James Mason (Australian actor)

James Mason is an Australian television and film actor and producer. He started his career participating in a series of short films and commercials. He then secured the role of Chris Pappas on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Chris was the show's first ever gay male regular character and won Mason wide recognition, including a Logie nomination for Most Popular New Talent in 2012.

James Mason
Mason at the 2012 Logie nominations
Born
Australia
OccupationActor
Years active2008–present

He left Neighbours in 2015 to pursue other projects. He began to appear in more short films, web series and later secured roles in the films 36 Questions, William Kelly's War and Slaughterhouse. In 2018 the actor joined the cast of Network Ten drama series Playing for Keeps, playing Jack Davies, a gay Australian Football League (AFL) player whose death forms the main narrative of the show's first season.

Early life

Mason studied a Theatre Studies VCE at Monbulk College from 2006 until 2007.[1] Mason had always enjoyed acting during High School but only decided to pursue it as a career during his final school years.[2] His father Adrian Mason and mother Aylee Sunstrom were supportive of his career aspirations.[3] He is bilingual and can speak both English and Swedish.[1]

Career

Mason began his career starring in a number of independent short films and television commercials during 2008 and 2009.[1][4] The actor rose to prominence playing the role Chris Pappas on the Australian television soap opera Neighbours. Mason's agent secured him an audition for the role of Andrew Robinson. Actor Jordan Smith won the role of Andrew, but three days later Mason was offered the chance to play Chris.[5][6] Chris is the show's first gay ongoing character.[6] Neighbours' then executive producer Susan Bower created the character following requests from viewers in the Neighbours website discussion forums.[7] Two-thirds of actors quit the audition process for Chris when they discovered the character was gay.[8] Mason began filming for Neighbours in October 2009 and the character arrived on-screen during February 2010.[5] Mason said that he was "really excited" to play the role and added the writers had helped him to accurately portray a gay male.[5][9] Chris was initially a guest character but Mason was later promoted to the show's regular cast.[10] For his portrayal of Chris, Mason was nominated for Most Popular New Male Talent at the Logie Awards of 2012.[11] The actor filmed for an unaired television pilot titled SPIN in 2013.[1] In 2015, Mason decided to leave Neighbours after five years in the role.[12]

Mason secured a lead role in the 2018 film 36 Questions. The film focuses on a couple who go on a date under unusual circumstances. The actor's involvement with the film began in 2014, when he was still starring in Neighbours.[13] The movie was supposed to be released that year but only made it to post-production in 2017.[13][14] In 2015, Mason secured a guest role in Ben Nicholas' web series titled Footballer Wants a Wife.[1] In 2016, he presented a travel documentary titled Budget Backpacker: Iceland. He travelled to Iceland and profiled his journey visiting tourist destinations for the video, which was released online.[15] In 2017, he filmed a guest role in a DCF Studio television production titled Bernie Brown.[16]

Mason took more acting work during 2018. He had the lead role as Jacob in the comedy web series titled Freudian Slip, which premiered in March.[17] Then in May it was announced that he had secured the role of Jack Davies in the Network Ten drama series Playing for Keeps. The show is about a group of AFL players and their wives' personal lives.[18] Jack is another gay character Mason has played and the series also centres around the scandal of his death.[19][20]

In October 2018, it was announced that Mason had secured a role in the 2019 series Ms Fisher's MODern Murder Mysteries.[21] He has also filmed another lead role in the independent film The Slaughterhouse Killer as Nathan.[1]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Eleven Dean Webb Short film
2009 The Quiet Miko Short film
2009 Clean Slate Marcus Short film
2009 Change David Bland Short film
2010–2015 Neighbours Chris Pappas Regular role
2010 Contender/Skirmish/The Itch Adrian Short film
2013 SPIN Branley David Unaired TV pilot
2014 Killervision Darren Film
2014 Nice Guys Read Plath Tutor Short film
2014 William Kelly's War Constable Sam Johnson Film
2015 Footballer Wants a Wife Nigel West 2 episodes
2015 Newman Leroy Film
2017 Jack Caine Harry Bradshaw Short film
2018 Freudian Slip Jacob Web series
2018 Playing for Keeps Jack Davies Regular role
2018 So That's How it Happened Joe Short film
2018 36 Questions Jacob Film, lead role
2019 Ms Fisher's MODern Murder Mysteries Eric Wild Guest role
2020 The Slaughterhouse Killer Nathan Film, lead role
2020 Bernie Brown Medieval Knight Guest role
Sources:[1][21]

Awards and nominations
Year Format Association Category Nominated work Result
2012 Television Logie Awards Most Popular New Male Talent Neighbours Nominated[11]

References
  1. "James Mason". cni.au.castingnetworks.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  2. Stubbing, Leo (9 December 2013). "James Mason (Chris Pappas on Neighbours)". Joy 94.9. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  3. Falconer, Daniel (15 June 2014). "Father's Day exclusive – Neighbours star James Mason interview". Female First. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  4. "James Mason is an Actor, Writer & Director and TV Presenter based in Victoria, Australia". StarNow. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  5. Akersten, Matt (16 August 2010). "Everybody needs gay Neighbours". Samesame.com.au. Sound Alliance. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  6. Vickery, Colin (7 December 2011). "Viewers embrace Neighbours' gay character played by newcomer James Mason". News.com.au. (News Corp Australia). Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  7. Duck, Siobahn (7 August 2010). "Soapie Neighbours to get first openly gay male character". Herald Sun. (The Herald and Weekly Times). Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  8. Darren, Devlyn; Duck, Siobhnan (22 August 2010). "Neighbours 6000 and going strong". Adelaide Now. (News Corp Australia). Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  9. Brygel, Jackie (7–13 August 2010). "Chris comes out". TV Week. (ACP Magazines): 9.
  10. "James' gay pride for show". Channel 5. (Northern & Shell). 10 June 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  11. Byrnes, Holly (18 March 2012). "Karl Stefanovic nominated to win back-to-back Gold Logies as Australian television awards announced". Herald Sun. (The Herald and Weekly Times). Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  12. Dainty, Sophie (27 March 2015). "Neighbours: Watch James Mason film his final scenes as Chris Pappas". Digital Spy. (Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  13. Kilkelly, Daniel (10 March 2014). "Neighbours actor James Mason joins indie film 36 Questions". Digital Spy. (Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  14. "Down Under Berlin / New York Horror Film Festival – Liz Drives". We are moving stories. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  15. "Budget Backpacker: Iceland". Kickstarter. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  16. "Bernie Brown". DCF Studios. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  17. Vogt, Ang (29 May 2018). "Freudian Slip: The Id and the Super Ego of Webseries". Filmink. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  18. "Ten announce cast for new drama Playing For Keeps". TV Blackbox. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  19. "Playing For Keeps: The 8 Most WTF Moments Of The Season". Tenplay. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  20. MacNaughton, Tanya (16 October 2018). "Footy and acting careers collide for Ethan Panizza in Playing For Keeps". Eastern Reporter. (Community News Group). Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  21. Knox, David (27 October 2018). "Further cast for Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries". TV Tonight. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
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