Alan King (Australian filmmaker / actor)

Alan King (born November 3, 1969) is an Australian filmmaker and actor.

Early life

King was born in Melbourne, Victoria where he has lived most of his life.

Education

From 1982 to 1986 King attended Ringwood Secondary College. He complete his VCE at Box Hill Institute of Tafe in 1987 majoring in Drama/Media. He completed a Bachelor Degree in fine art majoring in painting at the Victorian College Of the Arts in 2006.

Actor

King has appeared in various television, theatre and film productions.

Theatre

King has performed in over 25 stage productions including performances in "Rich and Creamy" and "In the Mirror" at the iconic La Mama Theatre, "No Man's Island" at Playbox Theatre Company, "Clive Potter Poet" at Theatre Works and alongside Mark Lee in Jean Genet's Miracle Of the Rose at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney. King is probably best known for having played the role of Mr Badger over 300 times from 2003 to 2008 in the Australian Shakespeare Company production of Kenneth Grahame'sThe Wind In the Willows which has been described as a Melbourne Institution having been staged every summer in the /Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne since 1986.

Television

King's trelevison roles include David Casey in [...] Time opposite David Wenham, Sean Grant in Fat Tony And Co, Gavin Chaulker in Rush , Tristan Walsh in City [...] , Vince De Bolfo in Neighbours , Tyrone Wallace in Stingers , Alistair Murphy in Satisfaction , Steve Wallington in Crash Burn , Harry Kramer in Blue Heelers , Todd Andrews in The Man From Snowy River opposite Hugh Jackman, Spud in Phoenix 2 Jimmy O Neil in A Country Practice and Tom "Rhino"Ryan in Mercury opposite Geoffrey Rush.

Film

In feature film King played the support role of Mafia Hitman Carl Carobelli opposite Richard Norton in the 1995 Mathew George directed action film Under The Gun. He later went on to work with George again, this time in a lead role playing Scott Michaels in the 2001 thriller Four Jacks alongside Lachy Hulme.

In 2015 King won Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his role as Inspector Davidson in the Timothy Spanos directed comedy Sizzler 77 alongside that year's Best Supporting Actress winner Kerry Fox for Patrick's Day He won the award again in 2017 playing the same role in the Spanos directed sequel to Sizzler 77 Throbbin 84 and in the process became the only actor in the festival's history to win this award twice.

King won an Award of Excellence for Best Lead Actor at the 2017 Indie Fest in the United States, alongside Dean Cain, Academy Award Nominee Burt Young and Bai Ling for his work in the short film A Way Back which King also directed (see Filmmaker below).

King has been nominated for a two Maverick Movie Awards in the United States, in the field of acting - in 2014 for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film for Goldfield and in 2013 for Best Supporting Actor in a Short Film for his work in the Ben Knight directed Trustin and the Ideas Machine

Narrator

King is also known as a voice over artist and Audiobook narrator.

King narrated all 22 episodes of the reality TV series The Club which screened on the Seven Network in Australia in 2002.

King has narrated over 50 Audio books including the best Selling Zac Powers series by HI Larry, The "Jack Russell Dog Detective Series" by Darrel and Sally Odgers and "Dogstar" by Phillip Dalkin.

In 2017 King narrated the Cadel Evans Autobiography The Art of Cycling which chronicles the journey of Australia's only Tour de France winner. The Audiobook was released through the Australian Broadcasting Commission

King was nominated for the prestigious Audie Award (Audio Publishers Association of America) in 2007 for his narration on the Children's audio book Jack Russell Dog Detective. The Audies are sometimes promoted as the Oscars of the audiobook industry".

King won an 2008 Audio File Magazine Earphones Award in the USA for his narration on the Audiobook Doppleganger by Michael Parker.

Filmmaker

As a filmmaker King could be described as prolific, he has been known to take on many roles within a single project, often working as director, producer, screenwriter, editor, DOP and actor.

He is known for [...] edge Avant-garde works that push the BOUNDARIES of conventional film methods. His works have been described as poetic, suspenseful deeply rich and evocative drawing comparison to Nicolas Winding Refn and Roger Deakins

His films have played extensively both locally in Australia and Worldwide.

His 2016 short film A Way Back won the Jury's Choice award at the 36th 36th Black Maria International Film Festival and went on a Nationwide tour of the United States with the festival in 2017. "A Way Back" was selected to accompany Oliver Hirschbiegel's feature film 13 Minutes as the film's supporting short for it's Canadian Premiere at the 2017 Willson Oakville International Film Festival. The film won the Gold Remi Award for Best Dramatic Short at the 2017 50th Worldfest Houston International Film Festival (USA) for Best Dramatic Short, it also went on to win Best Short Film at the 2016 Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Runner up Best Dialogue in a Short Film at the 2017 Action On Film Festival (USA) and the 2017 Indiefest Award of Excellence for Best Lead Actor (Alan King) and Award of Merit for Best Experimental Work.

His 2015 short film The Correspondent had it's World Premiere in competition at the 2015 The São Paulo International Short Film Festival (Brazil) ) as one of only two Australian shorts selected for the festival that year, the other being Adam Elliot's Ernie Biscuit. The film had it's North American Premiere at the Academy Award qualifying Athens Film and Video Festival (USA)). The Film was also nominated for Best Director (King) and won Best Experimental work at the 2015 Maverick Movie Awards (USA). The film also won the Platinum Remi Award for Best Dramatic Short at the 2016 49th Worldfest Houston International Film Festival (USA).

His 2013 short film Goldfield had it's North American premiere in completion at the 2015 Academy Award qualifying Cinequest International Film Festival (USA) ) and its Australian Premiere in competition at the Academy Award qualifying 2014 Flickerfest International Short Film Festival. Goldield's South American premiere was in competition at the 2014 Festival De Cine De Bogota (Colombia) ) followed by a screening at the iconic horror film festival Macabro (Mexico) ),. The Film was nominated for five Maverick Movie Awards (USA), Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor (Alan King & Dino Marnika), Best Costume Design and Best Sound design. Goldfield won Best Horror at the 2015 FMK Film Festival (Italy) in Italy, Best Drama at the 2013 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival (USA) and The Gold Remi Award for Best Dramatic Short at the 2014 47th Worldfest Houston International Film Festival (USA).

His 2012 film The Winking Boy had it's Australian premiere at the Academy Award qualifying 2012 Flickerfest International Short Film Festival and also went on National Tour with the festival. The film was also in competition at the 2011 Moscow International Film Festival (Russia) ), the 2011 Newport Beach Film Festival, the 2011 The San Diego International Film Festival (USA), the Academy Award qualifying 2012 Hollyshorts International Film Festival (USA) and the Academy Award qualifying New Orleans Film Festival (USA). The film won Best Screenplay (Alan King) at the 2011 Las Vegas International Film Festival (USA). In 2013 the film was screened on National television in Australia on the SBS network.

Filmography