Matthew Parkinson is an Australian comedian, actor, radio presenter and quiz show personality.

Life and career

Parkinson was born 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 ...

, Western Australia. He began acting at school and studied theatre arts at the

Western Australian Institute of Technology Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

. His professional career began in Perth at

the Hole in the Wall Theatre The Hole in the Wall Theatre was a small theatre in the Perth suburb of Leederville, Western Australia, operating from 1968 to 1984. In 1984 it was relocated to a civic auditorium in Subiaco which, , is known as the Subiaco Arts Centre, a her ...

where he appeared in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by ''Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition ...

'', ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' and the title role in Ben Johnson's ''

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...

''. Parkinson was formerly a member of the comedy duo the Empty Pockets, along with Matthew Quartermaine, who featured regularly on the television comedy shows ''

The Big Gig ''The Big Gig'' was a popular Australian television sketch comedy music/variety series based on the British TV series '' Saturday Live''. It was produced and broadcast on ABC TV in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by ...

'' and '' Full Frontal''. Parkinson was also a champion winner of television game show ''

Sale of the Century ''Sale of the Century'' (stylized as ''$ale of the Century'') is an American television game show that originally debuted on September 29, 1969, on NBC daytime. It was one of three NBC game shows to premiere on that date, the other two being th ...

'' in the 1990s. Parkinson was one of the hosts of the

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations. The network dates back to th ...

breakfast program '' The Cage'' in Melbourne. After the axing of ''The Cage'' in the Sydney market at the end of 2006, he moved to Melbourne to continue to co-host the show. He was a regular member of the "Brains Trust" on the ABC quiz show ''

The Einstein Factor ''The Einstein Factor'' was an Australian television quiz show that was broadcast on ABC1. The show's host is comedian and broadcaster Peter Berner. It was first broadcast in 2004 and in 2009 the show commenced its sixth and final season, with t ...

'', hosted by fellow ''Cage'' member

Peter Berner Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

. He was also a judge on ''

Comedy Slapdown ''Comedy Slapdown'' is an Australian television improvised comedy program produced by FremantleMedia, that first aired on The Comedy Channel from 8 November 2008 at 7:30pm. The show is hosted by H.G. Nelson and features a variety of comedians ...

'' hosted by H.G. Nelson which appeared on

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Servi ...

in 2008. In 2010 he was a writer on the comedy murder-mystery game show

Sleuth 101 ''Sleuth 101'' was an Australian comedy "improvisatory whodunit game show" television series, broadcast on ABC1 in 2010. The series revolves around a murder-mystery that must be solved by a celebrity guest detective. Each episode features a gu ...

on the ABC. In 2011, Parkinson had a cardiac arrest while playing indoor cricket in Melbourne. In 2015, he was announced as one of the "chasers" on the Australian version of the UK quiz show '' The Chase'' on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

where he is nicknamed "Goliath". He also appears in the celebrity edition of the show. Parkinson is married to television producer Maryanne Carroll.

References

External links

*
Profile at ''The Einstein Factor''
Australian male comedians Contestants on Australian game shows Male actors from Perth, Western Australia Triple M presenters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Curtin University alumni {{Australia-tv-bio-stub