 |
Nicholas Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1980 |
| Other names | Nick Brown |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, screenwriter, playwright, singer and songwriter |
| Years active | Since 1994 |
Nicholas Brown (born 1 January 1980) is an Australian actor, screenwriter, playwright, singer and songwriter.
Brown grew up in the Western Sydney suburb of Greystanes with parents Roy and Patricia Brown and older sister Tracey. He attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in years 11 and 12. Whilst at NHSPA he represented the school in various drama and music festivals including OnStage and was elected School Captain in 1997. [1]
In 1998, Brown was accepted into the Australian drama school the National Institute of Dramatic Art and was said to be both one of the youngest students and the first student to be accepted directly from high school. [2]
Brown's first on-screen role was as a teenager in the original series of Heartbreak High.
Some of Brown's guest roles include White Collar Blue (2003), Home and Away (in both 2007 and 2013), [3] Heartbreak High , Drama School, City Homicide (2010), Packed to the Rafters (2012), Mr & Mrs Murder (2013) and Anh Do's Channel 7 comedy pilot Lucky Dragon. [4] He also had a recurring role on The Cooks from 2004 to 2005. [5]
He appeared in Australian feature films The Characters, Temptation in 2003, A Man's Gotta Do in 2004.
Shortly after moving to Mumbai from Sydney in 2007, Brown was cast opposite Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan as villain Tony Grover in the film Kites , directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Rakesh Roshan. The film was re-cut for an English audience by Brett Ratner and was released worldwide as Kites The Remix. Kites was released worldwide in May 2010. Brown lived in Mumbai on and off until 2015, where he was typecast as the villain for several years, including in Unindian , opposite Brett Lee in 2015. Other Bollywood film credits to his name include Love You to Death , Prattichaya and Sedition.
Brown played real life heroin drug smuggler Supahaus Chowdury in the 2011 Australian television show Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away . From 2015 to 2019, he appeared in the TV shows The Code , The Letdown , Harrow and Netflix series The Unlisted . He played the lead role of Sid in the film Laka and was cast as a regular presenter on children's series Play School .
In 2021 Brown played Sigrid Thornton's love interest Dr. Omar Sebastian in the Channel 9 drama series Amazing Grace , Miles in the Stan film Christmas on the Farm and appeared in the drama series Wakefield .
In 2022, Brown played the role of Rahul in U.S. miniseries Joe vs. Carole (based on Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin [ citation needed ]), Paul in Channel 9's drama series After the Verdict , Hamish in the Netflix film A Perfect Pairing and Chubba in season 2 of Tim Minchin's Upright .
In 2023, Brown played one of the lead roles Paul Kemble in the ABC musical series In Our Blood and Derek Stevens in season 2 of The PM's Daughter . In 2024 he starred opposite Asher Keddie and David Wenham in the drama series Fake and played Makrand in the Indian Australian film Sahela/Companion .
In 2025 Brown played Gall in Alex Proyas's film R.U.R .
On stage, Brown played villain Nikhil Madhvani (opposite Shilpa Shetty) in Miss Bollywood, which toured Germany and the UK including London's West End. [6] He appeared in There Is No Need To Wake Up at the Sydney Opera House directed by Barrie Kosky; Kurt Weill's Berlin to Broadway, directed by Jim Sharman; Spunks at the Stables Theatre; Frozen for Company B Belvoir St Theatre, directed by Kate Gaul; Toad in the Australian Shakespeare Company's productions of The Wind in the Willows , and Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies at the Old Fitzroy Theatre. [7] He also performed in the 2005 Hi-5 Space Magic – World Tour. [8]
In 2010 Brown performed in several international festivals, including representing NIDA at the UNESCO 2007 drama schools festival in Transylvania, Romania, playing Orestes in Aeschylus's Ancient Greek tragedy The Oresteian Trilogy. [9] He also appeared in Project 88 Art Gallery in Mumbai, Doctrine: How to Survive Under Siege in Brussels, Belgium, for the Kunstenfestivaldesarts (2008) [10] and Rehaan Engineer's Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill (2009). He then appeared in three new plays (The New Black, Tilt and Student Body) at the 2010 Australian National Play Festival in Brisbane.
In 2015 Brown played the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar directed by Alyque Padamsee in Mumbai. He also played Lumiere in Disney India's Beauty and the Beast which toured to Mumbai and Delhi.
From 2016 to 2019 Brown appeared in the plays Lighten Up at Griffin Theatre in Sydney, Still Point Turning and The Long Forgotten Dream for Sydney Theatre Company and the Helpmann Award-winning play Counting and Cracking for Belvoir Theatre Company at Sydney Festival.
From 2019 to 2020 he appeared as Kevin J in the smash hit stage musical Come from Away at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. In May 2021, he played Petruchio in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew with Queensland Theatre (in the Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane), directed by Damien Ryan. [11] In 2022 Brown played Edmond Rostand opposite Angie Milliken in Queensland Theatre's production of Bernhardt / Hamlet . In 2024 Brown appeared on stage in the Belvoir Theatre production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.
Nicholas wrote episode 12 of the Netflix/ ABC Me series The Unlisted , and episode 16 of the ABC Kids TV show The Wonder Gang. He co-wrote his first play Lighten Up, which premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre. Lighten Up was published by Currency Press, and a monologue from the play was included in the 2016 edition of the book Contemporary Australian Monologues for Men.[ citation needed ]
He co-wrote the play Lost In Books, which was part of Sydney Festival, and True West for the National Theatre of Parramatta.
Brown's play Sex Magick was produced by Griffin Theatre in 2023. [12] Published by Currency Press, it won the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the 2024 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. [13] [14]
In 2024 Brown wrote an autobiographical chapter in the book Growing Up Indian In Australia published by Black Inc. Books. [15]
Brown did some production work on an Indo-Australian Bollywood film in 2010, [16] with Olivia Newton-John. [17] [18]
In 2011, Brown lived in Los Angeles where he was the lead singer of funk band 'Knuckle Funk' in 2011–2012. The group became a duo a few years later and released two singles renaming themselves 'Luck Now'. The first single "I Spent My Rent On A Record" was released in 2015 and was co-written by Brown. It received regular airplay on MTV Indies and VH1 in India. He also co-wrote and recorded lead vocals for the song "Unpredictable (The Robot Song)" in 2013. As a singer/songwriter, Brown also recorded the album "Big Score" in 2005 with his Australian disco funk band The Modernists [19] in 2004 and performed at Australian venues such as The Basement and The Metro. The album received radio airplay on Sydney radio stations FBI and 2SER.[ citation needed ]
In 2005, Brown was the male understudy for the children's internationally recognised pop group Hi-5 [20] on their world tour.
Brown was also invited to sing at "Raise the Roof" at Sydney's State Theatre, in a special concert to raise funds for the Tsunami Appeal in 2006. [21] In 2007, before moving to Mumbai, Brown wrote and recorded an unreleased album with the electro rock duo "Listen Like Thieves".
In 2023, Brown released the Italo disco inspired song "Up And Coming" which received radio airplay on Radio One in India, on ABC Radio and FBI. The song was accompanied by an animated music video. [22]
In February 2025, Brown released the Bollywood inspired dance song "Strange Shadow" produced by Sydney DJ Dave Winnel. The sultry music video starred Betty Grumble, was directed by David Charley and choreographed by Shaun Parker. Two remixes of the song were also released by Luke Million and Mind Electric. [23]
In March 2025, Brown released the Nu-Disco dance song "Don't Mind Me" which was accompanied by an animated music video. [24]
From 2012 to 2014 Brown was hosting SBS Radio's PopDesi – a radio programme for Bollywood, Bhangra and Desi pop music playing on Australian digital radio, online and mobile [25]
Brown's charity work has included:
Nicholas's life story has been documented on the ABC Conversations (radio program) with Sarah Kanowski - A wild Bollywood adventure — from Sydney to Mumbai and back again. [29]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Man on the Boat | Driver | Short film |
| 2004 | A Man's Gotta Do | Young Doctor | Feature film |
| 2007 | Don't Panic | Abe | Short film |
| 2009 | Bani Ibrahim | Ghazali | Short film |
| 2010 | Kites | Tony | Feature film |
| 2010 | After the Credits | Actor | Short film |
| 2011 | The 5 | Kris | Short film |
| Random 8 | Michael Henderson | ||
| 2012 | Love You to Death | John | Feature film |
| The Shadower In | Dani | Short film | |
| Project Top Clown | Eric | Short film | |
| 2013 | Pink Balloons | Reg | Short film |
| 2014 | Time 2 Settle | Host | Video |
| 2014 | Imperfectly Frank | Frank | Short film |
| 2015 | Moose | Jimmy | Short film |
| UnIndian | Samir | Feature film | |
| 2017 | Dance Academy: The Movie | Tutor Stuart | |
| The Casting Game | Ted | ||
| Khana Khanzana | Gaurav | Short film | |
| 2018 | Laka | ||
| 2019 | Martha the Monster | Kevin | Short film |
| 2020 | Awake | Nikhil | Short film |
| 2022 | The Perfect Pairing | Hamish | |
| Clerks III | Car Sex Selfie Snapper | Feature film | |
| 2023 | Companion | Makrand | |
| 2025 | Jimpa | Mr Mason | Feature film |
| TBA | Sedition | Shiva | |
| TBA | Final Trap | John |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | The End | Directors Assistant | |
| 2011 | The 5 | Assistant to Producer | Short film |
| 2012 | Love You to Death | Directors Assistant | Feature film |
| 2012 | The Shadower in 3D | Directors Assistant | Short film |
| 2017 | The Tribes of Palos Verdes | Production Assistant | Feature film |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | All the Rivers Run | Gordon | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2001 | Life Support | Guest | TV series |
| 2003 | Temptation | Sachin | TV movie |
| White Collar Blue | Damien Lewis | TV series | |
| 2004 | The Cooks | Sachin (main role) | TV series, episodes 1–13 |
| 2007–13 | Home and Away | Mark Davidson / Padley | TV series |
| 2010 | Lucky Dragon | Ranjit | TV pilot |
| City Homicide | Sanjay Roshan | TV series | |
| 2011 | Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away | Supahaus Chowdury | TV movie |
| 2012 | Packed to the Rafters | Yuppie | TV series |
| 2012 | Home and Away | Dr Padley | TV series |
| 2013 | The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting | Xavier | TV series |
| Mr & Mrs Murder | Dt Mukajee | TV series | |
| Cha Do | Ajay | TV series, 2 episodes | |
| 2014 | The Casuals | Rezwan | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2016 | The Code | Bailey | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2017 | The Letdown | Sorab | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2018 | Harrow | Peter Sharma | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2019 | The Unlisted | Rahul Sharma | TV series, 14 episodes |
| 2021 | Wakefield | Kiran | TV series, 3 episodes |
| Amazing Grace | Omar Sebastian | TV series, 8 episodes | |
| Christmas on the Farm | Miles | TV movie | |
| 2022 | Joe vs. Carole | Rohul | TV series, 1 episode |
| After the Verdict | Paul | TV miniseries | |
| Upright | Chubba | TV series, 5 episodes | |
| 2023 | In Our Blood | Paul Kemble | TV series, 4 episodes |
| The PM's Daughter | Mr Derek Stevens | TV series, 8 episodes | |
| NCIS: Sydney | Quarter Master Rennie | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2024 | Fake | Anton | TV series, 8 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | The Unlisted | Writer | TV series, episode 12 |
| 2020; 2021 | Play School | Writer | TV series, season 55, 3 episodes |
| 2021 | The Wonder Gang | Writer | TV series, episode 16: "The Wonder Gang and the Lizard Question" |
| Year | Title | Role | Company / Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Clark in Sarajevo | Boris / Commander / Haris / Henri / Old Man | NIDA Parade Rehearsal Rooms, Sydney |
| 1999 | The Cherry Orchard | Lopakhin / Station Master | NIDA Parade Studio, Sydney |
| 1999 | Romeo and Juliet | Sampson / Friar Lawrence / Peter | NIDA Parade Studio, Sydney |
| 1999 | The Beaux’ Stratagem | Sullen | NIDA Parade Theatre, Sydney |
| 1999 | The Post Office | NIDA Parade Theatre, Sydney | |
| 1999 or 2000 | Mourning Becomes Electra | [30] | |
| 2000 | The Golden Age | Mac / George Ross / James / German Man | NIDA Parade Theatre Sydney |
| 2000 | Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill | NIDA Parade Studio | |
| 2000 | There is No Need to Wake Up | Sydney Opera House | |
| 2001 | Instant Karma | Bondi Pavilion, Sydney | |
| 2002 | Pokie Face | Luigi Jnr | Short+Sweet |
| 2002 | Sticks and Stones | Joe | Brainstorm Productions |
| 2002 | Spunks | Chad | Push Up Theatre at Stables Theatre |
| 2003 | Frozen | Patrick | Belvoir Theatre Company with Company B, Siren Theatre Company |
| 2003 | The Wind in the Willows | Mr Toad | Australian Shakespeare Company |
| 2003 | Burning Bridges – A Musical Odyssey | Various characters | Opera X |
| 2004 | Spew | Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney | |
| 2005 | Hi-5 Space Magic – World Tour | Understudy / Swing | Kids Like Us [8] |
| 2006 | Fewer Emergencies | Various characters | Old Fitzroy Theatre with Tamarama Rock Surfers & AnyRoad Productions [7] |
| 2007 | The Oresteia | Orestes | NIDA at the UNESCO Festival Transylvania |
| 2007 | Miss Bollywood – The Shilpa Shetty Musical | Nikhil Madhvani | Germany, UK & Royal Albert Hall tour with Cineyug [6] |
| 2008 | Doctrine: How to Survive Under Siege | Xerxes | Kunsten Festival Des Arts, Belgium |
| 2009 | Seven Jewish Children | 1 | Industrial Theatre Company |
| 2010 | The New Black, Tilt, Student Body | Various | 2010 Australian National Play Festival, Brisbane |
| 2012 | The Wind in the Willows | Badger | Australian Shakespeare Company |
| 2013 | The Wind in the Willows | Mr Toad | Australian Shakespeare Company |
| 2014–15 | Jesus Christ Superstar | Jesus | Mumbai with Raell Padamsee's Ace Productions |
| Beauty and the Beast | Lumiere | Mumbai & Delhi | |
| 2016 | Lighten Up | John Green | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company (also playwright) |
| 2018 | Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story | Rahul Dravid | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2018 | The Long Forgotten Dream | Mandeep | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 2019 | Counting and Cracking | Hasanga | Sydney Town Hall with Belvoir Theatre Company for Sydney Festival, Ridley Centre, Adelaide |
| 2019 | Come from Away | Kevin J | Comedy Theatre, Melbourne |
| 2021–2022 | The Taming of the Shrew | Petruchio | Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane with Queensland Theatre, Riverside Theatres Parramatta, Belgrave Cinema, Armidale, Inlet Cinema, Sussex Inlet, Huskisson Pictures |
| 2022 | Bernhardt / Hamlet | Edmond Rostand | Queensland Theatre |
| 2024 | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Mr Shears / various roles | Belvoir Street Theatre [31] |
| 2025 | Circle Mirror Transformation | TBC | Wharf Theatre with STC [32] |
| Year | Title | Role | Company / Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Rain Supreme | Director / Writer | Newtown Theatre, Sydney for Short+Sweet |
| 2005 | The Glass Soul | Writer | Newtown Theatre, Sydney for Short+Sweet |
| 2016 | Lighten Up | Playwright | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company |
| Lost In Books | Co-writer | Sydney Festival | |
| 2021 | True West: Myths and Legends | Co-writer | National Theatre of Parramatta for Sydney Festival [33] |
| 2023 | Sex Magick | Writer | Griffin Theatre Company [12] |
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Nicholas Brown | Mike Walsh Fellowship | Costume | Honoured [35] |
| 2018 | Laka | Red Nation Film Festival | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated [36] |
| 2024 | Sex Magick | NSW Premier's Literary Award | Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting | Won [31] |
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