Michael Beckley

Michael Beckley
Born	(1963-11-01) 1 November 1963
Occupation	Actor

Michael Beckley (born 1963) is an Australian actor. He has worked with major theatre companies in both Australia and the United Kingdom, and appeared on London's West End in 'A Few Good Men' (starring Rob Lowe) and 'Cabaret' (directed by award-winning director Rufus Norris). He is probably best known for playing Rhys Sutherland, the patriarch of a new family that arrived in the fictional town of Summer Bay in the internationally-televised series Home and Away (2000 - 2004).

Before and since leaving the soap he has worked extensively in theatre.

He moved to London in 2005 where he was based for a decade, appearing on the West End and with major UK theatre companies. He now resides in Sydney, Australia.

In 2019 he will appear as Officer Krupke in the Opera Australia production of 'West Side Story'.

Career

Beckley decided on an acting career just before completing his senior high school studies. Despite protests from teachers he left school one week before his final exams, apparently to force himself onto a certain path. A week later - at 17 years of age - he had landed a permanent position on the Entertainment Staff at Old Sydney Town, an historical theme park near his home town of Gosford, NSW. This was a recreation of Sydney around the year 1800. Here he earned his Australian Actors Equity card and officially became a working actor. Within two years he took over the role of Town Crier, the leading player for the park.

Beckley made his first permanent move to the U.K. in 1984. He appeared on the London Fringe in 'All The Way Home' and attended dozens of plays in and around London, including many on the West End starring actors such as Anthony Hopkins ('Pravda') and Glenda Jackson ('Phaedra') and many leading actors of the day. He also took drop-in acting classes at the London Actors' Centre studying Chekhov, Shakespeare, comedy, voice and movement. It was during this time in London that he decided to commit to his decision to be an actor.

On returning to Australia in late 1986 he auditioned for Australia's leading drama school NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) but was not accepted. He went and studied part-time under Gillian Owen, a RADA-trained actor, who ran The Sydney Acting School, and then auditioned for NIDA again in late 1987. He was accepted.

The next three years saw him studying full-time at NIDA. (Alumni include Miranda Otto, Jacqueline McKenzie, Jeremy Sims and the writer Reg Cribb.)

With just one week to go - echoing his departure from high school - Beckley was approached by Wayne Harrison, then Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company, to appear as Frid in that company's production of Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music'. (He appeared opposite a then unknown Toni Collette as Petra.) With the school's blessing, Beckley began his post-student career a week earlier than expected and graduated with his class at the official ceremony in early '91.

The next few years saw Beckley work for various companies in a range of projects. These included a rigorous T.I.E. (Theatre In Education) tour for the Bell Shakespeare Company with Berynn Schwerdt, Colleen Cross and Julia Zemiro (now a household name on Australian televisions) which Beckley still considers as "earning one's stripes".

Small television roles started to appear on his CV between theatre jobs. He had guest roles on the Australian police series 'Water Rats' and the Australian/American sci-fi series 'Farscape'.

Wayne Harrison invited him back to the STC to appear in 'Antony and Cleopatra' starring theatre stars Sandy Gore and John Stanton. The prestigious Griffin Theatre Company cast him in 'Clark in Sarajevo' and then as the leading role of 'Dave' in Neil Cole's play 'Alive at Williamstown Pier', the true story of a politician's fight with bipolar disorder and his consequent 'outing' by the Australian media. Beckley received strong praise for his portrayal from national critics. The Australian Jewish News called his work 'virtuoso'. Lydia Clifford of The Daily Telegraph writing "I felt privileged to be a spectator of emerging talent".

It was shortly after this that Beckley was cast as Rhys Sutherland in the long-running television program 'Home and Away', where he stayed for just over four years (2000 - 2004). His character arrived with a wife and three daughters. The Sutherlands went on to be one of the most popular families to ever appear on the program. While on the show, the production company made two specials for release on DVD: 'Hearts Divided' and 'Secrets and the City', the latter film concerning Rhys's disappearance after the revelation of a previous affair. Each special contained not-to-be-televised footage, a new concept that proved a success.

Upon leaving 'Home and Away' Beckley returned to England in 2005. Signing with a London agent, he landed his first audition which found him playing Capt. Roger Wittaker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on London's West End. The play starred Rob Lowe in the role made famous by Tom Cruise in the film version, which was also written by Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin was very much involved in the casting process. The play ran for several months and was a great success.

Beckley was soon cast in David Pownall's play 'Masterclass' for Derby Theatre playing Joseph Stalin's right-hand man Andrei Zhdanov, alongside Christopher McKay (Me and Orson Welles), Russell Dixon and Terry Mortimer. McKay and Mortimer, also accomplished pianists, played a real grand piano in their respective roles of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Beckley was also required to play some Chopin while seemingly drunk on vodka, a moment in the play that terrified him each night. Although a pianist, he was not as accomplished as McKay and Mortimer. Nonetheless, reviews were exceptional, with most of the London papers including it in their must-see lists.

Beckley continued to enjoy a run of successful and critical theatre roles. He returned to the West End for nearly a year to play Ernst Ludwig in Rufus Norris' wildly successful 'Cabaret' at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. He played leading man Matt Holden in Chris England's play 'Breakfast With Jonny Wilkinson' for the newly-successful Menier Chocolate Factory and would reprise the role in the film version in 2012.

One of Beckley's major roles was that of Randle P McMurphy in 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' based on the novel by Ken Kesey, made particularly famous by the film version starring Jack Nicholson (as Randle P McMurphy). The production was staged by Curve in Leicester, with Catherine Russell as Nurse Ratched. Beckley did not even audition for McMurphy but for Dale Harding. However, after the casting process director Michael Buffong decided Beckley was the right man for the part and offered it to him. During the run of 'Cuckoo's Nest', Curve's artistic director Paul Kerryson offered Beckley the role of Bradley in Sam Shephard's Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Buried Child'. It starred Olivier Award-winner Matthew Kelly as Dodge. The semi-psychotic, one-and-a-half-legged amputee remains one of Beckley's favourite roles.

Kelly and Beckley would work together again in the hit production of Chekhov's 'The Seagull' for Southward Playhouse in London in 2012. Beckley credits a second-year-students production of this play at NIDA, seen in 1979, as being his catalyst for thinking about acting as a career.

Derby Theatre asked him back to play Joe Josephson in Sondheim's 'Merrily We Roll Along'. Menier Chocolate Factory also cast him again in 'The Invisible Man'. York Theatre Royal cast him as Dr Robert Smith in the highly-acclaimed play 'Blue/Orange'.

Beckley also spent three years (2009, 2014, 2015) travelling to 30 countries in the role of Bill Austin in the world-wide hit musical 'Mamma Mia'. It was at the end of his last year with that show that he decided to return to Australia, where he has been since early 2016.

Since returning to his native country Beckley has appeared on the television programs 'Here Come The Habibs', 'Doctor Doctor', 'The Secret Daughter' and 'House of Bond', as well as the new Australian musical 'Melba' based on the life of opera star Dame Nellie Melba (played by international opera star Emma Matthews).

Filmography

Year	Title	Character	Notes
2017	The Secret Daughter	Jasper	Episode
2016	House of Bond	Kevin Bradley	Parts 1 & 2
2016	Doctor Doctor	Radall McPherson	Episode
2013	Raw (Ireland)	Peter Mitchell	Series 5
2012	Breakfast With Jonny Wilkinson (U.K.)	Matt Holden	Feature - Lead
2012	Coma (U.K.)	Rupert	Short Feature - Lead
2000–2004	Home and Away	Rhys Sutherland	Main cast
2001	The New Crusaders	New Crusader	Short film - main cast
1999	Farscape	Hasko	Episode: "Rhapsody in Blue"
1996	Water Rats	Roger Mulray	Episode: "Floater"
1993	Phoenix	Youth	Episode: "Safe as Houses"
1992	A Country Practice	Dr. Peter O'Sullivan	Episode: "Heartbreaker Part 1 & 2"

Theatre

• 2017 David Mitchell in Melba by Nicolas Christo and Johannes Luebbers, Hayes Theatre, Sydney
• 2014/15 Bill Austin in Mamma Mia! by Catherine Johnson, International Tour / Little Star
• 2012 Shamreyev in The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, at Southwark Playhouse, London
• 2012 Robert in Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall, at the York Theatre Royal
• 2011 Bradley in Buried Child by Sam Shepard, at the Curve in Leicester
• 2011 Randall McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest adapted by Dale Wasserman, at the Curve in Leicester
• 2010 Cuss/Fearenside in The Invisible Man adapted by Ken Hill, at the Menier Chocolate Factory
• 2009 Bill Austin in Mamma Mia! by Catherine Johnson, International Tour / Little Star
• 2008 Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret by Christopher Isherwood, with Bill Kenwright Ltd
• 2007 Joe Josephson in Merrily We Roll Along (musical) by George Furth and Stephen Sondheim, at the Derby Theatre
• 2006 Matt in Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson at the Menier Chocolate Factory
• 2005 Roger Wittaker in A Few Good Men (play) by Aaron Sorkin
• 2005 Narrator/Detective in Bill with Short and Sweet Productions
• 2005 Emil in The Duck Variations by David Mamet with Pork Chop Productions
• 1999 Dave in Alive at Williamstown Pier with Griffin Theatre Company
• 1998 Various in Clark in Sarajevo with Griffin Theatre Company
• 1997 Polonius in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard with Pork Chop Productions
• 1996 Eddie/Dr Scott in The Rocky Horror Show with Dainty Consolidated Ent
• 1994 Angus Marius in Dylan with Illustrious Theatre Company
• 1993 Maecenus in Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare with Sydney Theatre Company
• 1993 Pete in Three More Sleepless Nights with NIDA Theatre Company
• 1991 Frid in A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler with the Sydney Theatre Company

External links

• Michael Beckley at IMDb
• Michael Beckley at michaelbeckley.net