Tony Ayres
Tony Ayres (born 16 July 1961) is a Portuguese Macau-born Australian showrunner, screenwriter, director in television and feature film. He is most notable for his films Walking on Water and The Home Song Stories, as well his work in television, including working as the showrunner on The Slap and teen adventure series Nowhere Boys.
Tony Ayres | |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 July 1961 |
| Years active | 1992 - present |
| Awards | AACTA Award for Best Children's Television Series 2013 Nowhere Boys Inside Film Award for Best Director 2007 The Home Song Stories Berlinale "Teddy" for Best Feature Film 2002 Walking on Water Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction 2007 The Home Song Stories Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted) 2007 The Home Song Stories |
Early life
On 16 July 1961, Ayres was born in Portuguese Macau (now in China).[1] In 1964, Ayres' mother married an Australian sailor and migrated her family to Perth, Western Australia.[2]
In 1972, when Ayres was 11 years old, his mother committed suicide. She was a nightclub singer.[2][3]
Ayres' stepfather died of a heart attack four years after the death of his wife, and two days before he was due to remarry.[2][4] Ayres and his older sister briefly lived with their stepfather's former fiancée, before being placed in the care of Ayres' history teacher.[2] They then moved to Canberra, ACT with their guardian, whom Ayres' sister later married.[2] Ayres' 2007 film The Home Song Stories is loosely based on this early period of his life.[3]
Education
Ayres attended Ardross Primary School and Applecross Senior High School, later studying photography and printmaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, before working as an exhibition curator. He later completed postgraduate studies in film and video at the Swinburne Film and Television School (now the University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM School of Film and Television) in Melbourne, Victoria.[1][4]
Career
In feature films, Ayres' first feature Walking on Water won the "Teddy Award" at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2002 and won 5 AFI awards. His second feature film, The Home Song Stories, also premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won 24 Australian and international awards including 8 AFI Awards.
Ayres was the showrunner and director of the eight episode miniseries The Slap, which won five AACTA Awards, including Best Miniseries or TV Movie, and was nominated for a BAFTA and International Emmy. His other credits include producing the comedy series Bogan Pride with Rebel Wilson, and directing the telemovie Saved. Ayres was the showrunner for the ABC3 show Nowhere Boys, as well as executive producer on Old School and Devil's Playground.
Filmography
Film
| Title | Year | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | |||
| Double Trouble | 1992 | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary short film |
| Exposed | 1997 | Yes | No | No | Short film |
| Mrs. Craddock's Complaint | 1998 | Yes | No | Yes | Short film |
| China Dolls | 1998 | Yes | No | Yes | Documentary |
| Sadness | 1999 | Yes | No | No | Documentary |
| Walking on Water | 2002 | Yes | No | No | |
| The Home Song Stories | 2007 | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Lou | 2010 | No | Yes | No | |
| Miss South Sudan Australia | 2011 | No | Yes | Yes | documantary |
| The Turning | 2013 | Yes | No | No | Segment: "Cockleshell" |
| Spine | 2013 | No | No | based on an idea | Short film |
| Cut Snake | 2014 | Yes | No | No | |
| Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows | 2016 | No | executive | Yes | |
| Ali's Wedding | 2017 | No | executive | No | |
Television
The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.
| Title | Year | Credited as | Network | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Director | Writer | Executive producer | ||||
| Six Pack | 1992 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | SBS | |
| Under the Skin | 1994 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | SBS | |
| Naked: Stories of Men | 1996 | No | No | Yes (1) | No | ABC | |
| The Violent Earth | 1998 | No | No | Yes (3) | No | Nine Network | miniseries |
| The Last Valley | 2005 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | documentary |
| Two Men & Two Babies | 2008 | No | No | No | Yes | SBS | documentary |
| Bogan Pride | 2008 | No | No | No | No | SBS | producer |
| Saved | 2013 | No | Yes | No | No | SBS | Television film |
| Anatomy | 2009–13 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | documentary, producer (2009–11; 6 episodes), executive producer (2012–13; 4 episodes) |
| The Slap | 2011 | No | Yes (2) | No | No | ABC | producer |
| The Straits | 2012 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| Underground: The Julian Assange Story | 2012 | No | No | No | Yes | Network 10 | Television film |
| Next Stop Hollywood | 2013 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| Nowhere Boys | 2013–18 | Yes | No | No | Yes | ABC Me | producer (2013–14; 13 episodes), executive producer (2014–18; 39 episodes) |
| Old School | 2014 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| Devil's Playground | 2014 | No | No | No | Yes | Fox Showcase | miniseries |
| The Slap | 2015 | No | No | No | Yes | NBC | miniseries |
| Maximum Choppage | 2015 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC Comedy | |
| Glitch | 2015–19 | Yes | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| The Family Law | 2016–17 | No | No | No | Yes | SBS | Season 1–2 |
| Wanted | 2016–18 | No | No | No | Yes | Seven Network | |
| Barracuda | 2016 | No | No | No | No | ABC | miniseries; producer |
| Seven Types of Ambiguity | 2017 | No | No | No | Yes | ABC | |
| Stateless | 2020 | Yes | No | No | Yes | Netflix | |
| Clickbait | TBA | Yes | No | Yes (1) | Yes | Netflix | miniseries; filming |
Awards
Tony Ayres won the award of Best Dramatic Feature at the 2015 Byron Bay International Film Festival for the film Cut Snake.
References
- Prints and Printmaking, Australia entry for Tony Ayres
- "Going beyond the pale". The Age, 4 April 2003.
- "Writer and director Tony Ayres". ABC Queensland, 10 August 2007.
- Williams, Gail (28 July 2007). "Tortured lives". PerthNow. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
