Nicholas Brown (actor)

Nicholas Brown (born 1 January 1980) is an Australian actor, singer, songwriter, and screenwriter. He is an acting graduate from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA – the same acting school that produced Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett and Baz Luhrmann).

Brown divides his time working between LA, Mumbai and Sydney.

Personal life

Brown grew up in the Western Sydney suburb of Greysteins with parents Roy and Patricia Brown and older sister Tracey. He attended Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in years 11 and 12 as an auditioned drama student. Whilst at NHSPA he represented the school in various drama and music festivals including OnStage and School Spectacular 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 2010 Brown was a Cleo Bachelor of the Year^[3] nominee.

Acting career

Brown has starred in Anurag Basu's and Rakesh Roshan's Bollywood blockbuster feature film 'Kites'^[4] opposite Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan. Following the Indian release, Kites: The Remix was released by Hollywood director Brett Ratner who re-cut the film and presented it to US, UK and Australian audiences. Brown will next appear in Hollywood film 'Mumbai Direct'^[4] produced by Sooni Tareporewala, the British film 'Quick Slip Me A Bride' and the Australian Indian co-production 'The Test.'

Brown recently returned to Australia from Mumbai to appear in Mr and Mrs Murder, Packed to the Rafters and played the real life heroine drug smuggler Supahaus in the leading Australian television show Underbelly: The Man Who Got Away. Brown has also appeared in the short film 'Bani Ibrahim' and Channel 7 comedy pilot 'Lucky Dragon'^[5] and Australian feature films ‘The Characters’, 'Temptation' and 'A Man's Gotta Do'. His television credits include 'Home and Away',^[6] 'White Collar Blue', 'Heartbreak High', 'Drama School' and 'The Cooks'^[7][8] on Channel Ten and Foxtel.

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.^[9] 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.'^[10]

Brown also played the villain Nikhil Madhvani opposite Shilpa Shetty in 'Miss Bollywood' which toured Germany and the UK including London's West End.^[11] 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 'Wind in the Willows' and Martin Crimp's 'Fewer Emergencies' at The Old Fitzroy Theatre^[12] and 2005 Hi-5 Space Magic – World Tour.^[13]

Writer

Brown's screenwriting credits include The Aussie Bollywood film 'Lighten Up'^[14] with Olivia Newton-John^[15]

Other writing credits include the plays ‘Rain Supreme’ and ‘The Glass Soul’ – both were performed at Australia’s premiere international short play festival, Short and Sweet. Currently Brown is creating a graphic musical film of contemporary fairy tales called 'Blue Fairy'.

Music

Brown was the lead singer of the LA based funk band Knuckle Funk in 2011–2012. As singer/songwriter, Brown also recorded the album 'Big Score' in 2005 with his Australian disco funk band The Modernists^[16] in 2004 and performed at Australian venues such as The Basement and The Metro.

In 2005 he was the male understudy for the children's internationally recognised pop group Hi-5^[17] 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.^[18] Nick wrote and recorded an album with the electro rock outfit ‘Listen Like Thieves’ and is planning a solo release in 2010.

Radio presenter

Brown is currently hosting SBS Radio's PopDesi – the biggest Bollywood, Bhangra and Desi pop playing on Australian digital radio, online and mobile^[19]

Awards

In 2004 Brown was a recipient of The Mike Walsh Fellowship^[20] and travelled to India, Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Rome studying multiculturalism in theatre, film and television. As part of the fellowship, while in London Brown had an internship with the British Indian Theatre Company – Tamasha Theatre where he began honing his writing skills.

Community work

Brown has had a commitment to supporting non-profit community organisations. Brown is passionate about addressing inequality, specifically the role of multicultural representation in the media.

His charity work includes:

• 2012 – Supporting the work of the National Youth Theatre Company Foundation^[21] 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 ^[22]
• 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^[23]

Training

• 1996 – 2000; National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA); Acting Course, Bachelor of Dramatic Art
• 1996 – 1997; Newtown High School of the Performing Arts

Interviews

"Triple Treat", MX Brisbane, 17 February 2010, Cover Story p. 1, Nicholas on being Cleo Batchelor of the Year nominee, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month Ambassador and the National Play Festival.

“I speak Hindi, but think in English", Rachel Fernandes, The Times of India – IndiaBuzz, 19 February 2009: Nicholas on Kites the film

"Out There", Sam De Brito, Sunday Telegraph, 14 November 2004, p 134: Nicholas on The Cooks

Credits

Screen

Stage

References