James Mathison (born 14 January 1978) is an Australian television presenter and former independent political candidate.

Early life

Mathison was born in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and grew up in

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the en ...

suburb of

Frenchs Forest Frenchs Forest (pron. frenches) is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Frenchs Forest is 13 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Cou ...

. He attended St. Augustine's College, in Brookvale. After leaving school, he worked in various jobs, including working in a warehouse for a mail-order company and as a cashier at a service station, before spending a year on exchange in South America.

Career

Entertainment

Television

In 2001, Mathison was a contestant on the Channel Ten reality TV show '' The $20 Challenge'', during which he was shown busking on the streets of London for extra money. He achieved second place in the contest. Weeks after returning from London, he auditioned for pay-TV channel Channel s new reporter search. After making it through to the final 8, he was offered a job there as

video journalist Video journalism or videojournalism is a form of journalism, where the journalist shoots, edits and often presents his or her own video material. Background A predecessor to video journalism first appeared in the 1960s in the USA, when reporters ...

. In 2003, Mathison was appointed co-host of ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program '' Pop Ido ...

'' alongside Channel host

Andrew Günsberg Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

. They created a behind-the-scenes show for Channel called ''Australian Idol Extra'' for the second and third seasons of the programme. On 31 March 2009, after six years with ''Australian Idol'', it was announced Mathison had quit as co-host. Mathison appeared on a celebrity episode of the Australian version of ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsl ...

'' in October 2005, in which he was declared the winner, beating vegan Osher Günsberg (aka. Andrew G). Mathison has also been a presenter on

Nova 96.9 Nova 96.9 (call sign: 2SYD) is a commercial radio station operating in Sydney, Australia. The station is owned by NOVA Entertainment along with sister station, smoothfm 95.3 Audience In 2014 Nova had a 4% share of the Sydney audience on ...

where he hosted "LaunchPad", a late night new music show with Patience Hodgkins of Brisbane band The Grates, as well as co hosting summer breakfast. In 2005 and 2006, James hosted the ARIA Music Awards. In 2007, James, along with Hamish and Andy, hosted the ARIA Red Carpet segment. He also made a brief cameo appearance on the Australian feature film '' BoyTown'' in the ARIA's scene playing himself alongside Ella Hooper. In June 2009,

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

announced that James would be a reporter and panelist on '' The 7pm Project'' covering media and sport alongside, Charlie Pickering, Carrie Bickmore and

Dave Hughes David William Hughes (born 26 November 1970) is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter. He is known for his larrikin personality, drawling Australian accent, and deadpan comedic delivery. Hughes co-hosts ''Hughesy, ...

. In July 2012, Mathison joined '' Weekend Sunrise'' where he replaced Jonathan Coleman as a movie reviewer. In July 2013, Network Ten announced Mathison would be presenter of its new breakfast program ''

Wake Up Wake Up or wake up is to awake. It may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Wake Up'' (Anthony Neely album) or the title song, 2012 * ''Wake Up!'' (The Boo Radleys album), 1995 * ''Wake Up'' (BTS album) or the title song, 2014 * ''Wake Up!'' (Ha ...

'' alongside Natarsha Belling, Natasha Exelby and

Nuala Hafner Nuala Hafner is an Australian media personality of Ghanaian descent. She is also a psychologist. Early life and education Hafner was born in London, England, to Ghanaian-born Australian Dorinda Hafner. Her parents met in England, where her fa ...

until the show was cancelled in May 2014. In 2015, Mathison was a contestant in the fourth season of '' The Celebrity Apprentice Australia''. He appears intermittently on both '' The Project'' and Studio 10 on

Music

Mathison also played in the Sydney-based band called The Punisherz between 2006 and 2008. They managed to play at both The Big Day Out and the

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Lorne ( Victoria), Marion Bay (Tasmania), Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve ...

. In June and July 2008, Mathison played Adam, the partner of Eve, in the Chester Mystery Plays in the United Kingdom.

Politics

On 28 May 2016, Mathison announced that he would contest the 2016 federal election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

candidate for the federal seat of Warringah. The seat was held by

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Lond ...

, a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

and a former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. Mathison received 11.4% of the primary vote. He assisted in grassroots training and campaign events supporting Zali Steggall in her successful bid to win the federal seat of Warringah as an independent in 2019.

References

External links

*
WHO.com Australian Idol blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathison, James 1978 births Australian Idol Australian television presenters Australian music critics Australian music journalists Australian VJs (media personalities) People from Sydney The Apprentice Australia candidates Living people