Popular Actors from New South Wales

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© the National Library of Australia

The contemporary concept of acting and theatre was first brought to Australia with the white settlers in 1788. Based on the English theatre traditions of amateur musical comedies and pantomimes, Australia's first actors would treat the profession as a hobby designed specifically for the purposes of entertainment. It is supposed that the first theatrical performance in Australia was held in 1789 to celebrate the birthday of King George III, where convicts enacted the comedy 'The Recruiting Officer'.

Australia's first stars of the stage would emerge in the late 1800s in the wake of several international theatrical acts who had toured Australia in the gold rush era. Yet it would be the advent of the cinema in the 1920s which would take the acting profession to new heights. Australian films would tell distinctly Australian stories with a focus on the land and a sense of place and the sense of dispossession and isolation which was felt across white and indigenous culture. As the Australian film industry gained further credibility in the 1980s, so too did Australian actors who were increasingly taking on roles in Hollywood blockbusters with great success. Actors from New South Wales including Toni Collette and Nicole Kidman have regularly been nominated for prestigious international acting awards, with Nicole Kidman winning both an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 2003 for her role as Virginia Woolf in 'The Hours'. Much-lauded Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett runs the Sydney Theatre Company with her playwright husband Andrew Upton.

As Australian actors continue to gain recognition overseas, the local industry would provide their starting ground. Locally produced theatre from award winning theatre companies, television series as well as the film industry continue to document and comment on life in contemporary Australia.