Michael Hamish Budd (born 2 July 1974) is an Australian film actor, director and producer. Budd is best known for playing Esmael in '' The Cold Light of Day''.

Career

Budd's initial break in Hollywood came in 2001 when

the Wachowskis Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

selected him as a body double and stand in for

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has gained recognition for his roles on stage and screen as militant and authoritative characters. List of awards and nominations received by Laur ...

in ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, L ...

'' and ''

The Matrix Revolutions ''The Matrix Revolutions'' is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. The direct sequel to ''The Matrix Reloaded,'' it is the third installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, released six months foll ...

''. After 200 shoot days, the directors cast him in his own role as Zion Controller. In 2008, Budd starred in a music video for

roll deep Roll Deep (formerly Roll Deep Entourage) are a British grime crew. They were founded in 2001 by Wiley shortly before the disbandment of UK garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel. The group have had two UK No. 1 singles, " Good Times" and "Green Lig ...

called ''Moving in Circles'' which featured

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is an English music producer, DJ, and actor. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musi ...

. Budd studied acting and staging in London. He graduated from the

Meisner technique The Meisner technique is an approach to acting developed by American theatre practitioner Sanford Meisner. The goal of the Meisner approach is for the actor to not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediat ...

with the Impulse Company in 2010 he then went on to play on stage in works of

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Mamet Mamet may refer to: * Clara Mamet (born 1994), American actress and musician; daughter of David Mamet *David Mamet (born 1947), American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director * Milton Mamet, fictional character from the American tel ...

plays, in particular playing Othello in a shortened version of ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' in the Tristan Bate Theatre in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's West End. In 2011

Mabrouk El Mechri Mabrouk el Mechri (born 18 September 1976) is a French director, screenwriter, and actor. Biography El Mechri was born in Versailles near Paris, France. He has directed a number of films. After his three shorts ''Mounir et Anita'', ''Generation C ...

cast Budd as Esmael in '' The Cold Light of Day'', set and shot completely in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He played a Mossad agent, with dialogue in both

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and English. In 2012/13, Budd directed and produced '' Love of My Life'', a horror thriller in which he also starred alongside Peter O'Brien and Diarmid Heidenreich. The film premiered in the United States at the Mt. Hood Independent Film Festival in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and won the Best Horror/Thriller award. Following its success, "Love of My Life" was released on Video on Demand with

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an American film distribution company owned by Shout! Studios. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles in 2006, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2019. It focuses on the distribu ...

. Budd's second feature film, '' Life of the Party'' completed filming in December 2016. The screenplay, co-written by Budd, was included in the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' permanent Core Collection. It premiered on 14 September 2018 at the Arena Cinelounge Sunset Los Angeles. In 2020, Budd began shooting '' Ruby's Choice'' for the Glenn Family Foundation and the

Owen Glenn Sir Owen George Glenn (born 19 February 1940) is a New Zealand expatriate businessman and philanthropist, who supports humanitarian causes worldwide through his family charity. Early life Born in Calcutta, British India, on 19 February 1940, G ...

legacy, an Australian drama that explores the topic of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. The film stars

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (; 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was ...

and

Jacqueline McKenzie Jacqueline Susan McKenzie (born 24 October 1967) is an Australian film and stage actress. Early life Born in Sydney, New South Wales, McKenzie attended Wenona School in North Sydney, New South Wales, North Sydney until 1983 then moved to Pymb ...

, with 50% of the profits donated to dementia research. 2019 Michael produced and directed Rubys Choice the production faced challenges due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, but it was eventually completed under strict guidelines in Windsor. ''Ruby's Choice'' premiered at Margaret River HEART for CinefestOZ in August 2021, then on 7 March 2022, at the 37th

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California in February annually, since 1986. The festival screens over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. ...

. On October 19 and 20 2022, New Port Beach film festival it was sold out with positive reviews. On 24 September 2023, at the

Burbank International Film Festival The Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF) is an annual film festival held since 2009 in Burbank, California, United States. It was founded by Val Tonione, and awards are distributed to filmmakers that have focused on social and environmental ...

(BIFF) it won Best Foreign Film and Best Feature Film. In 2023 he was painted by

AFI AFI may refer to: * Actual flip-angle imaging, a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2017 album), the tenth ...

costume design Costume design is the process of selecting or creating clothing for a performers. A costume may be designed from scratch or may be designed by combining existing garments. "Costume" may also refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a ...

winner for

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor whose various projects extend from film and television into opera, theatre, music, and the recording industries. He is regarded by ...

's film ''

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

'', Eliza Godman for entry to the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

in a portrait named “Remembering” in which Budd is in a director's chair with his grandmother looking over his shoulder.

Director credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Michael 1974 births Living people Australian male film actors Australian film directors Australian film producers Australian screenwriters Mass media people from New South Wales