Darren Robert Yap is an Australian actor and director.

Early life and education

Darren Robert Yap was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and grew up in the suburb of

Cabramatta Cabramatta ('Cabra') is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Fairfield. Cabramat ...

. He was the third child of a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n-born father and his third-generation Australia-born ethically Chinese mother. Yap was educated at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

(1980–85).Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp222 He initially applied to do the stage management course at the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

(NIDA) but he was not accepted. When the degree course in acting at University of Western Sydney's Theatre Nepean was first offered he chose to do that. Following UWS, Yap graduated from the director's course at NIDA.

Career

Yap has a successful career in acting and directing theatre.

Directing

Director

* The One,

Ensemble Theatre The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first performa ...

2022 * Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, Riverside's National Theatre of Parramatta, 2018 * Spot the Dog, CDP Productions, 2018 * Miracle City, The Theatre Division at the Sydney Opera House Studio, 2017 * The Great Wall (One Woman's Journey), Glowsticks Productions, Singapore, July 2017 * Diving for Pearls, Griffin Theatre Company, 2017 * Letters to Lindy, Merrigong Theatre * New South Wales Pemier's Gala Concerts, Allphones Arena, Homebush, Venables Entertainment 2016 * Ladies Day, Griffin Theatre Company, 2016 * Opening of the National Gallery and Art Carnival, SG50 Celebrations, Singapore 2015 * Little Diana and the Big Fuzz, Bree Langridge in association with the Hayes Theatre, 2015 * Miracle City for Luckiest Productions at Hayes Theatre Co, 2014 * The Serpents Table, Sydney Festival, Griffin Theatre Company and Performance 4a, 2014 * A Murder is Announced, Louise Withers and associates, 2013 * Robert Harling's ''

Steel Magnolias ''Steel Magnolias'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Academy Award winner Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. The picture is a film adaptation ...

'' and

Joe DiPietro Joe DiPietro (born 1961) is an American playwright, lyricist and author. He is best known for the Tony Award-winning musical ''Memphis'', for which he won the Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score as well as for writin ...

Jimmy Roberts Jimmy Roberts (born 1957) is a sportscaster for NBC Sports. Roberts joined NBC in May 2000 after serving as a sports reporter for almost 12 years at ESPN and ABC Sports where he won 11 Sports Emmy Awards. Early life and career Roberts grew up in ...

' ''

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change ''I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change'' is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts. It is the second-longest running Off-Broadway musical.Gans, Andrew"I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change Ends NYC Run A ...

'' for the

Seymour Centre The Seymour Centre is a multi-purpose performing arts centre within the University of Sydney in the Australian city of Sydney. It is located on the corner of City Rd and Cleveland St in Chippendale, just south-west of the city centre. The b ...

Subscription Season 2009 * Chinese New Year Parade for

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

, 2008 * Segment Director of The Closing Ceremony of the 15th Asian Games,

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, 2006 * World Premiere of

Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan father, Lee Kip Lee, (who wrote for ''The Straits Times'') and his wife , Elizabeth Tan. He was th ...

’s ''Man of Letters'',

Singapore Repertory Theatre Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993. It is located at the KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT at 20 Merbau Road, Singapore. The current artistic director is Gaurav Kripalani while its manag ...

* World Premiere of ''The Admiral's Odyssey'',

Action Theatre The Action Theater is a motion simulator ride that debuted in 1993. It is currently only operating at California's Great America. Located formerly at Canada's Wonderland, Carowinds, Kings Dominion and Kings Island. The attraction was previously ...

, Singapore *

New South Wales Premier The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

's Concert,

Sydney Entertainment Centre Sydney Entertainment Centre (later known as Qantas Credit Union Arena) was a multi-purpose arena located in Haymarket, Sydney, Australia. It opened in May 1983, to replace Sydney Stadium, which had been demolished in 1970 to make way for the E ...

, 2006 & 2007

Associate Director

* CAIRO MISR PRESHOW CELEBRATIONS, World Events, Julie Brooks, Cairo 2016 * KING KONG, LIVE ON STAGE, Global Creatures, World Premiere, 2013 * MISS SAIGON, Cameron Mackintosh: Westend 2014, Tokyo, 2014 * MISS SAIGON, Cameron Mackintosh: Japan 2012, Holland 2011, Korea 2010/2011 * MAMMA MIA! 10th ANNIVERSARY AUSTRALIAN TOUR, Judy Craymer, Michael Coppell and Louise Withers and associates *

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed rom ...

tour for

Cameron Mackintosh Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "th ...

in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, 2007 & 2008 * Closing Ceremony of the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney, 2000

Resident Director

* Australasian tour of Mamma Mia in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and Melbourne * World Premiere of

The Boy from Oz ''The Boy from Oz'' is a Australian jukebox musical based on the life of singer and songwriter Peter Allen, featuring songs written by him. The book commissioned for the musical is by Nick Enright, based on Stephen MacLean's 1996 biography of A ...

starring

Todd McKenney Todd McKenney (born 31 May 1965) is an Australian dancer, theatre performer and TV personality. He is best known as a judge on Australian television talent show '' Dancing with the Stars''. As a theatre performer, he has appeared in numerous pr ...

Affiliate Director

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

for

David Williamson David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Vi ...

’s ''The Great Man'' and Katherine Thomson’s ''Navigating'' *

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

for ''Miracle City''

Acting

Theatre

* Constance Drinkwater and the Final days of Somerset * Shadow and Splendour (

Queensland Theatre Company Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Browne Theatre and the Queensland Performi ...

) *

Songket ''Songket'' is a ''Tenun'' fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. It is hand-woven in ...

(

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Green. Artistic direct ...

) * Sydney Stories (

) *

M. Butterfly ''M. Butterfly'' is a play by David Henry Hwang. The story, while entwined with that of the opera ''Madama Butterfly'', is based most directly on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer. T ...

(

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

) * Capricornia (

State Theatre Company of South Australia The State Theatre Company of South Australia (STCSA), branded State Theatre Company South Australia, formerly the South Australian Theatre Company (SATC), is South Australia's leading professional theatre company, and a statutory corporation. It ...

) * The Quartet from Rigoletto (

) * Cockroach Opera ( Company B) *

(

) *

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

(

Victoria State Opera The Victoria State Opera (VSO), based in Melbourne, Australia, was founded in Melbourne in 1962. The company, founded by Leonard Spira, was a move into grand opera by the then amateur Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Co. The n ...

) * The Wedding Song ( NIDA Company) *

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, heavily revised by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madcap ant ...

( Mike Walsh).

Television

* Over the Hill *

G. P. ''G.P.'' is an Australian television series produced by Roadshow, Coote & Carroll for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the series was broadcast for 8 seasons between 1989 and 1996. Synopsis The series, screened on the ABC, is set arou ...

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

* Bony *

Heartland Heartland or Heartlands may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution * Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States * Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization i ...

Mission Impossible ''Mission: Impossible'' is a multimedia franchise based on a fictional secret espionage agency known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). The 1966 TV series ran for seven seasons and was revived in 1988 for two seasons. It inspired a serie ...

* Richmond Hill * Tanamera - Lion of Singapore * Children of the Dragon *

The Leaving of Liverpool "(The) Leaving of Liverpool" (Roud 9435), also known as "Fare Thee Well, My Own True Love", is a folk song. Folklorists classify it as a lyrical lament and it was also used as a sea shanty, especially at the capstan. It is very well known in ...

A Difficult Woman ''A Difficult Woman'' is an Australian television series which screened in 1998 on the ABC. The three part series starred Caroline Goodall, in the title role of a woman whose best friend is murdered and is determined to find out why. It was writt ...

Film

The Home Song Stories ''The Home Song Stories'' is a 2007 Australian drama film written and directed by Tony Ayres, loosely based on aspects of his life. It stars Joan Chen, Joel Lok, Qi Yuwu, Irene Chen, Steven Vidler and Kerry Walker. The film premiered at t ...

(

Tony Ayres Tony Ayres (born 16 July 1961) is an Australian showrunner, screenwriter, director in television and feature film. He is most notable for his films '' Walking on Water'' and ''The Home Song Stories'', as well his work in television, including ...

) *

Floating Life ''Floating Life'' is a 1996 Australian drama film directed by Clara Law about a Hong Kong family who move to Australia. The film was selected as the Australian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 69th Academy Awards, but was not accep ...

(Clara Law)

Awards

Yap received a Green Room Award for Best Re-Staging by a Resident Artist for the world premiere of ''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yap, Darren Living people Male actors from Sydney People educated at Newington College National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni Australian theatre directors Australian male film actors Australian male stage actors Australian male television actors Western Sydney University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)