Matthew Walker is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

–born Australian-trained actor and performer.

Background

Walker was born on 11 May 1979 in

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

. Walker trained at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art

NIDA Nida or NIDA may refer to: People * Nida Allam (born 1993), American politician * Nida Fazli (1938–2016), Indian Hindi and Urdu poet and lyricist * Nida Eliz Üstündağ (born 1996), Turkish female swimmer * Eugene Nida (1914–2011), American l ...

, Australia's leading drama school, boasting graduates such as Cate Blanchette, Toni Collette and Sam Worthington. He was accepted into NIDA in 2002, after auditioning alongside over 4000 other people for the 20 places in the schools acting course. He graduated in 2004. Walker also completed a business and arts degree at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, majoring in marketing, and theatre and film.

Television roles

Walker currently plays Dr. Karl Vanderbeck in New Zealand's popular prime time drama series Shortland Street. Walker played the leading role of Adam Martini in Danish / New Zealand co-production Straight Forward. Described as an international crime caper the big budget 8 part series is currently filming in Auckland, Queenstown and Copenhagen. Walker appeared in the TVNZ drama " Dirty Laundry" as bad guy Nikki Rossini, and played a recurring character, Ford Hathaway, in the second season of TVNZ's " Filthy Rich". He also played Vince Cully, a recurring character in the final season of Australian Channel 7 series

800 Words ''800 Words'' (stylised as ''800 words'') is a comedy-drama television series, co-produced by South Pacific Pictures and Seven Productions for the Seven Network. Premise George Turner is a popular columnist for a top-selling Sydney newspaper, ...

. Other television and film credits include Chinese war epic '' The Children of Huang Shi'' appearing alongside

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers (born Jonathan Michael Francis O'Keeffe; 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor, model and musician. He is known for his roles in the films ''Michael Collins'' (1996), ''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998), ''Titus'' (1999), ''Bend It Like B ...

. "

Rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...

" and '' The Cut'' for the ABC (playing identical twins in "The Cut"), and "

Legend of the Seeker ''Legend of the Seeker'' is an American television series created by Sam Raimi, based on the fantasy novel series ''The Sword of Truth'' by Terry Goodkind. Distributed in U.S. by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, ABC Studios produced the series ...

" for Disney. Walker is well known for his role as Justin Jefferies, the elder brother of

Aden Jefferies Aden Jefferies is a fictional character from the Australian Channel Seven soap opera ''Home and Away'', played by Todd Lasance. He debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 4 August 2005. Aden was introduced in 2005 as a recurring charact ...

in the popular channel 7 soap ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

''.

Filmography (incomplete)

Television

Stage

He has appeared on-stage at the Sydney Opera House with the

Bell Shakespeare Company Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney. The Bell Shakespeare vision is to create theatre that allows audiences of all wal ...

, and with Griffin Theatre Company in the world premiere of ''Colder'', and the Australasian premiere of Tracey Letts " Bug". He played Lysander in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' by Mendelssohn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He ...

References

External links

* 1979 births Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Living people New Zealand male film actors New Zealand male television actors People from Hamilton, New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington alumni {{NewZealand-actor-stub