Samuel Atwell (born 6 April 1979) is an Australian actor, producer, writer and director. He is best known for his role as Kane Phillips in Home and Away, and is also known for roles in headLand, as Craig Palmer, and Secret Life of Boys, as David Boxwell. He has worked extensively as a crew member on Home and Away, and Irish soap opera Fair City.
Early life
Atwell was born in Nambour, Queensland. He and his family lived in Indonesia for 6 years before returning to Queensland where he grew up in Brisbane, attending St Peter's Lutheran College. He always had a passion for acting, pursuing speech and drama courses throughout school, and was credited as being the first drama captain in his school's history.
After high school, he attended Queensland University of Technology where he completed a B.A. in acting and then moved to Sydney after finishing at the age of 20.
Career
Atwell did some work with Channel 7 at the end of primary school and Children's TV for UNICEF, and also completed a short film made for television. In year 11, with the help of teachers and other students, he formed a school-sponsored theatre company that produced plays such as Property of the Clan, All Stops Out and Dags.
He completed a film called Acting Out alongside Lara Cox, before taking up his most notable role of Kane Phillips in the soap opera Home and Away. Before securing the role of Kane, he auditioned unsuccessfully for the roles of Tom Nash and Noah Lawson. He later learned that he had made it into the top 2 for the role of Noah, losing out to Beau Brady.
Atwell played the role of Craig Palmer in short-lived Aussie TV soap, headLand, and starred in a TV pilot entitled Call Back by Australian Writer Kate Toon. Other credits include City Loop, an independent film completed while he was at the university, The Wayne Manifesto, All Saints, and the Hal McElroy film Mr. Reliable.
While acting on Home and Away Atwell also made a foray into writing and directing. In 2002, alongside his girlfriend at the time, Leah Pappin, he started his own theatre company, ‘ActorCorp’. Atwell co-produced the play Savage/Love which he also starred in alongside former Home and Away co-stars Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen and Leah Pappin. He also directed 72 episodes of Home and Away (2007-2009) and wrote several episodes.
After leaving Home and Away Atwell travelled to Dublin in 2013, where he was introduced to the producer of the Irish soap Fair City. Moving there in 2014, he joined the production team of the soap, as a writer, script consultant and producer.
He continues to work predominantly as a producer of TV shows in Ireland. He currently works in Drama Development for RTE, having worked on Kin, Hidden Assets and Smother.
Atwell still acts intermittently, and had a recurring role in the BBC/ABC children's TV series Secret Life of Boys.
Personal life
Atwell became an Irish citizen in 2022, and resides in Dublin with his wife Kitty Maguire.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Type 1996 Mr. Reliable (aka My Entire Life) Samuel Jakovitch Feature film 1999 Fusion Short film 2000 City Loop (aka Bored Olives) Security Guard Independent feature film 2002 Seconds to Spare Waiter TV movie 2002 The Visitor Nathan Short film 2007 Acting Out Danny Film 2009 Peanut Butter Dad Short film 2013 Mercy Campaign for the Bali Nine Self Short film 2017 Secret Life of Boys: Farther Christmas David Boxwell TV movie
Television Year Title Role Type 1997 The Wayne Manifesto Vernon TV series, episode 16: "Wheels Within Wheels" 2000–2006 All Saints Douglas Macreadie / Alan Phillips TV series, 6 episodes 2001–2009 Home and Away Kane Phillips TV series, 302 episodes 2005–2006headLand Craig Palmer TV series, 58 episodes 2011 Call Back TV pilot 2013 Wonderland Matt TV series, season 1, episode 7: "Hooking Up" 2015–2019 Secret Life of Boys David Boxwell TV series, seasons 1–4, 9 episodes 2021 Fair City Barbie Man TV series, episode: "Holiday Special"
As crew Year Title Role Type 2007–2009 Home and Away Director TV series 2011–2014 Writer 2013–2014 Script editor 2013 Mercy Campaign for the Bali Nine Co-director Short film 2014–2022 Fair City Studio director / location director TV series 2020 Script editor Kin TV series 2021 Hidden Assets Development executive TV series, 6 episodes 2022 Smother Development executive TV series, 6 episodes 2022 North Sea Connection Development executive TV series, 6 episodes
Stage
As actor Year Title Role Type 2002 The Glory of Living PACT Theatre 2002 Savage/Love Bondi Pavilion 2006 We'll Always Have Wagga Newtown Theatre 2007 Sexual Perversity in Prague Newtown Theatre 2013-14 The Removalists The Removalist Bondi Pavilion & Brisbane Powerhouse
As crew Year Title Role Type 2002 Savage/Love Co-producer Bondi Pavilion 2005 Bill Director / wrirer Seymour Centre for Short and Sweet (festival) 2007 The Journey into Sin Director Newtown Theatre 2008-09 Bondi Dreaming Director / writer Newtown Theatre, Bondi Pavilion & Seymour Centre for Tamarama Rock Surfers
References
External links