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Actor's Wonderland
Veteran Aussie thesp, Peter Carroll to receive Actor’s Equity Award.
Having performed in more than 60 Sydney Theatre Company productions, Peter Carroll (in the picture, he's in the middle, with hand on table) is now being recognised for his amazing work in theatre, TV and on the stage.
Australia's performers were unanimous in voting for Mr. Carroll as worthy of the inaugural Equity Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by FOXTEL. When they were asked whose career they would most like to follow, it was him.
He was nominated by Australian actors and chosen by the National Performers' Committee of Actor's Equity.
In 2009 alone, he has worked on the Sydney Theatre Company's production The Crucible, the Malthouse theatre's Happy Days, Company B's The Book of Everything and Opera Australia's Peter Grimes.
Mr Carroll has starred in productions alongside Australian performers including Ruth Cracknell, Geoffrey Rush, Toni Collette, Hugo Weaving, John Bell, Jacki Weaver, Leo McKern, Robyn Nevin and Cate Blanchett.
On the screen, Carroll provided a voice in Happy Feet, appeared in guest roles in everything from Grassroots to Farscape, and started out in Australian New Wave films such as The Chant Of Jimmy Blacksmith, The Last Wave and Newsfront.
Equity president, Simon Burke, said that the award is about them acknowledging our own and as such it's hard to imagine a more worthy recipient of the Achievement Award. "Peter is an ‘actor's actor'. He is a performer who throughout his entire career has been bold and brilliant in his work, generous and inspiring with his mentorship, dedicated and fearless when it comes to protecting the rights at work of performers, and most importantly, fun in the dressing room," he said.
FOXTEL chief executive Kim Williams said they were delighted that the award has been given to Peter Carroll whose body of work is so extraordinary. "The span of his creativity and his contribution towards how we see ourselves and how we understand the world has been truly remarkable," he said.
Mr. Carroll is also a highly respected voice and acting coach, a former board member of SBS, a former member of the Sydney Theatre Company's prestigious Actors' Company, a teacher at NIDA, and is currently a board member of Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre. He has also been a member of Actors' Equity since 1972.
In April, Mr. Carroll was named best actor at the 2008 Green Room awards for his cross-dressing portrayal of Girlie Pogson in the hit Sarsaparilla, which took away seven of the nine ‘main stage' theatre awards.
The 2008 Green Room award was just the latest in a string of tributes Mr. Carroll has received during more than 30 years of performing. This includes Penguin and Variety Awards, Sydney Theatre Critics' Circle Award, two Mo Awards, two Victorian Green Room awards, and a Glug and Helpmann Award.
The Equity Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented by FOXTEL, on Tuesday November 24 at a ceremony at The Mint in Sydney.
Photo courtesy of Company B Belvoir and photographer, Heidrun Lohr.
