Matthew Walker (Australian actor)

Matthew Walker is a New Zealand–born Australian-trained actor and performer.

Matthew Walker
Born	11 May 1979 Hamilton, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present
Known for	Straight Forward Filthy Rich Home and Away Hercules: The Legendary Journeys headLand The Children of Huang Shi Shortland Street

Early life

Walker was born on 11 May 1982 in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Walker trained at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Australia's leading drama school, boasting graduates such as Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Sam Worthington. He was accepted into NIDA in 2002, after auditioning alongside over 4,000 other people for the 20 places in the school's acting course. He graduated in 2004.

Walker also completed a business and arts degree at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in marketing, and theatre and film.

Career

Television

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 was filmed in Auckland, Queenstown and Copenhagen.

He 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.

Walker is well known for his role as Justin Jefferies, the elder brother of Aden Jefferies in the popular Channel 7 soap Home and Away.^[1][2][3]

Other television credits include Rake, The Cut (for the ABC), and Legend of the Seeker (for Disney). Walker currently plays Dr. Karl Vanderbeck in New Zealand's popular prime time drama series Shortland Street.

Film

Walker appeared in Chinese war epic The Children of Huang Shi alongside Jonathan Rhys-Meyers.

Stage

Walker has appeared on-stage in Much Ado About Nothing at the Sydney Opera House^[4] with the Bell Shakespeare Company, in the world premiere of Colder with Griffin Theatre Company and in the Australasian premiere of Tracey Letts' Bug. He also played Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Mendelssohn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Children of Huang Shi[5]	Andy Fischer	Feature film
2009	Vinyl	DJ	Short film
2021	Love Knots[6]	William 'Will' Calvin	TV film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Tiresius	TV series, 1 episode
2002	Dark Knight	Outlaw son	TV series, 1 episode
2005-06	headLand	Heath Forbes (main)	TV series
2009	Legend of the Seeker	Kieran	TV series, 1 episode
2009	The Cut	Nathan Bailey / Kerry Bailey (Identical twins)	TV series, 2 episodes
2010	Rake	Bill Hampton (Advisor)	TV series, 2 episodes
2010	Home and Away	Justin Jefferies (main)	TV series
2016	Dirty Laundry	Nikki Rossini	TV series, 4 episodes
2017	Filthy Rich	Ford Hathaway	TV series, season 2, 4 episodes
2017-18	800 Words	Vince Cully (recurring)	TV series, final season
2019	Straight Forward[7]	Adam Martini	TV series, 7 episodes
2020-21	Shortland Street	Dr. Karl Vanderbeck (main)	TV series

Directing

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2022	Small Waves	Director	Short film

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The Mediator		East Village Hotel with The Judas Tree
2006	Romeo and Juliet	Abraham / Benvolio	Bell Shakespeare Company
2008	Colder	David Norman	World premiere at Stables Theatre with Griffin Theatre Company
2009	Sydney Ghosts Story	Various characters	Old Fitzroy Theatre
2009	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander & Francis Flute / Thisbe	Sydney Theatre Company & Sydney Symphony Orchestra[8]
2010	Bug	Peter Evens	Australasian premiere at SBW Stables Theatre with Griffin Theatre Company / Picture This Productions
2011	Othello	Cassio	Peach Theatre Company
2011	Much Ado About Nothing	Don Pedro	Sydney Opera House, The Playhouse Canberra, Playhouse, Melbourne with Bell Shakespeare Company

^[9][10]