Matt Whelan

Whelan was born to a primary school teacher mother and a high school teacher father.^[1] He was raised with his three siblings in Christchurch, Canterbury on the South Island of New Zealand. He attended Lincoln High School.^[2][3] He took up an offer to study at Hagley Theatre Company, fostering a love for acting.^[2] He had originally intended to pursue a career in radio production.^[2] Whelan is of Irish descent.

Whelan later graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, one of New Zealand's most prestigious drama schools located in Wellington.^[4] Completing a Bachelor of Performing Arts in acting in 2007,^[5] immediately upon graduating he joined the cast of Show of Hands, performing alongside Melanie Lynskey.^[6][2]

In 2008, he landed a recurring role as Brad Caulfield in the first season of TVNZ 2 comedy-drama series, Go Girls. He became a series regular from seasons 2-4.^[1] He won the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance at the 2010 New Zealand film and television awards.^[7]

In 2011, he starred alongside Michelle Ang in My Wedding and Other Secrets, a New Zealand romantic comedy film.^[1] In 2014, he starred as Zach, the male lead in a Silo Theatre production of Amy Herzog's Belleville.^[8]

In April 2017, it was revealed Whelan would be playing the role as Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, in the 2017 Amazon original docu-series, American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story.^[9][10] The ten-episode series, chronicles the Playboy founder's life, the rise of the magazine and unveils never-before-seen footage from his private archives.^[11] Whelan met with Hefner during the filming of the show.^[11] It was released just before Hefner's 91st birthday and was partly filmed in Auckland.^[11][12][13]

After featuring in larger acting roles and gaining popularity playing Hefner in 2017, Whelan landed a role in the third season of Netflix original series, Narcos.^[14][15][16] Whelan played Daniel van Ness, a young DEA agent partnered with Chris Feistl (played by Michael Stahl-David), who go to Cali, Colombia after the death of Pablo Escobar under the order of Javier Peña (played by Pedro Pascal) in hopes of taking down the Cali Cartel.

In 2020, he starred alongside Rachel Lefevre in the New Zealand-Canadian television mystery drama series, The Sounds.^[17] In the same year he appeared in The Luminaries, a miniseries based on the Eleanor Catton novel of the same name.^[18]

In 2024, he began starring in A Remarkable Place to Die alongside Rebecca Gibney and Chelsie Preston Crayford. The Queenstown-set crime drama series, is a co-production between TVNZ and Australia's Nine Network.^[19][20] In the same year he starred in the Australian survival thriller film, We Bury the Dead.^[21] The Tasmania-set film premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in November 2024.^[22]

He currently lives in Taranaki, in the west of New Zealand's North Island.^[2]

• 2010 New Zealand film and television awards – Best Performance by a Supporting Actor – Go Girls