FILMOGRAPHY
2006] 300
2006] "Answered By Fire" (mini)
2005] The Proposition
2005] Three Dollars
2004]
The Brush-Off (TV)
2004] Stiff (TV)
2004] Van Helsing
2003] Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003] Gettin' Square
2003] "After the Deluge" (mini)
2002] Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002] Pure
2002] The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course
2001] Dust
2001] The Bank
2001] Moulin Rouge!
2001] Russian Doll
2000] The Beach
2000] "In the Mind of the Architect"
2000] Better Than Sex
1999]
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
1998-99] "SeaChange"
1998] A Little Bit of Soul
1998] Dark City
1998] The Boys
1997] "Babies" (mini)
1997] "Return to Jupiter"
1996] "Twisted Tales"
1996] Idiot Box
1996] Cosi
1994] Gino
1994] "Heartland" (mini)
1994] No Escape
1992] Greenkeeping
1992] Seeing Red
1990] Come in Spinner (TV)
1988] The Heroes (TV)
1987] "Poor Man's Orange" (mini)
1981] "Sons and Daughters"
LINKS
Born 21 September 1965 Marrickville, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
David has 6 older siblings: 1 brother & 5 sisters
Davd's' long-term partner Kate Agnew is an actor and yoga teacher.
David Wenham won a Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his performance in SeaChange - he tied the win with Tony Martin for "Wildside"
In 1997 he won an AFI awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for: "Babies" (mini)
His theatre credits include: starring in ART at the Sydney Theater Royal; In 2002 he starred in Sam Shepard's play True West; in 1995 he was in Hamlet co-starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush & Richard Roxburgh as Hamlet.
David starred in The Boys not only on film but also in the Griffin Street Theatre Company production of The Boys in 1991.
Artist Adam Cullen´s portrait of David Wenham won the 2000 Archibald Prize.
When Wenham left school, he was knocked back by NIDA and went into the first theatre intake at the University of Western Sydney's Nepean campus that opened the door to budget theatre "We divided the profits so everybody got an equal share of nothing."
In March 2002 David signed up as an "Ancient Forest Guardian" in Sydney, together with other Australian actors like Toni Collette & Sam Neill
David on playing a cowboy:
"It's every boy's fantasy, in a way. But there was a bizarre duality about that. Yes, it is fun playing a cowboy - jumping on a horse and rolling around and firing off your pistol. At the same time, this film is extremely violent, and when people get shot it is very bloody; that can be disturbing when you're in the middle of it. So it's fun, but deadly."
Have you any plans to follow the Aussie trail to Hollywood?
I've just come to Melbourne to do this play [Sam Shepard's True West] for no money, which is a strange career choice in a way. But the work's the thing, you know. I try to control my career by having my finger in projects that I facilitate myself, like The Boys.
David on why he loves acting:
"Quite simply, I think, the opportunity to play. That's it. It might seem extremely simple, but that's all it is. That's where I consider myself to be very lucky. Not all the froufrou that comes with it, although I love the travel and whatever."
David On LOTR:
I'm in parts two and three. I was there for four or five months, which in terms of the whole scale of the thing was a relatively short time. But it was one of those occasions where you pinch yourself and think, "Did I really do that?" It's out of your wildest dreams.
David on shooting LOTR:
"It was daunting when I first arrived because they had been shooting for over a year on principal photography, so I was sort of the new boy on the block," he said. "It was really like being the new boy at school and that was rather intimidating at first. It didn't take very long before the passion and the absolutely driving enthusiasm of the crew became infectious. I just got swept along with it."
David on Elijah Wood:
"Elijah does carry a burden nearly as heavy as the Ring - he does carry that film. But oh my God, how he carries it. He really is such an impressive guy, he's an old soul in a way. But of course he's also extremely youthful and so much fun to be around."
David on LOTR success:
"I didn't think it would be as big as what it has become, I must admit. But when I was cast in the role of Faramir, I must say I was incredulous. I really couldn't believe it initially, but then I just took it on board, and saw myself as an extremely lucky person to be involved in that capacity. I hadn't read Lord Of The Rings, so I was going into the project as a huge fan of Peter Jackson's work, as opposed to a huge fan of the book,"
David on his character in Moulin Rouge!:
"First... I don't dance in Moulin Rouge. Second - Audrey is a very androginous looking character. A lot of people think "It's a female!" when I appear on the screen. It's a brief appearance but it was a fun one."
David on finding ideas & inspiration for characters:
"Melbourne actually provides great fodder for characters. I think it's one of my all-time favourite cities. It's full of the most amazing characters, especially the city, this square mile here. And some of the characters I encounter on a day-to-day basis just walking down Swanston Street, you know, if you put them up on stage people would say you're over-acting."
David on performing in Sam Shepard's play True West:
"It's certainly not an easy play to perform eight times a week, but it's a challenge, and that's something I enjoy.
David on Molokai:
The Story of Father Damien finally getting a cinema release: "Rejoice, rejoice, it's actually getting a national release in June, which is brilliant, really, really brilliant. There's a wonderful irony in that a film about somebody who is extremely selfless and is totally altruistic, and that particular film got held up by people who were haggling over money."
David on A Country Practise:
"I made a couple of visits to the Valley. Probably the most embarrassing was when I took over from Frank Gilroy as the policeman. My character was the most inept policeman who had ever been given a badge. He was a motorcycle policeman - whoever came up with this concept I don't know - who wore red socks which attracted the local dogs, so the dogs would pull him off his motorbike. And there were kids who had flour bombs and he thought they were cocaine. Sadly it wasn't an ongoing role."
David on The Bank:
"There's a lot of public support for that film. Probably daily, people stop me in the street to talk about that particular film. I think at least every second person has a bank story."
David on Australian directors:
"I'd love to work with the people who really got the film industry going again through the '70s: Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Gillian Armstrong, Fred Schepisi."
David on the future:
"I have a sort of long-term plan to direct. I'm pragmatic about it. I realise I don't need to rush it or force it. I'm becoming a frustrated director, I think, in an actor's body. I would love to direct a feature and have Robert Connolly (The Bank) produce it. That would be really fab. At the moment Robert's working on another film that, all going well, I'll be involved in, in an acting capacity."