Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor, known for performances in film, television and on stage.

Early life

Winter's family moved from Australia to

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, United States, when he was in grade ten. It was the freedom of his American school and new friends, that he credits with passion for the arts and creative thinking. He states that he started to think a bit too creatively, so his parents sent him back to Australia to attend boarding school where he fell in love with English literature and theatre. Winter spent a year studying at

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, and then went on to study acting at Victorian College of Arts.

Career

Screen

Winter's film roles include ''

Balibo Balibo is a town in East Timor situated approximately from the Indonesian border. It is located in the sub-district of Balibo, Bobonaro District. It was estimated by Human Rights Watch that 70 percent of the town was destroyed dur ...

'' (2009), ''

Blame Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, or making negative statements about an individual or group that their actions or inaction are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible fo ...

'' (2010), ''

Dangerous Remedy ''Dangerous Remedy'' is an Australian historical drama and crime thriller telemovie, which was broadcast on ABC1 on 4 November 2012. It depicts real life Scottish-born doctor, Bertram Wainer ( Jeremy Sims) as he strives for abortion law refor ...

'' (2012), ''

Healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

'' (2014), '' One Eyed Girl'' (2015), ''The Dressmaker'' alongside

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Primarily known for her roles as headstrong and complicated women in independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Ac ...

, and '' Little Tornadoes'' (2020). He starred in the 2020 thriller film '' Escape from Pretoria''. In the TV series ''

Pine Gap Pine Gap is a joint Australian–United States satellite communications and signals intelligence surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately south-west of the town of Alice Springs. It is jointly operated by Australia and ...

'' (2018) Winter played a technical

geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...

on the

autism spectrum Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, Moses Dreyfus. Winter was nominated for an AACTA Award for his performance in 2020's TV mini-series, '' Halifax: Retribution''. Following that, Winter played Callum on the TV mini-series ''Inside'', then Russell in the TV series ''

The Newsreader ''The Newsreader'' is an Australian television Drama (film and television), drama series created by Michael Lucas and broadcast on ABC (Australian TV network), ABC Television, starring Anna Torv and Sam Reid (actor), Sam Reid. The show explores ...

'' in 2021. In 2021 he also played Joel Welch, a

methadone Methadone, sold under the brand names Dolophine and Methadose among others, is a synthetic opioid used medically to treat chronic pain and opioid use disorder. Prescribed for daily use, the medicine relieves cravings and opioid withdrawal sym ...

addict in episode 3 of the ABC TV series ''

Fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion reaction when the fuel ...

''.

Stage

On stage, he has performed major roles with leading Australian theatre companies, including the

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in the Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Theatre ...

and the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...

. Winter is one of the founding members of Black Lung, an independent theatre company. In 2015, Winter starred in the

's production of

Simon Stephens Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is a British-Irish playwright, musician and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is ...

' ''Birdland''. for which he won Best Male Actor at the

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...

. Winter directed

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor and comedian. Over the course of his career he has received an Emmy Award and a Tony Award as well as nominations for four Golden Globe ...

in an American production of ''The Blind Date Project'', a type of

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

which he helped to devise.

Directing

Winter's first film as writer-director, '' The Rooster'', is a

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

starring

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is a British actor. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Born in Colonia ...

, which premiered at the

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

in August 2023. The film was selected as one of four nominees for the CinefestOZ Film Prize, worth , in September 2023, and was also nominated for the 2023

AACTA Award for Best Indie Film The AACTA Award for Best Indie Film is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) since 2018. The award is presented at the annual AACTA Awards, which hand out accolades for achievements in feature film, ...

. It was released in Australian cinemas on 22 February 2024.

Filmography

Film

As writer / director

Television

As writer / director

Stage

As cast

As crew

Recognition and awards

Personal life

Winter is married to actress and singer, Geraldine Hakewill. They first met in 2011, occasionally crossing paths until they became a couple in 2017, and married in December 2021. They have co-starred in the 2020 psychodrama ''

Disclosure Disclosure may refer to: Arts and media Film and television *'' CBC News: Disclosure'', a television newsmagazine series in Canada * ''Disclosure'' (1994 film), an American erotic thriller film based on the 1994 novel by Michael Crichton * ''Dis ...

''. Winter is a big fan of movies from the 1970s, and loves the work of

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

and

Daniel Day-Lewis Sir Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor. Often described as one of the greatest actors in the history of cinema, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Day-Lewis, numerous a ...

. In November 2018, Winter gave evidence against his co-star in ''King Lear'',

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. Known for often playing eccentric roles on both stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Geoffrey Rush, numerous accolades, including an Academy Aw ...

, in Rush's

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuit against the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Mark Leonard 21st-century Australian male actors Helpmann Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian male film actors Australian male stage actors Australian film directors Australian male television actors