February 2023). "Production begins on Human Error for Nine | TV Tonight". tvtonight.com.au.
  8. ^ Knox, David (3 February 2023). "Cast confirmed for in Our Blood | TV Tonight". tvtonight.com.au.
  9. ^ Knox, David (8 August 2024). "Strife S2 production begins | TV Tonight". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  10. ^ Rugendyke, Garry Maddox, George Palathingal, Linda Morris, Elissa Blake, Louise (22 November 2017). "Here comes the fun: What you need to see, hear, do and read in Sydney this summer". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 December 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Ross, Annabel (4 June 2015). "North by Northwest: Matt Day channels Mad Men in MTC's world-first stage adaptation of Hitchcock film". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
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