With an impressive list of Film, Television and Theatre credits spanning back to his youth, Damian has always leaned towards an exploration of the human condition in all its colourful forms. His personification of Melbourne's "Most loved murderer.." Andrew Benji Veniamin in the original UNDERBELLY series, captured the hearts and minds of Australian audiences and garnered Damian an AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008. Growing up in the thick of the exciting Melbourne theatre scene, where his mother and her colleagues would rehearse and perform many cutting edge shows, Damian was exposed at a very early age to the art of story-telling through performance. It was during this time that his innate love for acting, and in particular film, began to express itself and ultimately develop over the years, into a career in front of and more recently behind the camera. Damian's extensive experience as an actor lends itself to a natural flare for directing honest, engaging performances and his passion for global cinema has led to an exploration of potent visual aesthetics in his work. Writing stories that celebrate a wide diversity of human experience, Damian is particularly interested in themes that explore the junction between the rigors of everyday life and the fertility of our imaginations. Damian's latest short film SUSPENDED recently screened in official competition at a number of international film festivals including St Kilda, Flickerfest, Nashville and Locarno in Switzerland. Having picked up a number of exciting awards it is finally coming to the end of it's happy festival run. His 2007 debut short film THE BLOODY SWEET HIT also enjoyed healthy festival success. While acting continues to provide genuine fulfillment, the natural evolution and overwhelming pull for Damian is towards filmmaking. Devoting the last few years to transforming his overall passion for the craft into practical and creative skills, he is looking forward to the continued development of his career as a writer and director.
Napa Valley Film Festival
