Kodi Smit-McPhee (born 13 June 1996) is an Australian actor. He gained recognition as a child actor for his leading roles in ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'' (2009) and ''
Let Me In'' (2010). In 2021, Smit-McPhee garnered critical acclaim for his performance as Peter Gordon in
Jane Campion
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and '' The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for which she has received a tot ...
's western film ''
The Power of the Dog'', for which he earned nominations for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, a
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
, and a
Screen Actors Guild Award
Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...
, and won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He provided the voice of the titular character in ''
ParaNorman'' (2012) and appeared in ''
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'' (2014), ''
X-Men: Apocalypse'' (2016), ''
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whi ...
'' (2018), and ''
Dark Phoenix'' (2019).
Early life
Smit-McPhee was born on 13 June 1996
in
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 ...
, South Australia, the son of Sonja Smit and Andy McPhee. His father is an actor and former professional wrestler. His older sister is actress and singer
Sianoa Smit-McPhee.
At age 16, Smit-McPhee was diagnosed with
ankylosing spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a type of arthritis characterized by long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine typically where the spine joins the pelvis. Occasionally areas affected may include other joints such as the shoulders or hi ...
, a degenerative form of
arthritis
Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
which causes vertebrae in the spine to fuse and can lead to chronic pain and loss of vision. Due to the condition, he is
blind in his left eye.
Career
![Kodi Smit-McPhee Comic-Con 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Kodi_Smit-McPhee_Comic-Con_2012.jpg)
Smit-McPhee's first feature film role was in ''
Romulus, My Father
''Romulus, My Father'' is a biographical memoir, first published in 1998, written by the Australian philosopher Raimond Gaita. The memoir outlines the life of his father, Romulus Gaita (1922 – May 1996).
Plot
Romulus Gaita fled his hometown o ...
'', which garnered him the 2007
AFI Award for Best Young Actor
as well as a Best Actor nomination.
For his appearance in ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'' (2009), he received a
Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Young Actor
and a 2010
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...
(AFI) nomination for Best International Actor.
The following year, he starred in ''
Let Me In'', for which he received a 2010
Critics Choice Award
The Critics' Choice Movie Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American-Canadian Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Writ ...
nomination for Best Young Actor for his performance in the film.
Smit-McPhee then voiced the lead role of Norman in ''
ParaNorman'', a 2012 animated comedy horror film which was nominated for Best Animated Feature for the 2013
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, and also received a 2013
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
nomination for Best Animated Film. Later the same year, Smit-McPhee had a role in ''
Dead Europe'', which premiered at the 2012
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. His next role came in ''The Wilderness of James'' in the title role of James. He also starred in ''
A Birder's Guide to Everything
''A Birder's Guide to Everything'' is a 2013 independent film starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alex Wolff, Michael Chen, Katie Chang, James Le Gros, Daniela Lavender and Sir Ben Kingsley. It was written by Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny and directed by Rob ...
'', which premiered at the 2013
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
, and played Benvolio in a film adaptation of ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''. He co-starred in the
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
film ''
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes'' (2014).
In 2013, Smit-McPhee filmed the action science fiction film ''
Young Ones''. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
in January 2014. Soon afterwards he appeared in ''
Slow West
''Slow West'' is a 2015 Revisionist Western film that was written and directed by John Maclean in his directorial debut. It stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as a young Scotsman searching for his lost love in the American West, accompanied by a bounty hun ...
'', which was released in 2015.
In March 2014, he was cast in the
Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
's seven-part drama series ''
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
'' which was broadcast in February and March 2015, the year that marks the 100th anniversary of the
Gallipoli landing. He plays 17-year-old Thomas "Tolly" Johnson, who pretends to be older so that he can enlist with his brother Bevan and ends up fighting at Gallipoli in
the campaign that helped create the Anzac legend. Aged 17 when he undertook the role, Smit-McPhee said afterwards that it showed "that soldiers aren't the patriotic brave souls they look like, it's showing them at their most vulnerable in tragic times and when they are terrified".
Smit-McPhee played
Nightcrawler in ''
X-Men: Apocalypse'' (2016), a character whose older version was previously played by
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...
. Smit-McPhee reprised the role in ''
Dark Phoenix'', which was released in 2019.
In 2018, he played the central character Keda, an
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
adolescent who tames a wolf, in ''
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whi ...
''.
In 2021, Smit-McPhee starred in
Jane Campion
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and '' The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for which she has received a tot ...
's film ''
The Power of the Dog''. The film premiered at the
78th Venice International Film Festival
The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...
, where it opened to critical acclaim. Smit-McPhee's performance in particular received praise, with Carlos Aguilar of ''
TheWrap
''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman
Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...
'' calling him "terrifyingly remarkable" and
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''.
Early life and education
Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' writing, "Smit-McPhee brings something inscrutably complex and reserved to his character's behaviour". In March 2022, Smit-McPhee joined Alfonso Cuaron's upcoming Apple+ series ''
Disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship. In contrast to other terms for legally operative langua ...
''.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
Smit-McPhee received many youth awards for his performances in films ''
Romulus, My Father
''Romulus, My Father'' is a biographical memoir, first published in 1998, written by the Australian philosopher Raimond Gaita. The memoir outlines the life of his father, Romulus Gaita (1922 – May 1996).
Plot
Romulus Gaita fled his hometown o ...
'' (2007), ''
Let Me In'' (2010) and ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'' (2009).
His critically acclaimed performance
in ''
The Power of the Dog'' (2021) earned him a
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...
,
British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit-Mcphee, Kodi
1996 births
21st-century Australian male actors
Living people
Male actors from Adelaide
Male actors from Melbourne
Actors with disabilities
Australian male child actors
Australian male film actors
Australian male television actors
Australian male voice actors
Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners