Nicholas Hope

Born in 1959,^[1] in Manchester, England,^[1] Hope's family emigrated to the steel and he was raised in shipbuilding town of Whyalla, South Australia.^[1] In 2010, he gained a PhD in Performance Studies at The University of Sydney.^[2] In 2014, he was teacher of direction and acting for Film, at the Sydney Film School,^[2] and was Head of Acting at the International Screen Academy, Sydney.^[2]

Hope's first foray into live performance was as a bass player in a variety of rock bands around the in the 1970s and 1980s.^[3]

He started his acting career, working in many productions for the State Theatre Company of South Australia.^[1] He had only starred in one short film, before he got his big break^[1] when he played the lead role of Bubby in 1993 cult crime comedy-drama film Bad Boy Bubby,^[4][5] written and directed by Rolf de Heer. The role won him several best actor accolades, at the Australian Film Institute Awards, the Venice Film Festival in 1993, and France's Valenciennes Film Festival in 1995.^[1]

In 1998, Hope was nominated for best supporting actor at the Amanda Awards for his performance in the Norwegian film En dag til i solen (1998).^[2]

Subsequent film credits include The Goddess of 1967 (2000),^[6] alongside Rose Byrne, family film Scooby-Doo (2002), opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr., The Night We Called It a Day (2003), with Joel Edgerton, Dennis Hopper and Melanie Griffith, creature thriller Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) and Australian drama film Lost and Found (2005).^[1] Later films include The Daughter (2015),^[6] with Sam Neill and Geoffrey Rush, The School (2018),^[7] The Invisible Man (2020)^[6] alongside Elisabeth Moss and directed by Leigh Whannell, Moon Rock for Monday (2020)^[8] and The Drover's Wife (2021),^[3] opposite Leah Purcell.

He played lead roles in the 2012 films Redd Inc and Double Happiness Uranium.^[6] He received a Film Critics Circle of Australia nomination for best actor in a supporting role for his role as Joseph in Ivan Sen's 2023 film, Limbo.^[9]

Hope has also starred in numerous television series. He made early appearances in G.P., Blue Heelers, Farscape and Beastmaster. He starred in the award-winning 2001 miniseries Changi, as well as Gallipoli (2014) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018). His other television credits include Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Offspring, Janet King, Ash Vs Evil Dead, Operation Buffalo, The Twelve, The Secrets She Keeps, The Messenger, The Artful Dodger, Black Snow and Ten Pound Poms.^[6]

Hope is also a writer, director and producer. He made his writer/director debut with the play Little Gods in 2013. The following year, he directed Four Places for Outhouse Theatre, and in 2015 he directed his own play Five Properties of Chainmale for Griffin Theatre Company.^[9][10][11] He directed the short film Like Gold (2017), and produced the 2019 short film The Reckoning of Christian Spencer.^[9][3]

Hope recounted his experiences in the film industry – including his failure to secure main roles – in his 2004 memoir "Brushing the Tip of Fame".^[1]

A portrait of Hope appears in the National Portrait Gallery.^[1]