Matthew Sunderland (born c. 1972) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

actor, writer, and director. He performed the lead role of David Gray in the feature film ''Out of the Blue'', based on the events of the

Aramoana Massacre The Aramoana massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 13 November 1990 in the small seaside township of Aramoana, northeast of Dunedin, New Zealand. Resident David Gray killed 13 people, including local police Sergeant Stewart Graeme Guthr ...

. At the New Zealand Screen Awards in 2008 he won Best Actor Award for this role.

Education

Sunderland graduated from

Toi Whakaari Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School is New Zealand's national drama school. It was established in 1970 and is located in Wellington, New Zealand, in the Te Whaea: National Dance & Drama Centre. Toi Whakaari offers training in acting, costume constru ...

in 1997.

Career

Sunderland starred as Uncle Rory in Daniel Borgman's debut feature ''The Weight of Elephants''. He was nominated for a Best Actor Award in the 2006 NZ Screen Awards for ''Nature's Way'', which screened In Competition at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in 2006. His other feature film roles include ''A Song of Good,'' ''Christmas,'' ''Stringer'' ''Woodenhead'' ''

Existence Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one does ...

'', and ''

The Devil's Rock ''The Devil's Rock'' is a 2011 New Zealand horror film produced by Leanne Saunders, directed by Paul Campion, written by Campion, Paul Finch, and Brett Ihaka, and starring Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland, Gina Varela, and Karlos Drinkwater. I ...

''. Sunderland made his directorial and screenwriting debut with the short film ''Tuffy'', which deals with estrangement between a father and son, in small town New Zealand. In 2013, Sunderland played in the stage adaptation of

Kate Grenville Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for Fiction, Orange Prize for ...

’s Booker Prize-shortlisted ''

The Secret River ''The Secret River'' is a 2005 historical novel by Kate Grenville about an early 19th-century Englishman transported to Australia for theft. The story explores what might have happened when Europeans colonised land already inhabited by Aborigi ...

'' with the Sydney Theatre Company, which toured throughout Australia. He also appeared in ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...

'' as White Dragon, in a storyline concluding the three-year Kieran Mitchell story arc. In 2016, Sunderland played the role of a drunken man resisting alien abduction in the music video for "Bergschrund" by

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972 in San Jose, California, San Jose, California), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ and record producer. His debut studio album, ''Endtroducing.....,'' was released in 1996. He uses l ...

and

Nils Frahm Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upr ...

. Sunderland played the chemist, Joseph Pritchard in the 2020 miniseries ''

The Luminaries ''The Luminaries'' is a 2013 novel by Eleanor Catton. Set in New Zealand's South Island in 1866, the novel follows Walter Moody, a prospector who travels to the West Coast settlement of Hokitika to make his fortune on the goldfields. Instead ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Johnson & Laird Agency Talent Profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunderland, Matthew Living people New Zealand male film actors Toi Whakaari alumni 1970s births Year of birth missing (living people)