Matthew Werkmeister (born 30 January 1992) is an Australian stage and television actor. He is best known for his role as

Zeke Kinski Zeke Kinski is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Matthew Werkmeister. He made his first on-screen appearance on 22 August 2005. Zeke is the son of Alex Kinski and the younger brother of Katya and Rache ...

in the soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera, which has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons an ...

'' from 2005 to 2011 and 2014.

Career

Werkmeister began his career with the Children's Performing Company of Australia and is represented by ''Storm Actors''. Prior to appearing in ''Neighbours'', Werkmeister appeared in a stage production of ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is s ...

''. It was for this portrayal that he was nominated in 2005 for a ''Music Theatre Guild of Victoria: Awards for Excellence'' award in the category of Junior Performer (Male). The award was won by Daniel Todd for the stage production of ''Kiss Me Kate''. It was whilst he was appearing in ''The Full Monty'' that Werkmeister landed the role of Zeke Kinski in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours''. He almost missed out on the role when his father took the call about the audition and refused it because it was a five-hour drive to there. Werkmeister has said that he was "horrified" when he found out and called his agent back to find out if he could still attend the audition. He joined the cast in 2005 initially in a

recurring Recurring means occurring repeatedly and can refer to several different things: Mathematics and finance *Recurring expense, an ongoing (continual) expenditure *Repeating decimal, or recurring decimal, a real number in the decimal numeral syste ...

role before becoming a regular cast member. His portrayal of Zeke Kinski led to a nomination in 2008 for Best Young Actor at the

Inside Soap ''Inside Soap'' is a weekly magazine published in the United Kingdom, released every Tuesday. It covers current and future storylines in soap operas in the United Kingdom, including '' Coronation Street'', ''Doctors'', ''EastEnders'', ''Emmerdal ...

awards alongside fellow cast member Fletcher O'Leary (

Mickey Gannon ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that was first broadcast on 18 March 1985. The following is a list of characters that first appeared on the show in 2007, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the sh ...

). During his time on ''Neighbours'', Werkmeister met British singer

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

when she filmed a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

with him. Speaking about the cameo appearance, Werkmeister admitted he was "freaking out". In 2008, he joined the judging panel of the Inkys, Australia's only teenage choice book award judged by people under 20 years of age. The aim of the reward is to encourage young people to read. Of his judging role Werkmeister said "Finding the time is the difficult part but some of the books are great so the reading part has been fun." In 2009, Werkmeister was shortlisted for two

Logie Awards The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

. He was nominated for "Most Popular Actor" alongside fellow cast members

Steve Bastoni Steve Bastoni (born 4 March 1966) is an Award winning, Italian-born Australian actor. He became a household name in Australia for his role as Constable Yannis 'Angel' Angelopoulos in ''Police Rescue'' and as Steve Parker in ''Neighbours''. H ...

( Steve Parker), Alan Fletcher (

Karl Kennedy Karl Kennedy is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Alan Fletcher. The actor previously appeared in the soap in 1987 as mechanic Greg Cooper. He made his first screen appearance as Karl during the episo ...

Ryan Moloney Ryan Moloney (born 24 November 1979) is an Australian actor, known for his portrayal of the fictional character Jarrod "Toadfish" Rebecchi in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' since 1995. Career Moloney's first acting experience was with ...

(

Toadfish Rebecchi Jarrod Vincenzo Rebecchi (commonly known as "Toadfish" or "Toadie") is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Ryan Moloney. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 23 January 199 ...

) and

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

(

Harold Bishop Harold Wayne Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Ian Smith. The actor was offered the role by the show's creator and executive producer Reg Watson. Smith made his first screen appearance as H ...

). He was also shortlisted for "Most Popular Personality on TV" alongside fellow cast members

Pippa Black Pippa Black (born 16 October 1982) is an Australian actress. From 2005 to 2009, Black played Elle Robinson in the soap opera '' Neighbours''. Black played Tonya in the NBC series '' Outsourced'' from 2010 to 2011. Career Black appeared in the ...

(

Elle Robinson Lucinda "Elle" Robinson is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Pippa Black. The character made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 19 September 2005. She was introduced ...

Carla Bonner Carla Bonner is an Australian actress, known for playing the role of Stephanie Scully in the soap opera ''Neighbours'', a role she played from 1999 to 2010. She was also a guest on '' Celebrity Big Brother Australia'' in 2002. Following her de ...

(

Stephanie Scully Stephanie "Steph" Scully (also Hoyland) is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Carla Bonner. She made her first screen appearance during the episode that was broadcast on 20 October 1999. Following Bonner ...

) and

Tom Oliver Tom Oliver (born 12 June 1938) is a British-born Australian retired actor who started his career in theatre in his native country, before emigrating to Australia. Oliver, a staple of the small screen since the early 1960s, is best known for h ...

(

Lou Carpenter Lou Carpenter is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Tom Oliver. He made his first screen appearance on 30 March 1988. Oliver appeared for a brief time, having been initially contracted for six months, ...

). 2010 saw Werkmeister shortlisted for "Most Popular Actor" again. In October 2010, it was announced that Werkmeister was to leave ''Neighbours'' along with Jane Hall ( Rebecca Robinson) and

Erin Mullally Erin Mullally (born 2 January 1990) is an Australian actor and model best known for playing the role of Declan Napier in '' Neighbours''. Mullally was cast in the role after original actor, James Sorensen, left the show. The character of Declan i ...

(

Declan Napier Declan Napier is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by James Sorensen from 2007 to 2010, and Erin Mullally from 2010 to 2011. In January 2010 it was announced that Sorensen had quit the role of ...

). Speaking about his decision to leave, Werkmeister said "When I started on ''Neighbours'' I was only thirteen, I didn't shave or drive a car so I really have grown up on the show, I've learnt so much, worked with some great people who are now some of my closest friends." His final episode was broadcast on 11 March 2011. In 2012, Werkmeister made a cameo appearance in Australian band Eagle and the Worm's music video for their single "Give Me Time". In the video, he played a roller-skating sex symbol. From May to June 2013, Werkmeister performed as Roger Boothby in Barry Lowe's acclaimed stage play ''The Death of Peter Pan'' at Melbourne's

Chapel Off Chapel Chapel Off Chapel is a theatre venue in Prahran, Melbourne. Located near Chapel Street and opened in 1995, the venue consists of the 255-seat Chapel Theatre, the 150-seat Chapel Loft and a visual arts gallery. Chapel Off Chapel is particularly ...

. In April 2014, Werkmeister made a brief return to ''Neighbours'' as part of his on-screen family, the Kennedys' 20th anniversary.

Personal life

Werkmeister was educated at St Peters College in

Cranbourne, Victoria Cranbourne () is a city in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Casey local government area. Cranbourne recorded a population of 21,281 at the 2021 census. ...

and did most of his schoolwork by correspondence due to his acting commitments. In 2010, he attended his Débutante Ball. His hobbies include

skimboarding Skimboarding or skimming is a boardsport in which a skimboard (much like a surfboard but smaller and without fins) is used to glide across the water's surface to meet an incoming breaking wave, and ride it back to shore. Wave-riding skimboarders ...

, playing chess, oil painting, playing guitar and eating. Since leaving ''Neighbours'', Werkmeister has kept a low-profile. In February 2017, he moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

References

External links

*
Matthew Werkmeister at PerfectBlend.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Werkmeister, Mark Australian male soap opera actors Australian male stage actors Living people 1992 births 21st-century Australian male actors