Daniel Henshall Biography
Daniel Edwin Henshall (born 9 August 1982) is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in Snowtown (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as These Final Hours (2013), The Babadook (2014), Acute Misfortune (2018), and Catch the Fair One (2021).
Early life and education
Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, he is the youngest of three children.
He graduated from the full time acting program at Actors Centre Australia in 2006.
Career
Henshall's first major role was on the short lived BBC soap Out of the Blue (2008), where he played happy go lucky, Adam 'Ado' O'Donnell.
He won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as real life serial killer, John Bunting, in Justin Kurzel's Snowtown (2011). Indiewire named it one of the best performances of 2012. Snowtown was selected to play at Critics' Week during the Cannes Film Festival.
Henshall originated the role of Dan Oldfield in the initial sell out seasons of The Secret River (play) (2013), commissioned by Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton for The Sydney Theatre Company.
For four seasons he played co-lead, whaler spy Caleb Brewster, alongside Jamie Bell, Heather Lind and Seth Numrich in the AMC revolutionary war series Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017).
Writer/Director Jennifer Kent cast him as Nurse Robbie, opposite Essie Davis, in the universally praised, modern cult cl*ic, The Babadook (2014).
In the live action version of Ghost in the Shell (2017) he played AI enhanced Skinny Man, opposite Scarlett Johansson, re-enacting the iconic water fight from the original 1995 anime.
Director Bong Joon-ho cast him as Blonde, animal rights-activist and boyfriend of Silver, alongside Paul Dano, Steven Yeun and Lily Collins, in the action-adventure feature film Okja (2017). Okja competed for the Palme d'or in Official Compe*ion at the Cannes Film Festival.
He played white supremacist Slayer, opposite Jamie Bell, Vera Farmiga and Bill Camp, in Skin (2018), based on the life of Bryon Widner and work of Daryle Lamont Jenkins. Skin had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Henshall received praise for his performance as Archibald Prize-winning artist Adam Cullen in Acute Misfortune (2019), directed by Thomas M. Wright. He was nominated for the Film Critics Circle of Australia and Australian Film Critics *ociation Awards for Best Actor. Acute Misfortune was named best Australian film of 2019 by The Guardian.
He played murder suspect Leonard Patz, opposite Chris Evans and Cherry Jones, in the Apple TV+ thriller Defending Jacob (2020).
He played Daryl Dunn, criminal on the run turned Santa, in the family Christmas comedy, A Sunburnt Christmas (2020).
In the Netflix series Clickbait (2021), he played grieving brother turned vigilante, Simon Burton, opposite Zoe Kazan, Adrian Grenier and Phoenix Raei.
He played Bobby, son to the head of a human trafficking syndicate, in the film Catch the Fair One (2021), opposite Kali Reis and Kevin Dunn. Catch the Fair One premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival where it won the Audience Award.
Henshall had a cameo in the third and final season of the FX series Mr Inbetween (2022), playing Kenny, a drunk ex student at a high school reunion.
He was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama for his work as Patrick, the fraudulent son of a bankrupt mining family, in Mystery Road: Origin (2022).
He will be seen alongside Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving in The Royal Hotel (film) (2023), directed by Kitty Green. The Royal Hotel will have its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.
Credits
Film
Television
Theatre
References
External links
- Daniel Henshall at IMDb
