Matt Nable
Matt Nable is an actor, born 1972.
Two careers, in this order. Matt Nable played professional rugby league through the 1990s, in the Winfield Cup for Manly-Warringah and South Sydney, then wrote his way into acting: The Final Winter, in 2007, was his own screenplay about the game and he starred in it.
That origin explains the casting. He gets hired to play men who are physically certain and verbally economical, and he plays them by doing almost nothing, which is far harder than it looks. Boss Johns in Riddick is the clearest example, a hard man who has to be plausible standing opposite Vin Diesel, and Nable holds the frame by staying still while the film moves around him. The same quality is why he works so well in Australian drama, where the silences are usually the point.
The Australian credits are the better ones. Mr Inbetween, Jasper Jones, The Dry, Son of a Gun, Gallipoli, Barracuda, The Twelve, Last King of the Cross and Bay of Fires between them cover a great deal of the country's strongest television and film of the last decade. The international work has been more functional: Killer Elite, Hacksaw Ridge, Incarnate, and Ra's al Ghul across Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, which is not among the credits listed here.
Movies (16)
TV (9)
Where to start with Matt Nable
Start with Mr Inbetween, and it is not close. The show is one of the best things Australian television has made, and Nable's work in it is the kind of supporting performance that makes the lead look better than he already is.
For films, The Dry and Jasper Jones are the pair to pick: both are small-town Australian stories where his presence does the job an exposition scene would otherwise have to do. Son of a Gun is the tougher, pulpier option.
Coming from the international side, Riddick is the one worth your time, Hacksaw Ridge uses him well in a small space, and Killer Elite is watchable and instantly forgettable. Last King of the Cross is the recent one if you want him in something long.