kids encyclopedia robot

Mark Coles Smith facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Mark Coles Smith
Blak-lab-at-asia-topa-2020 (cropped).jpg
Coles Smith in 2020
Born 1987 (age 36–37)
Occupation Actor
Known for First Indigenous Australian actor nominated for a Gold Logie
Notable work
  • Last Cab to Darwin
  • Pawno
  • Sweet As
Television
  • Modern Family
  • Mystery Road: Origin
  • The Dog House Australia
Awards FCCA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (2015)
Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play (2017)
AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Series (2022)
AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series (2022)

Mark Coles Smith (born 1987), also known by his musical identity as Kalaji, is an Aboriginal Australian actor of stage and screen, sound designer, field recordist, writer, and composer. He is known for his roles in the feature films Last Cab to Darwin (2015), Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), and Occupation: Rainfall (2020), as well as the television series Mystery Road: Origin (2022), and the Canadian series Hard Rock Medical (2013–18).

In 2023 he became the first Indigenous Australian actor to be nominated for a Gold Logie and won Best Actor in a Series in both the AACTA International Awards as well as the domestic AACTA Awards for his role in Mystery Road: Origin.

Early life and education

Coles Smith was born in 1987 in Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, and grew up on a cattle station on the Fitzroy River, two hours' drive north of Broome, in the Kimberley region of the state. This was his mother's country, the land of the Nyikina people.

His grandmother was Ningali Lawford, then a dancer at Bangarra Dance Theatre in Sydney (later an actress). Coles Smith has revealed that she had a three-month relationship with David Bowie, who asked her to accompany him back to Berlin, but she refused. His grandfather was a pearl diver, and Coles Smith has said that his family were all very hardworking.

His parents separated when he was young, and travelled around the country (including at Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales; and in Brisbane, Perth, and Broome) with his mother, who was an academic who lectured in Indigenous mental health. He did not reconnect with his father, who ran art projects in remote communities, until he was around 10 or 11 years old. He felt an instant rapport and familiarity with his father, who he described as possessing a kind of "German eccentricity".

He made his debut in the Network Ten children's TV show Ocean Star at the age of 14 after being taken to an open audition by his aunt.

In 2007, Coles Smith received the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development's Yvonne Cohen Award. He earned a certificate from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Aboriginal Theatre, a course offered only once in Broome, in which eight students attended classes for six months. He later said that most of his training came from working with experienced actors, such as Lisa Flanagan.

Career

Coles Smith has worked in acting, sound design, field recording, writing, and composing music.

Film and television

After filming his role in The Gods of Wheat Street in 2014, Coles Smith was cast in an episode of American sitcom Modern Family, playing a tour guide called Koora in an episode filmed in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

Coles Smith won critical acclaim for his performance as Tilly in Last Cab to Darwin, and was awarded with FCCA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2015.

In 2021, Coles Smith was cast in Mystery Road: Origin, a prequel to the original two series. In the prequel, Coles Smith played a younger version of detective Jay Swan, a role originated by Aaron Pedersen.

Following Chris Brown's defection from Network 10 to the Seven Network in 2023, Coles Smith succeeded Brown as the narrator of The Dog House Australia.

..... The film premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2023, ahead of its airing on NITV and SBS Television. ..... Steve Dow of The Guardian gave the film four out of five stars.

In 2023, Coles Smith became the first Indigenous Australian actor ever to be nominated for a Gold Logie. He also received nominations for the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor and the industry-voted Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor for his role on Mystery Road: Origin. He was one of three identities from ABC TV nominated for the Gold Logie, along with Leigh Sales and Shaun Micallef, with Coles Smith crediting the latter with helping him draw inspiration from the "Curiosity Cul-de-sac" parodies on Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell for his role on Mystery Road: Origin.

Stage acting

Coles Smith has performed in several stage plays. He gave his first stage performance as a child, Crabbing at High Tide, presented as part of the Perth International Arts Festival in 2005.

His 2016 performance in The Drover's Wife at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney earned him the Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play in 2017.

Coles Smith played a leading role opposite Jack Charles in ILBIJERRI Theatre Company's Black Ties, first performed for the Sydney Festival in January 2020, then touring to Perth, Melbourne, and then Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand in February and March of that year.

Music

Coles Smith was the sound designer for the play Which Way Home at the Belvoir, produced by ILBIJERRI as part of the Sydney Festival and directed by Rachael Maza Long.

Under the stage name Kalaji (the Nyikina word for "whirlwind"), Coles Smith gave his first musical/multimedia performance, named "Night River", at the Yirramboi arts festival in Melbourne in 2019. The work explored Nyikina country and the Mardoowarra (aka Martuwarra, or Fitzroy River area).

In December 2021, under the name Kalaji, he released an electro-pop album of the same name. NME reviewer Cat Woods described the music as reminiscent of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, and overall "an atmospheric, expansive adventure in synths, instrumentals, field recordings, and treated vocals – and a meditation on themes of intergenerational wisdom and memory". Partly recorded on country and produced at Wawili Sound Studios in Broome, Coles Smith explores his relationship with Martuwarra (the Fitzroy River catchment area) and his Nyikina culture. It includes field recordings of natural sounds, and one of the ten tracks is named "Wandjina", the cloud and rain spirits of Aboriginal Australian mythology.

Narration (audio)

In 2020, Coles Smith narrated an extract from the Banjo Paterson's poem " The Man From Snowy River" on RN Breakfast.

Coles Smith narrated the audiobook of Tasmanian Aboriginal author Adam Thompson's short story collection, Born Into This (2021).

Recognition and awards

  • 2007: Yvonne Cohen Award, Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development
  • 2015: FCCA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Last Cab to Darwin
  • 2017: Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play, for his role in The Drover's Wife
  • 2022: AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Series at the (domestic) 12th AACTA Awards, for his portrayal of Detective Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin
  • 2023: AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series at the 12th AACTA International Awards, for his portrayal of Detective Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin
  • 2023: Nominated for Gold Logie

Personal life

.....

In an appearance on Take 5, a show hosted by Zan Rowe on ABC Television and in an hour-long interview on Double J in October 2023, Coles Smith revealed the five songs that he had found most centering, or grounding, in his life:

Also on Take 5, Coles Smith said that his grandmother was Ningali Lawford, then a dancer at Bangarra Dance Theatre in Sydney (later an actress). He said that she had a three-month relationship with David Bowie, who asked her to accompany him back to Berlin, but she refused.

Coles Smith moved to Melbourne in 2015. After many years of living on the east coast of Australia, he had returned to his hometown Broome by 2023.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Ocean Star Spider 12 episodes
2005 Blue Heelers Luke Parnell Episode: "One Good Turn"
2007–2010 The Circuit Billy Wallan 8 episodes
2009 Dirt Game Willie Episode: "Boab Dreaming"
2013 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Tom Derrimut Episode: "Deadweight"
2013–2018 Hard Rock Medical Gary Frazier
2014 Modern Family Australian Guide Episode: "Australia"
2014 The Gods of Wheat Street Tristan Freeburn 6 episodes
2014 Old School Jason Dhurkay 8 episodes
2015 Airlock Jonah Ashbrook
2016 Hunters Dylan Briggs 13 episodes
Please Like Me Ricky 1 episode
2017 Doctor Doctor Dan 2 episodes
2017-23 Little J & Big Cuz Uncle Nick 20 episodes
2018 Picnic at Hanging Rock Tom 6 episodes
2018 Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Specialist Crash (voice)
2017-20 Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell Various (incl. Bumfrey Moo) 14 episodes
2019 Lift Guy TV series
KGB William 5 episodes
Les Norton Jack 'Palings' Murphy 1 episode
2019 Zero-Point Kyle Burton 4 episodes
2020 Halifax: Retribution Kip Lee TV series; 7 episodes
2022 Savage River Joel Thorpe TV series; 6 episodes
Mystery Road: Origin Jay Swan Series 3 main, succeeded Aaron Pedersen
2023 The Clearing Wayne Dhurrkay TV series
... Stories Manny 1 episode (Imperfect Paw Paw)
TBA Apple Cider Vinegar TBA Filming

Film appearances

Year Title Roles Notes
TBA We Bury the Dead Riley Post-production
2023 Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back Reginald
2023 Scarygirl River Bandit (voice)
2022 Sweet As Ian
2022 Akoni Sammy
2021 Jarli Cuzzo Short
2020 The Story of Lee Ping Jack Short
2020 Occupation: Rainfall Captain Wessex
2016 Miro Miro Short
2016 Messiah Short
2015 Last Cab to Darwin Tilly FCCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Won – AFCA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Pawno Pauly Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated – FCCA Award for Best Supporting Actor
2014 Wurinyan Henry Short
2013 Around The Block Steve Wood
2012 Ace of Spades Christian Short
2010 Beneath Hill 60 Billy Bacon

Self appearances / presenter

Year TItle Role Notes
2023 The Dog House Australia Narrator
2020 Outback Ringer Narrator
2019 Will Australia ever have a black Prime Minister? Presenter
kids search engine
Mark Coles Smith Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.