Nicholas Brown (actor)
 |
Nicholas Brown | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1980 |
| Other names | Nick Brown |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, screenwriter, playwright, singer and songwriter |
| Years active | Since 1994 |
| Website | nicholasbrowntown |
Nicholas Brown (born 1 January 1980) is an Australian actor, screenwriter, playwright, singer and songwriter.
Personal life[edit]
Brown grew up in the Western Sydney suburb of Greystanes with parents Roy and Patricia Brown and older sister Tracey. He attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in years 11 and 12. Whilst at NHSPA he represented the school in various drama and music festivals including OnStage and was elected School Captain in 1997.[1]
In 1998 Brown was accepted into the prestigious Australian drama school the National Institute of Dramatic Art and was said to be both one of the youngest students and the first student to be accepted directly from high school.[2]
In 2007 Brown moved from Sydney to Mumbai where he lived on and off until 2015. He appeared in several Bollywood films including Kites, Love You to Death, Unindian, Prattichaya and Sedition.
In 2011 Brown lived in Los Angeles where he recorded and performed with the funk bands Knuckle Funk and Luck Now.
In 2010 Brown was a Cleo Bachelor of the Year[3] nominee.
Acting career[edit]
On stage in 2022 Brown played Edmond Rostand opposite Angie Milliken in Queensland Theatre's production of Bernhardt / Hamlet. On screen he played the role of Chubba in Tim Minchin's Upright Season 2, Hamish in the Netflix film A Perfect Pairing, Paul in Channel 9's drama series After the Verdict and Rahul in Joe vs. Carole.[citation needed] In 2021 he played the role of Miles in the Stan film Christmas on the Farm, appeared in the drama series Wakefield and played Sigrid Thornton's love interest Dr. Omar Sebastian in the Channel 9 drama series Amazing Grace. From 2019 to 2020 Brown appeared in the smash hit stage musical Come from Away as Kevin J at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. From 2015 to 2019, Brown appeared in the TV shows The Unlisted for Netflix, Harrow, The Letdown and The Code 2. He played the lead role of Sid in the film Laka and was cast as a regular presenter on Play School. From 2016 to 2019 Brown appeared in the plays Lighten Up at Griffin Theatre in Sydney, Still Point Turning for Sydney Theatre Company, The Long Forgotten Dream (Sydney Theatre Company) and the Helpmann Award-winning play Counting and Cracking at Belvoir for Sydney Festival. In 2015 Brown played the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar directed by Alyque Padamsee in Mumbai. He also played Lumiere in Disney India's Beauty and the Beast which toured to Mumbai and Delhi. Earlier TV credits include Mr & Mrs Murder, Packed to the Rafters and the real life heroin drug smuggler Supahaus Chowdury in the Australian television show Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away. Brown has also appeared in the police series City Homicide, Anh Do's Channel 7 comedy pilot Lucky Dragon,[4] and Australian feature films The Characters, Temptation and A Man's Gotta Do. His other television credits include Home and Away,[5] White Collar Blue, Heartbreak High, Drama School and The Cooks.[6]
Acting in many international theatre festivals, in 2010 Brown performed in three new plays at the Australian National Play Festival in Brisbane, in Rehaan Engineer's ‘'Seven Jewish Children'’ by Caryl Churchill, Project 88 Art Gallery in Mumbai and Doctrine: How to Survive Under Siege in Brussels, Belgium, for the Kunsten Festival Des Arts.[7] Brown also represented the NIDA company at the UNESCO 2007 drama schools festival in Transylvania Romania, playing Orestes in Aeschylus's Ancient Greek tragedy The Oresteian Trilogy.[8]
Shortly after moving to Mumbai in 2007, Brown was cast as the villain Tony Grover opposite Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan in the film Kites, directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Rakesh Roshan. The film was re-cut for an English audience by Brett Ratner and was released worldwide as Kites The Remix. Kites was released worldwide in May 2010. Brown was typecast as the villain in India for several years playing the negative role in the film Unindian opposite Brett Lee and the villain Nikhil Madhvani opposite Shilpa Shetty in Miss Bollywood, which toured Germany and the UK including London's West End.[9] Other theatre credits include There Is No Need To Wake Up at the Sydney Opera House directed by Barrie Kosky; Kurt Weill's Berlin to Broadway, directed by Jim Sharman; Spunks at the Stables Theatre; Frozen for Company B Belvoir St Theatre, directed by Kate Gaul; Toad in the Australian Shakespeare Company's productions of The Wind in the Willows, and Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies at the Old Fitzroy Theatre[10] and 2005 Hi-5 Space Magic – World Tour.[11]
In May 2021, Brown played Petruchio in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew with Queensland Theatre (in the Bille Brown Theatre, Brisbane), directed by Damien Ryan.[12]
Writer[edit]
Nicholas wrote episode 12 of the Netflix/ ABC Me series The Unlisted, and episode 16 of the ABC Kids TV show The Wonder Gang. He co-wrote his first play Lighten Up, which premiered at Sydney's Griffin Theatre. Lighten Up was published by Currency Press, and a monologue from the play was included in the 2016 edition of the book Contemporary Australian Monologues for Men.[citation needed]
He co-wrote the play Lost In Books, which was part of Sydney Festival, and True West for the National Theatre of Parramatta. Brown's play Sex Magick has been in development with Griffin Theatre since 2020.[when?][citation needed]
Brown did some production work on an Indo-Australian Bollywood film in 2010,[13] with Olivia Newton-John.[14][better source needed]
Music[edit]
Brown was the lead singer of the LA based funk band Knuckle Funk in 2011–2012. The group became a duo a few years later and released two singles renaming themselves Luck Now. The first single 'I Spent My Rent On A Record' was released in 2015 and was co-written by Brown. It received regular airplay on MTV Indies and VH1 in India. He also co-wrote and recorded lead vocals for the song Unpredictable (The Robot Song) in 2013. As a singer/songwriter, Brown also recorded the album 'Big Score' in 2005 with his Australian disco funk band The Modernists[15] in 2004 and performed at Australian venues such as The Basement and The Metro. The album received radio airplay on Sydney radio stations FBI and 2SER.
In 2005 he was the male understudy for the children's internationally recognised pop group Hi-5[16] on their world tour.
Brown was also invited to sing at ‘Raise the Roof’ at Sydney's State Theatre in a special concert to raise funds for the Tsunami Appeal in 2006.[17] In 2007 before moving to Mumbai, Nick wrote and recorded an unreleased album with the electro rock duo ‘Listen Like Thieves.’
Radio presenter[edit]
From 2012 to 2014 Brown was hosting SBS Radio's PopDesi – a radio programme for Bollywood, Bhangra and Desi pop music playing on Australian digital radio, online and mobile[18]
Awards[edit]
In 2004 Brown was a recipient of The Mike Walsh Fellowship.[19]
Community work[edit]
His charity work includes:
- 2013 – Performed at the 'National Asbestos Awareness Day Lighting the Sails' of the Sydney Opera House event in memory of the victims of asbestos related disease.
- 2012 – Supporting the work of the National Youth Theatre Company Foundation[20] as an ambassador and through facilitating youth welfare programs.
- 2010 – The official male Ambassador for Ovarian Cancer Australia's 2010 Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month campaign [21]
- 2006 – Raise The Roof – Tsunami Appeal special appearance for the Red Cross
- 2005 – Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Foundation – official MC and voice of the RPA Foundation Research Prize
- 2004 – Royal Prince Alfred Hospital – RPA Health Festival volunteer and special guest
- 2003 – Music For Timor – Master of Ceremonies and performer at Music benefit concert to support the work of the Bairo Pite Clinic[22]
Credits[edit]
Film[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Genre | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | The 5 | Kris | Short film | Junglee Films and Off-Chance Productions, Ravi Kapoor (Dir.) Official Selection and LA Premiere Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles[23][24] |
| 2011 | Love You To Death | John (lead role) | Feature film | Fat Mama Films, Rafeeq Ellias Official Selection Mumbai Film Festival, the Indian Film Festival in Tampa Bay Florida, the Anchorage Film Festival in Alaska (where it won an award) and the New York Indian Film Festival[25] |
| 2011 | The Shadower in 3D | Dani | Short film | Wicked Little Dragon Films, Jenny Januszewski<Official Selection LA 3D Festival and WINNER Best Experimental Film[26] br> |
| 2010 | Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away | Chowdury | TV movie | UBTM Pty Ltd, Cherie Nowlan |
| 2010 | Random 8 | Michael Henderson (lead role) | Feature film | Random 8 Films, Kathryn Millard |
| 2010 | Kites: The Remix | Tony (lead role) | Feature film | Brett Ratner (Kites, reedited) |
| 2010 | Kites | Tony (lead role) | Feature film | Reliance/Big Pictures, Brett Ratner/Anurag Basu |
| 2008 | Ghazali | Bani Ibrahim | Short film | VCA, Raihan Harun |
| 2007 | Don't Panic | Abe | Short film | Temple Films. Luci Temple |
| 2003 | A Man's Gotta Do | Dr Grace | Feature film | Oilrag Productions, Chris Kennedy |
| 2002 | Temptation | Sachin | Feature film | Chapman Pictures, Tony Tilse Adapted into Channel 10 TV Series The Cooks |
| 2002 | Bait | Fisherman | Short film | BB Films, Boyd Britton |
| 2002 | The Man on the Boay | Taxi Driver | Short film | Boyd Britton Films, Boyd Britton Tropfest Best of the Rest 2003 |
| 2001 | The Characters | El Muncho | Feature film | MR Films, Ryan Kwanten |
| 2001 | All Tomorrow's Parties | Patty | Short film | 8 Player Film, Melanie Hogan |
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Genre | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The PM's Daughter | Mr Derek Stevens | TV series | ABC Me, Fremantle Australia |
| 2022 | After the Verdict | Paul | TV miniseries | Subtext Pictures, Nine Network |
| 2013 | The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting | Xavier | TV series | Jungleboys, Scott Pickett |
| 2012 | Mr & Mrs Murder | Dt Mukajee | TV series | Fremantle Media, Scott Pickett |
| 2012 | Home and Away | Dr Padley | TV series | Seven Network, Various |
| 2012 | Packed to the Rafters | Yuppie | TV series | SNO, Kevin Carlin |
| 2010 | Lucky Dragon | Ranjit | TV pilot | SNO, Kevin Carlin |
| 2009 | City Homicide | Sanjay Roshan | TV series | SNO, Richard Jasek |
| 2007 | Home and Away | Mark Davidson | TV series | SNO, Scott Hartford-Davis |
| 2004 | The Cooks | Sachin (main role) | TV series, episodes 1–13 | Chapman Pictures, Tony Tilse, Brendan Maher, Ian Watson, Ian Gilmour |
| 2003 | White Collar Blue | Damien Lewis | TV series | Knapman Wyld, Network 10, Ken Cameron |
| 2001 | Life Support | Guest | TV series | SBS |
Stage[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Company & Director | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | Jesus Christ Superstar | Jesus | Raell Padamsee's Ace Productions, Alyque Padamsee | |
| 2013 | The Wind in the Willows | Mr Toad | Australian Shakespeare Company, Marian Bragge | |
| 2012 | The Wind in the Willows | Badger | Australian Shakespeare Company, Marian Bragge | |
| 2010 | The New Black, Tilt, Student Body | Various | 2010 National Playwrights Festival, Chris Mead | |
| 2009 | Seven Jewish Children | 1 | Industrial Theatre Company, Rehaan Engineer | |
| 2008 | How to Survive Under Siege | Xerxes | Kunsten Festival Des Arts (Brussels), Rehaan Engineer | |
| 2007 | Miss Bollywood – The Shilpa Shetty Musical | Nick | Cineyug European, UK and Royal Albert Hall tour | |
| 2007 | The Oresteia | Orestes | NIDA Company, Mark Gaal Australian representative company at the UNESCO Festival Transylvania | |
| 2006 | Fewer Emergencies by Martin Crimp | Various | Old Fitzroy Theatre / Tamarama Rock Surfers. Anyroad | |
| 2005 | Hi-5 Space Magic – World Tour | Understudy / Swing | Kids Like Us, Lisa Freshwater | |
| 2003 | Burning Bridges – A Musical Odyssey | Various | Opera X, Andrew Davidson | |
| 2003 | The Wind in the Willows | Mr Toad | Australian Shakespeare Company, Marian Bragge | |
| 2003 | Frozen | Patrick | Belvoir (theatre company) B Sharp, Siren Theatre Company, Kate Gaul | |
| 2002 | Spunks | Chad | Push Up Theatre at The Stables Theatre, Melita Rowston | |
| 2002 | Sticks and Stones | Joe | Brainstorm Productions, Jenny Johnson | |
| 2002 | Pokie Face | Luigi Jnr | Short and Sweet, Mark Cleary |
References[edit]
- ^ NHSPA Annual Report. Newtown High School of the Performing Arts. 2008.
- ^ "NIDA Calls". Parramatta Advertiser. 12 February 2008.
- ^ "Triple Treat". MX Brisbane. 17 February 2010.
- ^ "Ben Bangay". Archived from the original on 8 August 2013.
- ^ "Home & Away – Youtube". YouTube. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Australian Television: The Cooks". www.australiantelevision.net.
- ^ "Kunstenfestivaldesarts".
- ^ "2007 Annual Report". National Institute of Dramatic Art. 26 March 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Miss Bollywood - Nicholas Brown & Anousha Dandekar". 14 October 2007 – via Flickr.
- ^ "Nicholas Brown - actor, singer, songwriter and screenwriter - starring in the International Blockbuster Bollywood film Kites". www.nicholasbrowntown.com.
- ^ Litson, Jo (5 May 2010). "Nick Flies High". The Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ "Taming of the shrew, 8 May – 5 Jun". Queensland Theatre. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ Ganguly, Prithwish (26 May 2010). "Grammy winner's Indian 'love affair'". DNA India.
- ^ Chiu, David (11 September 2010). "Olivia Newton-John Could Be Bollywood-Bound". NBC New York.
- ^ "Myspace".
- ^ "Sunny Shah Events". Archived from the original on 30 June 2013.
- ^ "Raising the roof for tsunami victims". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 January 2005.
- ^ "SBS Radio". SBS.
- ^ "Mike Walsh O.B.E. - Official Website". www.mikewalsh.com.au.
- ^ "NYTC Foundation Official Website". Archived from the original on 19 April 2013.
- ^ "Ovarian Cancer Australia Media Release" (PDF). Ovarian Cancer Australia.
- ^ "Bairo Pite Hospital".
- ^ "Indian Film Festival – LA". Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Durance Magazine: The 5". Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Love You to Death : The Film". www.facebook.com.
- ^ "STEREO 3D". vfxstereo3d.blogspot.com.au.