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Don Hany
Australian actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Don Hany is an Australian film, television, and stage actor. He is best known in Australia for his role as Zane Malik in East West 101 and in the US for starring in the NBC medical comedy-drama series Heartbeat (2016).
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He has received a number of accolades and nominations. He won a Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor, playing the protagonist, Zane Malik, in the SBS series East West 101 (2007–2011). He also received three AACTA Awards nominations for the role.
He had an early role playing Senior Constable Theo Rahme in the Network 10 police drama series White Collar Blue (2002–2003) for two seasons. He also played Dr. Chris Havel in the Network 10 comedy-drama series Offspring (2010–2011). In 2014, he starred in the prison drama film Healing, for which he received a Best Actor award nomination from the Film Critics Circle of Australia. In 2017, he starred in the romantic comedy film Ali's Wedding, for which he received a nomination for AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He played Dr. Mackenzie in the Showcase mystery romantic drama series Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018). He also played the Australian prime minister in the second season of Showcase political thriller television series Secret City (2019).
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Early life and education
Don Hany was born in Australia to an Iraqi father, Tewfiq, and a Hungarian mother, Csilla;[1] his father is a classically-trained pianist and restaurateur, and his mother is a doctor of economics. Hany's maternal great-grandfather was shot dead outside his home in Miskolc by the Red Army, who mistook him for a German soldier.[1] In 1946, Hany's maternal grandfather joined the Hungarian Communist Party.[1] His parents met in Budapest in the 1960s and they emigrated to Australia in 1970.[1] Csilla rejected the communist doctrine of her native country and Tewfiq spurned the Islamic beliefs of his upbringing. His parents divorced during his adolescence, and he and his twin brother were raised by their mother.[1]
Hany grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales.[1] He attended high school in the Netherlands for one year as an exchange student, and later completed a degree in dramatic arts at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean.[2]
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Career
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In 1998, Hany began his television career, starring in the soapie Breakers. In 2000, he had a small role in Water Rats. In 2002, he had a role in the telemovie Heroes' Mountain and in the police drama White Collar Blue.[3] He later moved to Los Angeles to complete shooting for the short film Winning the Peace. Hany plays an Iraqi-American Marine deployed to Baghdad, and he went on to win the Best Actor award at Method Fest in 2005.[4]
In 2006, he returned to Australia to work on the film Lucky Miles, which went on to win the audience award for Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival. Beginning in 2007, Hany starred in the Australian mini-drama series East West 101 for SBS television, in which he played the lead role of Zane Malik. The show was later expanded, running for two more seasons, concluding in 2011.[5] In 2010, Hany won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor, having been previously nominated for the same role in 2008.[6] In 2012, Hany and the cast won the Equity Award for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for their work in the third season of the show.[7]
In 2008, he had a recurring role in the first season of Underbelly, an acclaimed Australian television true crime-drama series on the Nine Network. The series depicts the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, with Hany playing Nik Radev.[8] In 2009, Hany also starred in the two-part Australian television mini-series False Witness for BBC UKTV. Hany played the role of Sergei Krousov, a Russian mafia figure.[9] In the same year, he starred alongside Joel Edgerton in ABC1's drama series Dirt Game.[10]
In 2010, he joined the main cast of the Foxtel drama Tangle, playing politician Spiros Georgiades. He also joined Channel Ten's comedy-drama series Offspring, in the role of paediatrician Chris Havel. He played the love interest and colleague of the series' protagonist, Dr Nina Proudman, played by Asher Keddie.[3] In 2011, he was nominated for the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor for his roles in Tangle and Offspring.
In 2011, Hany starred in the Nine Network movie premiere of Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer was Here, reprising his role from Underbelly, Nik Radev. In 2012, he was cast in two telemovies, Jack Irish: Bad Debts and Jack Irish: Black Tide, which are based on the books Bad Debts and Black Tide by Peter Temple, and which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[11]
In 2013, Hany took the lead role of Sam Callaghan in the HBO Asia production Serangoon Road. The following year, Hany appeared in The Broken Shore, a telemovie that aired on the ABC. He also starred in the mini-series Devil's Playground. In the same year, he appeared in the fifth season of Who Do You Think You Are?.[1][12] In 2014, he played the lead role in the Australian drama film Healing, alongside Hugo Weaving. Hany plays Viktor, an Iranian prisoner in a low-security correctional centre, close to the end of his 18-year prison sentence.[12] The film garnered acclaim, including a four-star review from Margaret Pomeranz on At the Movies for ABC.[13][14] Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter was also enthusiastic Hany's performance: "Weaving is terrific as Matt Perry...But the film belongs to Don Hany, a veteran of Australian television starring in his first major film."[15] Hany was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2014 Film Critics Circle of Australia, losing out to Russell Crowe for The Water Diviner.[16]
In 2014, he was cast as the male lead in Warriors, a pilot for the American Broadcasting Company. The medical drama series, with Hany playing a military doctor, was not picked up for a series order.[17][18] However, he was later cast as Dr. Jesse Shane, chief of surgery at St. Matthew's Hospital in the NBC medical comedy-drama series Heartbeat (2016).[19] In 2017, he starred in the critically acclaimed Australian romantic comedy Ali's Wedding.[20] He received a nomination for AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role, losing out to Dev Patel in Lion.[21]
In 2018, Hany starred in Foxtel's Showcase mystery romantic drama television series Picnic at Hanging Rock, a television adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay.[22][23][24] In 2019, Hany played Australian prime minister Ewan Garrety in the second season of the political thriller Secret City, alongside Anna Torv.[25]
The following year, Hany took over the role of Pierce Greyson in Neighbours from Tim Robards for a guest stint.[26] In 2022, Hany was cast alongside Claudia Karvan in the Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia co-production The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee, set for the 2023 season.[27] Hany subsequently withdrew from the production for personal reasons and the role was recast with Nathan Page.[28]
In 2025, he stars in The Survivors, a Netflix crime-mystery series set in Tasmania. The series is based on Jane Harper's novel of the same name.[29] In August 2025, Hany would join the filming of UK/Australia Co-commissioned series Imposter.[30]
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Personal life
Hany married actress Alin Sumarwata in 2011. The couple have two daughters.[31][32]
He is an agnostic atheist.[2]
Filmography
Film
Television
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Awards and nominations
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References
External links
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