Michael Beckley

Michael Beckley is an Australian actor.

He has worked with major theatre companies in both Australia and the United Kingdom, and appeared on London's West End in A Few Good Men (starring Rob Lowe) and Cabaret (directed by award-winning director Rufus Norris).

This was a recreation of Sydney around the year 1800.

Here he earned his Actors Equity of Australia card and officially became a working actor.

Within two years he took over the role of Town Crier, the leading player for the park.

Beckley made his first permanent move to the UK in 1984.

He appeared on the London Fringe in All The Way Home and attended dozens of plays in and around London, including many on the West End starring actors such as Anthony Hopkins (Pravda) and Glenda Jackson (Phaedra) and many leading actors of the day.

He also took drop-in acting classes at the London Actors' Centre studying Chekhov, Shakespeare, comedy, voice and movement.

It was during this time in London that he decided to commit to his decision to be an actor.

On returning to Australia in late 1986 he auditioned for Australia's leading drama school NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) but was not accepted.

He went and studied part-time under Gillian Owen, a RADA-trained actor, who ran The Sydney Acting School, and then auditioned for NIDA again in late 1987.

He was accepted.

The next three years saw him studying full-time at NIDA.

(Alumni include Miranda Otto, Jacqueline McKenzie, Jeremy Sims and the writer Reg Cribb.)

With just one week to go – echoing his departure from high school – Beckley was approached by Wayne Harrison, then artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company, to appear as Frid in that company's production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

(He appeared opposite a then unknown Toni Collette as Petra.) With the school's blessing, Beckley began his post-student career a week earlier than expected and graduated with his class at the official ceremony in early 1991.

The next few years saw Beckley work for various companies in a range of projects.

These included a rigorous 6-month T.I.E. (theatre in education) tour for the Bell Shakespeare Company which Beckley still considers as "earning one's stripes".

Other cast members were Berynn Schwerdt, Colleen Cross and Julia Zemiro (now a household name on Australian televisions).

Small television roles started to appear on his CV between theatre jobs.

He had guest roles on the Australian police series Water Rats and the Australian/American sci-fi series Farscape.

Wayne Harrison invited him back to the STC to appear in Antony and Cleopatra starring theatre stars Sandy Gore and John Stanton.

The prestigious Griffin Theatre Company cast him in Clark in Sarajevo and then as the leading role of Dave in Neil Cole's play Alive at Williamstown Pier, the true story of a politician's fight with bipolar disorder and his consequent "outing" by the Australian media.

Beckley received strong praise for his portrayal from national critics.

The Australian Jewish News called his work "virtuoso".

Lydia Clifford of The Daily Telegraph writing "I felt privileged to be a spectator of emerging talent".

He is probably best known for playing Rhys Sutherland, the patriarch of a new family that arrived in the fictional town of Summer Bay in the internationally televised series Home and Away (2000 – 2004).

Before and since leaving the soap he has worked extensively in theatre.

It was shortly after this that Beckley was cast as Rhys Sutherland in the long-running television program Home and Away, where he stayed for just over four years (2000–2004).

His character arrived with a wife and three daughters.

The Sutherlands went on to be one of the most popular families to ever appear on the program.

While on the show, the production company made two specials for release on DVD: Hearts Divided and Secrets and the City, the latter film concerning Rhys's disappearance after the revelation of a previous affair.

Each special contained not-to-be-televised footage, a new concept that proved a success.

He moved to London in 2005, where he was based until 2016, appearing on the West End and with major UK theatre companies.

He now resides in Sydney, Australia.

Beckley decided on an acting career just before completing his senior high school studies.

Despite protests from teachers he left school one week before his final exams, apparently to force himself onto a certain path.

A week later – at 17 years of age – he had landed a permanent position on the Entertainment Staff at Old Sydney Town, an historical theme park near his home town of Gosford, NSW.

Upon leaving Home and Away Beckley returned to England in 2005.

Signing with a London agent, he booked his first audition, which found him playing Capt. Roger Wittaker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on London's West End.