Brendan Cowell

Brendan Cowell (born 16 August 1976) is an Australian actor, screenwriter, comedian and director. Cowell was born in Sydney. He discovered acting by accident while waiting for his sister to come out of a rehearsal; he was then cast in a commercial at age 8. He attended Charles Sturt University in Bathurst to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre/Media,[1] originally considering journalism as a career option.

Brendan Cowell
Born (1976-08-16) 16 August 1976
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActor, screenwriter, director

Cowell won the Patrick White Playwrights' Award for his third play Bed[2] along with a collection of other awards. His play Ruben Guthrie showed at the Belvoir St Theatre in 2009 to sell-out houses.[3] It has a new production at La Boite Theatre in 2011, starring Gyton Grantley and directed by David Berthold.[4] His most famous acting role is playing the enigmatic Tom on Australian cable TV's Love My Way, for which he also wrote several episodes, and playing Todd for the first two seasons on Life Support on SBS TV, for which he also wrote sketches. The Sublime (Melbourne Theatre Company) was shortlisted for the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards 2015.[5]

His most recent foray into film have included roles in the 2007 crime drama Noise, World War 1 war film Beneath Hill 60 and romantic comedy I Love You Too. He won some acclaim for his portrayal of the title role in Bell Shakespeare's 2008 Production of Hamlet[6] and acted in Sydney Theatre Company's production of True West, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, in 2010.[7] Brendan lives in Newtown, New South Wales Sydney and is a committed supporter of the Cronulla Sharks rugby league team.

In 2010 he published his first novel How it Feels.[8]

In 2017 he starred as Galileo Galilei in the Young Vic's production of Bertholt Brecht's Life of Galileo.[9]

Also in 2017, Cowell joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 7 as Harrag, an Ironborn sea captain allied to Theon Greyjoy.

In March 2019, it was announced that Brendan was selected to join the cast of the Avatar sequels as Mick Scoresby, captain of a large scale marine hunting vessel on Pandora.

Personal life

Brendan was born to parents Yvonne and Bruce 'Bruiser' Cowell. He has two older sisters, Belinda and Jacqui (who was part of pop group Girlfriend). He was a self-confessed loner at primary school, which he said was due to his reading poems out at assembly and making up little plays and forcing people to watch them. He dated Rose Byrne for six years until they amicably parted ways in early 2010.[10]

Brendan was criticised by media and political figures for perceived political opportunism for participating in a video condemning Prime Minister Tony Abbott for not doing enough to secure the lives of convicted drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in the days before their execution.[11]

Filmography

Television
Year TV show/TV movie Role Other notes
1998 Home and Away Colt TV mini-series
1999 Monster! Nate
Kick' Macca
2000 City Loop Robert Bored Olives (UK: new title)[12]
The Monkey's Mask Hayden Cercle intime (France), Maschera di scimmia, La (Italy), Poetry, Sex (Japan: English title)
2001 Water Rats Jonathan Freeman Episode: Family Matters
2001-2002 Life Support Todd No. 1
2002 Young Lions Jason Doone Episode #1.4
White Collar Blue Daniel Hudson Episode #1.12
2003 Floodhouse Herringbone John
Clutch Brian Short - 9 minutes
Fat Cow Motel Jack Green Regular cast
13 episodes
2004 Salem's Lot Dud Rogers mini-series
2005 Deck Dogz Kurt Regular
12 episodes
Love My Way Tom Jackson Regular cast
30 episodes
2010 Rush Blake Fincher Episode #1.12
Bee Sting Tom Stanners Short
14 minutes
2011 The Slap Craig Episode: Richie
Underbelly Files The Man Who Got Away Benny O'Connell TV movie
2012 Howzat! Kerry Packer's War Rod Marsh TV mini-series
I Missed My Mother's Funeral Young Man short
11 minutes
2013 The Outlaw Michael Howe British soldier (uncredited) TV movie
The Borgias Mattai the Hebrew
2014 Wastelander Panda Isaac Regular cast
6 episodes
Soul Mates Harry Cunston Episode: Self Destruction
2014-2016 Black Comedy Guest cast 4 episodes
episodes: (#1.2), (#1.3), (#1.5). (#2.6)
2015 Black Chook Jim Bloke Short
12 minutes
2016 A Thousand Words James Short
Brock Allan Moffat TV mini-series
2017 Game of Thrones Harrag 3 episodes
"The Queen's Justice", "The Spoils of War", "The Dragon and the Wolf"
National Theatre Live: Yerma John TV movie
2017, 2019 The Letdown Harry 3 episodes
Genealogy (#1.2), Matresence(#1.6), Rat Pack (#2.5)
2018 Press Peter Langly TV mini-series
2020 The End Chris Brennan

Theatre
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Bell Shakespeare's Hamlet Hamlet
2010 Sydney Theatre Company's True West [7] Austin
2014 Belvoir's Once in Royal David's City[13] Will

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2001 To End All Wars Wallace Hamilton
2006 Suburban Mayhem Interviewer (voice) uncredited
2007 Noise Constable Graham McGahan
2008 Three Blind Mice' Glenn
Ten Empty Shane Hackett
2010 Beneath Hill 60 Oliver Woodward
I Love You Too Jim
2012 Save Your Legs! Rick
2013 The Darkside
2015 Last Cab to Darwin Publican
Observance Employer
2016 Broke Dirk
2017 The Current War Confederate Soldier
2022 Avatar 2 Captain Mick Scoresby filming
2024 Avatar 3 Captain Mick Scoresby filming

Writing
Year Title Notes
2002 Sweet Dreams
Running Down These Dreams
Free
Wasted on the Young
I Love U
Baggage Claim
The Doppelgangers
Chrono-logic
2004-2007 Love My Way[14][15][16] 8 episodes
episodes: (#1.3) (#1.7) (#2.6) (#2.7) (#2.9) (#3.1) (#3.5) (#3.8)
2005 Europe[17]
2010 How It Feels
2007 Ten Empty[18]
2011 The Slap[17] Episode #1.3: "Harry"
2012 Save Your Legs![19]
2013 The Outlaw Michael Howe
2015 Ruben Guthrie

Director
Year Title
2005 Europe
2013 The Outlaw Michael Howe
2015 Ruben Guthrie
gollark: Finally.
gollark: Xenowyrms!
gollark: Xenpwuems!
gollark: Xenowurms!
gollark: Er, xenoeyrms!

References
  1. "Brendan Cowell – Actor-writer-director-producer". Alumni.csu.edu.au. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  2. "Sydney Theatre Company – Patrick White Playwrights' Award". Sydneytheatre.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  3. "Ruben Guthrie, Productions | Belvoir St Theatre". Belvoir.com.au. 5 July 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  4. "All things Ruben Guthrie: An Interview with David Berthold (La Boite)". Aussietheatre.com.au. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  5. "New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards" (PDF). SL Magazine. 8 (4): 36. Summer 2015.
  6. "Hamlet | Bell Shakespeare". Australianstage.com.au. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  7. "True West | Sydney Theatre Company". Australianstage.com.au. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  8. Theo Chapman. "How It Feels | Book Review | Brendan Cowell's First Novel". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  9. https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/life-of-galileo
  10. "Rose Byrne and Brendan Cowell split". Heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  11. "Bali nine: Julie Bishop defends Tony Abbott over celebrity mercy video". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  12. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  13. "Once in Royal David's City Belvoir Sydney 2014 | Belvoir St Theatre". Belvoir.com.au. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  14. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  15. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  16. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  17. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. 1 July 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  18. "Pan Macmillan Australia: About the Book". Panmacmillan.com.au. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  19. "Screen Australia". Screen Australia. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
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