Tony McNamara (born 1967) is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and television producer. He is also an occasional film director and producer.

Early life

McNamara was born in Kilmore, Australia, and was educated at

Assumption College, Kilmore Assumption College (often known as ACK, where the K stands for Kilmore) is an Australian Catholic co-educational secondary day and boarding school. The school is located in the town of Kilmore, Victoria. The College was founded in 1893 by the ...

. Following careers in catering and finance, McNamara settled on a career as a writer following a visit to Rome. His education consisted of studying writing at the

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

and screenwriting at the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

Career

After writing various television episodes and stage plays, McNamara made his film debut in 2003 directing ''

The Rage in Placid Lake ''The Rage in Placid Lake'' is a 2003 Australian film starring Ben Lee and Rose Byrne. It features Placid Lake (Lee), a seventeen-year-old boy who has led a suburban hippie life with his neurotic, Free love, free loving parents. The film documen ...

'', adapted from his stage play ''The Café Latte Kid''. Following this, McNamara wrote for various television programmes in Australia, most notably ''

The Secret Life of Us ''The Secret Life of Us'' is an Australian television drama series set in the beachside neighbourhood of St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is primarily a drama with some comedic moments. The series was produced by Souther ...

'', ''

Love My Way ''Love My Way'' is an Australian television drama series. It won the AFI award for Best Television Drama Series for each of its three seasons (2004–2007). Premise Set in Sydney, ''Love My Way'' was about a group of 30-somethings dealing wit ...

'', ''

Tangle Tangle may refer to: Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics *''The Tangle'' is the name of the ledger, a directed acyclic graph, used for the cryptocurrency IOTA *Tangle (mathematics), a topological object Natural sciences & medicine ...

'' and ''

Puberty Blues ''Puberty Blues'' is a 1981 Australian coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford, based on the 1979 novel of the same name (essentially a protofeminist teen novel) by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey. Plot The story focuses o ...

''. In 2015, McNamara directed his second feature film, comedy-drama ''

Ashby Ashby may refer to: People * Ashby (surname) * Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England * Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and publi ...

'' starring

Mickey Rourke Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films. During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

and

Emma Roberts Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991 Additional on October 9, 2016) is an American actress. Known for her work in film and television projects of the horror film, horror and thriller (genre), thriller genres, she has received List of awar ...

. A year later, McNamara returned to television as creator of medical drama '' Doctor Doctor''. In 2018, McNamara received critical acclaim for his work in co-writing the historical comedy-drama film ''

The Favourite ''The Favourite'' is a 2018 period black comedy film co-produced and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, from a screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. Set in early 18th century Great Britain, the film's plot examines the relationship betw ...

''. McNamara created ''

The Great This is a list of people known as the Great, or the equivalent, in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes, such as Persian ''e Bozorg'' and Urdu ''e Azam''. In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to have been a co ...

'', a series revolving around the life of

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, starring

Elle Fanning Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998) is an American actress. She made her film debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's character in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001). As a child actress, she appeared in several films, inc ...

and

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...

which premiered on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

on May 15, 2020. It is based upon his play about Catherine the Great, which premiered at the

Sydney Theater 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 Theatre) ...

in 2008. McNamara also wrote a film adaptation of the play, "It had been a play and a film, and I was always struggling

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

the fact it was such a massive story for a film. I wanted to tell it as a story that goes for years and years."

Filmography

Film

Television

Personal life

McNamara is married to Australian actress

Belinda Bromilow Belinda Bromilow (born 21 May 1975) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in the Nine Network series, '' Doctor Doctor'' (2016–2021), and the Hulu series, ''The Great'' (2020–present)''.'' Education Bromilow studied acting ...

, who appears as Aunt Elizabeth in ''The Great''.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Tony 1967 births Living people Australian film directors Australian film producers Australian filmmakers Australian screenwriters Australian television producers Australian television writers Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award winners Best Screenplay AACTA International Award winners Australian male television writers