Matthew Nable (born 8 March 1972) is an Australian film and television actor, writer, sports commentator and former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

player. After playing in the

Winfield Cup The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Fi ...

Premiership during the 1990s for the

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

and South Sydney clubs, he wrote and starred in the rugby league-centred drama ''

The Final Winter ''The Final Winter'' is an Australian drama film released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Picture ...

'' in 2007. Nable went on to act in films such as '' Killer Elite'' and '' Riddick''. He appeared on ''Mr Inbetween'',

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' and ''

Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American Time travel in fiction, time travel superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klemmer, ...

'' as

Ra's al Ghul Ra's al Ghul is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. Created by editor Julius Schwartz, writer Dennis O'Neil, and artist Neal Adams, the character first appeared ...

Early life

Nable grew up on the

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 ...

of Sydney and also, as a young boy, spent two years at

Portsea, Victoria Portsea is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, approximately south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Portsea reco ...

, when his father, Dave, a soldier, was stationed there, and another period of his childhood in

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

. His father had also worked as a trainer for the

Australian national rugby league team The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Comm ...

, and his brother,

Adam Nable Adam Nable (born 4 September 1975) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Wakefield Trinity, Balmain Tigers, Wests Tigers and North Queenslan ...

, would become a professional player as well.

Rugby league career

Nable rose through the junior ranks at the Manly-Warringah club and made five appearances for the

Graham Lowe Sir Graham Michael Lowe is the owner of the Bradford Bulls together with fellow New Zealander Andrew Chalmers. He is a New Zealand former rugby league football coach and administrator. He previously coached in Australia and England and was the ...

-coached team over

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. Following this he didn't appear in the premiership until

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

when he played three games for the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

. After another season in England where he played for

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

before moving to the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

, Nable quit football and then tried his hand at boxing, fighting for the state light-heavyweight title as an amateur. He then worked as a beer salesman and personal trainer, but eventually decided to leave paid employment to become a writer.

Writing and acting career

After encouragement from his mentor,

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

-winning novelist

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...

, Nable wrote a screenplay for ''

'' based on his unpublished novel of the same name. With friends he also managed to raise $1.6m and they worked together to make the film which was released in 2007, and earned critical praise but was a box office failure. Nable went on to act in the United States as a Los Angeles detective in the 2008 television movie ''S.I.S.''. In 2009, his book ''We Don't Live Here Anymore'' was published, in 2011 he published his second book ''Faces in the Clouds'', which won critical praise. He worked as a writer on Channel 7's rugby league comedy programme, ''

The Matty Johns Show ''The Matty Johns Show'' was an Australian variety television show largely focused on the National Rugby League (NRL) competition, starring former professional rugby league footballer Matthew "Matty" Johns. It first aired in 2010 on Thursdays a ...

''. Nable appeared in the main cast of critically acclaimed and award-winning SBS drama series, ''

East West 101 ''East West 101'' is an Australian drama series airing on the SBS network. The series was produced and created by Steven Knapman and Kris Wyld, the team behind other drama series such as '' Wildside'' and ''White Collar Blue''. It ran for thr ...

'', and in the 2011 action film '' Killer Elite'' alongside

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

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 ...

Yvonne Strahovski Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski (born 30 July 1982), known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski (), is an Australian actress. She is known for roles as Sarah Walker in the spy comedy drama series '' Chuck'' (2007–2012), Hannah McKay in the dra ...

Jason Statham Jason Statham ( ; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying tough, gritty, or violent characters in various action thriller films, and has been credited for leading the resurgence of action films during the 2000s and 2 ...

, and

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". '' Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor. He is best known as Lincoln Burrows in ''Prison Break'' (2005� ...

. Nable starred in the 2012 Australian drama series, '' Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms''. The same year he was announced as a cast member of another Australian TV series, '' Underbelly: Badness''. He also had a role in the film ''

33 Postcards ''33 Postcards'' is a 2011 drama film written and directed by Pauline Chan (actress), Pauline Chan and starring Guy Pearce. It is the first co-production between China and New South Wales. Plot Mei Mei (Zhu Lin) is a 16-year-old Chinese orphan ...

''. He appeared in the 2013 sci-fi film '' Riddick'' alongside

Vin Diesel Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the '' Fast & Furious'' fra ...

. In March 2014, it was reported that Nable would appear in the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

's upcoming miniseries ''Gallipoli''. On 4 September 2014,

Stephen Amell Stephen Adam Amell (born May 8, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He came to prominence for playing the lead role of Oliver Queen on the CW superhero series ''Arrow'' (2012–2020), based on DC Comics. Amell also appeared in subsequent Arrowverse franc ...

announced on Facebook that Nable would portray the role of

on the third season of ''

''. Despite

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...

(Ra's al Ghul in ''The Dark Knight'' Trilogy) expressing an interest in reprising his role for the television series' third season and the CW Network reaching out to him, he was unavailable and Nable was cast as Ra's instead. IGN's Jesse Scheeden said he brought "charisma and danger to the part". Nable portrayed the character in ten episodes of the third season. He reprised his role in a first season episode of ''

''. In October 2019, Nable starred in the opening cinematic of the

2019 Bathurst 1000 The 2019 Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000) was a motor racing event for Supercars which was held on the weekend of 10–13 October 2019. It was held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South ...

, broadcast on

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

. Nable has since featured in numerous Fox Sports cinematics, promotions and advertisements, primarily for their Rugby League division,

Fox League Fox League is an Australian subscription television channel dedicated to screening rugby league (both domestic and international) matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited and is available throughout Australia on Fox ...

. From 2018 to 2021 he had a recurring role in the Australian black-comedy crime drama

Mr Inbetween ''Mr Inbetween'' is an Australian dark comedy-crime drama television series which premiered on FX on 25 September 2018 in the United States, followed by Fox Showcase in Australia on 1 October 2018. The series is a serialisation of the 2005 fe ...

. On 19 November 2024, Nable was named as part of an extended cast for Netflix series '' Apple Cider Vinegar.''

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

Bibliography

Books

* ''We Don't Live Here Anymore'' (2009) * ''Faces in the Clouds'' (2011) * ''Guilt'' (2015) * ''Still'' (2021)

References

External links

*
Matt Nable
at yesterdayshero.com.au {{DEFAULTSORT:Nable, Matthew 1972 births Living people 21st-century Australian male actors 21st-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian screenwriters Actors from Sydney Australian Book Review people Australian children's writers Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australian filmmakers Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Australian rugby league players Australian screenwriters Carlisle RLFC players London Broncos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players Sportsmen from New South Wales Writers from Sydney