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Adam Zwar

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Adam Zwar
Born (1972-01-13) 13 January 1972 (age 52)
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Other namesAdam Zwarr
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • writer
Notable workAlex Burchill on Lowdown
Adam Douglas on Wilfred
The Wedding Party
Rats and Cats
SpouseAmanda Brotchie (2003–present)

Adam Zwar (born 13 January 1972) is an Australian actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for co-creating the Australian comedy series Squinters, Lowdown, Wilfred and creating the critically acclaimed Channel 10 comedy Mr. Black as well as the popular factual series Agony Aunts, Agony Uncles, The Agony of Life, The Agony of Modern Manners and Agony. Zwar also presented and produced seminal cricket documentaries Underarm: The Ball That Changed Cricket and Bodyline: The Ultimate Test which took a forensic look at the infamous 1931-32 Ashes series between Australia and England.

Early life

Zwar was born on 13 January 1972 in Cairns, Queensland where he was subsequently raised. His parents bought the family home from actor Leo McKern. Zwar is the son of author Desmond Zwar, who wrote the best-selling book The Loneliest Man in the World about Rudolf Hess. Zwar's mother Delphine was a longtime writer for the House and Garden magazine.[1]

From the age of thirteen, Zwar attended Smithfield High School and Brisbane Grammar School where he captained the cross country team in his senior year. After high school, he completed a journalism degree at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. He subsequently began studying acting as well. He undertook a journalism cadetship at The Cairns Post, and subsequently moved to Melbourne to work for the Sunday Herald Sun.[2]

After some time working at the Sunday Herald Sun, Zwar decided to pursue his interest in the film industry. In 1997 he left his full-time journalism job to work two jobs as a freelance journalist and freelance actor. He performed in theatre, numerous television commercials, as well as guest roles in Neighbours, Blue Heelers and Sea Change.[3] Each year Zwar would save a portion of his income (usually around $A4000[3]) and use it to produce a short film.[2]

Career

After guest appearances in several Australian television shows in the late 1990s, Adam co-wrote, produced and co-starred in the short film Wilfred in 2002 and then went on to co-create and co-star in the television series, Wilfred, screened on SBS in 2007. Later that year, he won the AFI Award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy. After a second season on Wilfred, Adam collaborated with Amanda Brotchie, to create the popular comedy, Lowdown, which went on to win Best Television Comedy Screenplay at the Australian Writers Guild Awards (AWGIES) in 2010 and 2012. Lowdown would also win Best Television Comedy at the 2013 AACTA Awards.

More recently, he has created the successful Agony series for ABC1, featuring some of Australia's funniest and brightest comedians and social commentators. In 2012, Agony Uncles premiered, followed by Agony Aunts, The Agony of Life, The Agony of Christmas and then in 2014 The Agony of Modern Manners and The Agony of the Mind. In 2015, the series returned with Agony. Agony Aunts won Best Light Entertainment Television Series at the 2013 AACTA Awards.[4]

Adam also co-wrote and co-starred in the movie Rats and Cats, which premiered to sell-out audiences and critical acclaim at the 2006 Melbourne International Film Festival[5] and went on to screen at the SXSW Film Festival in 2009.[6] From 2006 to 2010, he was head writer on the AFI Awards screened on the Nine Network, working alongside hosts Geoffrey Rush and Stephen Curry.[7] Zwar's other acting credits include playing Martin Gero in Series 1 of 2 of the Network Ten crime drama Rush, as well as the SBS series Carla Cametti PD, the ABC television movie Valentine's Day, the crime drama Underbelly for Channel Nine. In 2016, Zwar joined the main cast of Foxtel's drama Top of the Lake.

Zwar's other screen-acting credits include both seasons of the Network Ten sketch comedy series The Wedge, Blue Heelers, Stingers, CrashBurn, SeaChange, BackBerner, Foxtel's drama Tangle and MDA. His stage-acting credits include Kissing for Australia, for which he received a Green Room Award nomination, and Cyrano de Bergerac for the Melbourne Theatre Company.[8]

He has also written the plays Kissing for Australia, Primrose Hill, The Inner Sanctum, and The Fall and Fall of Jeremy Hawthorn

Zwar is one of Australia's leading voice-over artists lending his voice to Ford, Australia Post, ISelect, the Herald Sun, Honda, HBA, Boag's, RACV, Bundaberg Rum, AHM and Blackmores.

Personal life

Zwar is married to Amanda Brotchie, the AFI award-winning filmmaker.

Writing credits

Year Title Type Other notes
1994 The Fall and Fall of Jeremy Hawthorn Play
2002 Wilfred Film Short, co-written with Jason Gann
2005 The Inner Sanctum Play
2006-2007 Rats and Cats Film Co-written with Jason Gann
2008 Kissing for Australia Play
2008 Primrose Hill Play
2010-2012 Lowdown TV series Co-creator with Amanda Brotchie; executive producer; writer - 15 episodes
2007-2010, 2011-2014 Wilfred TV series Co-creator with Jason Gann and Tony Rogers; writer - 16 episodes
2012-2015 Total Agony TV series documentary Host; director; executive producer; writer - 34 episodes
2017 No Activity TV series Co-writer with Trent O'Donnell and Patrick Brammall - episode "The Crow"
2019 Mr. Black TV series Creator; executive producer; writer - 8 episodes
2018-2019 Squinters TV series Co-creator with Trent O'Donnell; executive producer; head writer - 12 episodes

Acting credits

Television

Year Title Role Other notes
1998 Neighbours Mark Billings 2 episodes
1999-2000 SeaChange Const. George Velos 4 episodes
1999-2001 Stingers Reuben/Grubby Kane 2 episodes
1998-2002 Blue Heelers Mike Schneider/Arnie Violet 2 episodes
2003 CrashBurn Tat Episode "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
2002-2005 MDA Peter Munro 5 episodes
2006-2007 The Wedge Various characters 48 episodes
2008 Underbelly Gregg Hildebrandt Episode "Team Purana"
2008 Bogan Pride Mr. Laffer 2 episodes
2009 Carla Cametti PD Hank Episode "In Sickness and in Health"
2008-2009 Rush Martin Gero 2 episodes
2007-2010 Wilfred Adam Douglas/Detective Delaney 16 episodes
2010 Tangle Huey Moss 2 episodes
2011 The Match Committee Adam Harrington 3 episodes
2011 Some Say Love Various characters Episode "Pilot"
2012 Howzat! Kerry Packer's War Peter McFarline 2 episodes
2012 Rake Bob Oakley Episode "R vs Alford"
2010-2012 Lowdown Alex Burchill 16 episodes
2014 Party Tricks Trevor Bailey 6 episodes
2015 The Beautiful Lie Comedy Host Episode "#1.2"
2016 The Doctor Blake Mysteries Herbert Jones Episode "The Open Road"
2016 The Legend of Gavin Tanner Marshall Episode "The Legend of Gavin and the New Best Mate"
2017 Top of the Lake Carson 4 episodes
2018 Sando Tony's Commercial (voice only) Episode "Family Business"
2019 Mr. Black Jim (Mr. Black's Doctor) Episode "#1.7"
2018-2019 Squinters Radio Announcer/Traffic Reporter 12 episodes

Film

Year Title Role Director Other notes
2000 Narcosys Orbit Mark Bakaitis
2002 Wilfred Adam Douglas Tony Rogers Short film
2007 Rats and Cats Ben Baxter Tony Rogers
2007 Little Deaths Daniel/Toxicman Toby Angwin, Chris Benz (director), Melanie Brunt
2008 Valentine's Day Beak Peter Duncan TV movie
2010 The Wedding Party Tommy Amanda Jane
2016 Emo the Musical Principal Stephens Neil Triffett
2021 Fraud Festival Radio Announcer (voice only) Sam Petersen TV movie

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ "Adam Zwar".
  2. ^ a b Natalie Craig (26 August 2012). "Rags to stitches". The Age. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  3. ^ a b Katherine Phelps (6 February 2012). "Speaking with the High Flier from Lowdown". Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  4. ^ "IF Magazine".
  5. ^ Melbourne Film Festival Archived 15 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ [1][permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Herald Sun story
  8. ^ Theatre Notes Blog
  9. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "Home".
  11. ^ Australian Film Institute
  12. ^ "AWGIES: 2010 winners | TV Tonight".
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ Australian Film Institute
  15. ^ The greenroom.org.au web site [dead link‍]
  16. ^ a b "Lowdown wins awards in LA | TV Tonight".
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