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Nathan Phillips (actor)

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Nathan Phillips
OccupationActor
Years active1999–present
Known forAustralian Rules (2002)
Wolf Creek (2005)
Snakes on a Plane (2006)
These Final Hours (2014)

Nathan Phillips is an Australian actor.

Early life

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Phillips studied English literature[1] at La Trobe University in Melbourne, with the intention of becoming a teacher, before he turned to acting as a career.[2]

Career

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His professional acting career began in 1999, with a role on the popular Australian soap opera Neighbours. His television career was later followed by roles in Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, Blue Heelers, Something in the Air and The Saddle Club.

In 2002, he made his feature film debut with a role in Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao (also starring Kevin Smith, Shedrack Anderson III and Nina Liu). His next role, the lead in Australian Rules, earned him a nomination for the Film Critics Circle of Australia's Best Actor award, alongside David Gulpilil, Guy Pearce and Vince Colosimo.

Phillips's film career has seen him star in both Australian productions, such as Take Away (with Rose Byrne), One Perfect Day (with Abbie Cornish) and Under the Radar, and Hollywood productions such as Chernobyl Diaries, Redline and Surfer, Dude and most notably Snakes on a Plane. He is perhaps most known for his role as backpacker Ben Mitchell in the 2005 hit horror film Wolf Creek.[3] After the success of this film, Phillips moved to Los Angeles, where he was based for several years.[4]

Although tipped for big things in Hollywood after the success of Wolf Creek, Phillips chose to go travelling for long periods of time, rather than focus on his career as an actor.[5] Phillips' career has, to date, consisted mostly of roles in low budget films and television work, such as his role as Tom Wills, Australia's first significant cricketer and father of Australian rules football.[6] In 2020, Phillips appeared in the Nine Network series Halifax: Retribution.

From 2019, Phillips has been back living in his native Australia, working on television and film projects.[7] In addition to acting, Phillips was a producer of 2019's Blood Vessel.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 Australian Rules Gary "Blacky" Black Feature film
Warriors of Virtue: The Return to Tao Ryan Jeffers Feature film
2003 Take Away Dave Feature film
2004 Under the Radar Brandon Feature film
One Perfect Day Trig Feature film
2005 Wolf Creek Ben Mitchell Feature film
You and Your Stupid Mate Philip Feature film
2005 The Opposite of Velocity Kevin Short film
2006 Snakes on a Plane Sean Jones Feature film
2007 West Jerry Feature film
Redline Carlo Feature film
2008 Surfer, Dude Baker Smith Feature film
Dying Breed Jack Feature film
2009 Balibo Malcolm Rennie Feature film
Message from the CEO Eric Short film
2010 Summer Coda Joey Feature film
Quit Benji Feature film
2012 Satellite of Love Samuel / Catherine's ex-boyfriend Feature film
Chernobyl Diaries Michael Feature film
Degenerate Young Blair Feature film
2013 These Final Hours James Feature film
2014 The Amateur Jimmy Feature film
2019 Blood Vessel Sinclair Feature film
Tuscaloosa Deputy Feature film
3 Day Weekend Schnappsie Feature film
2021 The Devil Below Cain Feature film
2023 Kane Frankie Feature film
2024 Kid Snow Billy Feature film
13th Summer Ben Trainor Feature film
2024 Accident Mick Short film
TBA Homeward Morgan In post-production
TBA Spines Logan In production

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Neighbours John "Teabag" Teasdale TV series, 13 episodes
2000 Eugénie Sandler P.I. Leo 2 episodes
2001 Frontline Phoenix 1 episode
Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story Hugh TV movie
Blue Heelers Cameron Sharpe 1 episode
The Saddle Club Red O'Malley TV series, 26 episodes
2002 The Saddle Club: Adventures at Pine Hollow Red O'Malley Direct-to-video movie
Something in the Air Angus Moore 12 episodes
2004 Stingers Charlie Sanderson 1 episode
2012 Outlaw Country TV movie
2013 Tiny Commando CJ Miniseries, 2 episodes
2014 The Bridge Jack Dobbs 7 episodes
2016 Hunters Flynn Carroll TV series, 13 episodes
2016 Tom Wills Tom Wills TV movie
2020 Halifax: Retribution Jack McCarthy 2 episodes
2021 RFDS Mikey 1 episode
2025 NCIS: Sydney Finn 1 episode
Good Cop/Bad Cop Tommy Boucher Season 1, episode 8: "Skeleton"

Awards and nominations

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Year Work Award Category Result
2002 Australian Rules Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Actor – Male Nominated[8]
2002 Australian Rules IF Awards Best Actor Nominated
2014 These Final Hours Sitges Film Festival Best Actor Won
2015 These Final Hours AFCA Awards Best Actor Nominated
2019 Blood Vessel FilmQuest Cthulhu Best Actor – Feature Nominated
2019 Blood Vessel FilmQuest Cthulhu Best Ensemble Cast – Feature Nominated
2019 Blood Vessel FilmQuest Cthulhu Best Feature Film Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "A Chat with Nathan Phillips – Blood Vessel, Acting in Australia, and Living with Yowies". www.thecurb.com.au. 24 August 2020.
  2. ^ "Snaking his way through pack". www.news.com.au. 17 August 2006.
  3. ^ "'Snakes on a Plane' and the Simple Pleasures of Silly Horror Movies - Bloody Disgusting". 17 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Nathan Phillips". www.moviefone.com. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  5. ^ "These Final Hours star Nathan Phillips lives life like there's no tomorrow". Interfax-Ukraine. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Tom Wills one hell of a story". The Age. 5 August 2016.
  7. ^ "A Chat with Nathan Phillips – Blood Vessel, Acting in Australia, and Living with Yowies". The Curb. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  8. ^ "In the running". The Age. 16 October 2002.
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