Matt Day

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Matt Day
Matt Day (7739403594).jpg
The Sapphires movie premiere at State Theatre, Sydney, Australia, 2012
Born
Matthew Day

(1971-09-28) 28 September 1971 (age 53)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Education Princes Hill Secondary College
St Martins Youth Arts Centre [1]
Occupation(s)Actor, filmmaker
Known for Muriel's Wedding
Kiss or Kill
Tangle
SpouseKirsty Thomson
Children2

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

Contents

Early life

Day was born in Melbourne, Victoria. [2] 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. [1] On his return to Australia, he attended Princes Hill Secondary College, in Carlton North and joined St Martins Youth Arts Centre in South Yarra. [1]

Career

Day was spotted by an agent [1] 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 including Rake opposite Richard Roxburgh [4] and Tangle alongside Ben Mendelsohn. He starred in the made for television films Hell Has Harbour Views (2005) [5] and My Brother Jack (2001), and the two-part miniseries Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo (2011).

His feature credits include Muriel's Wedding (1994), Love and Other Catastrophes (1996) alongside Radha Mitchell and Frances O’Connor, Kiss or Kill (1997) reuniting again with O'Connor. For his role in the latter, he received nominations for a Film Critics Circle Award and an AFI Award for Best Actor. He also starred in Woody Allen's Scoop (2006) alongside Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson and My Year Without Sex (2009) and Touch (2014).

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 he was named for ABC musical drama In Our Blood. [8] Day returned for the second season of Strife. [9]

Personal life

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. [1] He said later that "the whole experience went definitely some way to influencing my wanderlust". [1]

Day met his wife, journalist Kirsty Thomson when he was living in Melbourne and she lived in Sydney. They initially conducted a long distance relationship, as Day was working on films and Thomson moved to Bathurst to do her master’s degree in journalism. Their first date was at a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert. After meeting up regularly in Bowral, halfway between Sydney and Canberra, Day proposed. They were married in 2000, in a low-key wedding in Thomson's mother’s backyard in Balmain, and then moved to London together. They had their first child, a son, Jackson in the UK. They returned to Australia in 2007 and their second son Rufus was born two years later. [10] The couple currently reside in Sydney.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleType
1994 Muriel's Wedding Brice NobesFeature film
1996 Love and Other Catastrophes Michael DouglasFeature film
Dating the Enemy RobFeature film
The Beast CosgroveTV movie
1997 Kiss or Kill Al FletcherFeature film
The Two-Wheeled Time MachineHenry HowardShort film
Doing Time for Patsy Cline RalphFeature film
1998 The Sugar Factory HarrisFeature film
2000 Muggers Brad ForrestFeature film
The Love of Lionel's Life (aka Open Life)LionelTV movie
2001 My Brother Jack David MeredithTV movie
The Green-Eyed Monster Liam McGuireTV movie
2002 The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Henry BaskervilleTV movie
2003 And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself John ReedTV movie
2005 Hell Has Harbour Views Hugh WalkerTV movie
2006 Scoop Jerry BurkeFeature film
2008The InformantCameron CliffordTV movie
2009 My Year Without Sex RossFeature film
2013 The Outlaw Michael Howe Magistrate Robert KnopwoodTV movie
2014 Dawn JohnTV movie
2015Touch
2017 Dance Academy: The Movie Barrister Jeff MenziesTV movie
Sweet Country [11] Judge TaylorFeature film
The Mother SituationShort film (also director)
2018Reaching DistanceMartin
2024 Runt Fergus Fink

Television

YearTitleRoleType
1988 c/o The Bartons Paul BartonTV series
House Rules
1989–1993 A Country Practice Julian 'Luke' RossTV series
1994 The Bob Morrison Show Jake DuffyTV series
1995 Snowy River: The McGregor Saga Pete ReillyTV series
1996 Water Rats MatthewsTV series
2000 Farscape Councilor TynoTV series
2002 Shackleton Frank HurleyMiniseries
2003 Wild Down Under NarratorTV series
2006 Hotel Babylon RichardTV series
Spooks Neil SterninTV series
2007 The Commander Eric ThorntonMiniseries
2009–2010 Tangle Gabriel LucasTV series
2010 Underbelly: The Golden Mile Sid HillierTV series
2010–2018 Rake David PotterTV series
2011 Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo Daniel RitchieMiniseries
Secret Diary of a Call Girl ReceptionistTV series
2012 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Henry RhodesTV series
"King Memses' Curse" (S1:E13)
2014–2018 Black Comedy Various rolesTV series
13 episodes
2017 Love Child Father RossTV series
Wolf Creek BrianTV series
2019 Les Norton GeckoTV series
Get Krack!n Brendan O'HaraTV series
2021 Harrow Dr BramsonTV series, 2 episodes
The Unusual Suspects GarthMiniseries
2023 In Our Blood Jeremy Wilding4 episodes
2023–present Strife Jon Jones8 episodes
2024 Human Error Luke O'Rourke6 episodes

Theatre

YearTitleRoleType
1986 Zigger Zagger St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Melbourne
1988Black RabbitStanleyStudio Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company
1992 Man of the Moment Seymour Centre, Sydney with Ensemble Theatre [12]
Six Degrees of Separation Sydney Opera House with STC
The Game of Love and Chance New England Theatre Company
1998Fred Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC
2008 Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot Alan Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC
2009 The Wonderful World of Dissocia 'Insecurity' guard Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC / MTC
2015–2016, 2018North by NorthwestRoger O' Thornhill Playhouse, Melbourne, State Theatre, Melbourne, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane, Festival Theatre, Adelaide with MTC [13]
2017A Strategic PlanSimon Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company
2020 The Deep Blue Sea Sir William Collyer STC [14]
2022 Blithe Spirit Charles Condomine Sydney Opera House with STC
2023SundayJohn Reed Southbank Theatre, Melbourne with MTC

[15]

Writer/director

YearTitleType
2011BeatShort film
2003My EverythingShort film
2008WishShort film
2017The Mother SituationShort film (also actor)

Awards and nominations

YearNominated workAwardCategoryResult
1997 Kiss or Kill Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Actor in a Leading RoleNominated
AFI Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated
2008WishTurner Classic Shorts2008 WinnerSpecial Mention
2017The Mother Situation25th Tropfest Short Film Festival 2017 WinnerWon

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rand, Hannah (3 May 2009) "Passions in practice", Sunday Magazine, p. 28
  2. Matt Day @ filmreference.com
  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. "Matt Day and Kirsty Thomson reveal what makes their marriage tick". Women’s Weekly. 17 September 2024.
  11. 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)
  12. "It's Goodbye To The Valley!". TV Week. 29 February 1992.
  13. 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.
  14. "The Deep Blue Sea". Stage Noise. 9 February 2020.
  15. "Matt Day theatre credits". AusStage.