| Emmett Skilton | |
| Birth Date: | 1987 9, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Other Names: | Emmett Couling Skilton |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 2005–present |
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in |
| Domestic Partner: | Holly Shervey (2014–present)[1] |
Emmett Skilton (born 23 September 1987) is a New Zealand actor and director.
He played the lead character, Axl Johnson, in the comedy-drama, The Almighty Johnsons, and most recently had roles in and American comedy series Young Rock,[2] portraying Dwayne Johnson's real-life college football coach, Ed Orgeron.[3]
Emmett was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He grew up in Titahi Bay and attended Mana College,[4] all in his home town of Titahi Bay. Emmett performed in the New Zealand Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival every year that he was at Mana College, and one year directed A Midsummer Night's Dream.[5] In 2005 he was selected to attend the New Zealand Schools Shakespeare Production.
During high school, Emmett performed with improvisation troupe, Joe Improv, at Wellington's Capital E. New Zealand director Danny Mulheron saw Emmett perform and asked him to audition for the role of Willem in Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. The following year he toured New Zealand and Sydney with the acting company The Ugly Shakespeare Company,[6] before attending Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School,[7] in 2007.
While studying at Toi Whakaari, Emmett starred in the feature film Home By Christmas, based on Gaylene Preston's family during WW2. He graduated at the end of 2009 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Acting[8] and began starring as Axl Johnson in The Almighty Johnsons from 2010.
Emmett played real-life figures Sam Giancana in US series in 2016 and Victor Lownes in in 2017. He went on to star in James Cameron's, The Sounds, New Zealand and Canadian co-production, Together Forever Tea, Amazon Prime's,.[9]
Emmett recently starred in NBC's new single-camera comedy series, Young Rock, based on the life of Dwayne Johnson.[10] Emmett portrays Johnson's former position coach at the University of Miami, former LSU head coach, Ed Orgeron.
From 2015 to 2017, Emmett produced and directed the comedy web series Auckward Love[11] which centres around a young heartbroken girl in Auckland, New Zealand, in her quest to find love again from her not-so-useful best friends. He also directed the award-winning[12] comedy series, Millennial Jenny,[13] exclusively for Instagram TV in 2019 to present. Emmett co-directed Stan Harrington's Australian series, Legends, released in 2019.
He is a screen tutor[14] at leading drama school The Actors Program and directed their 2017 and 2018 graduation films, Ripple and 13 Suspects, the latter written by The Almighty Johnsons co-creator Rachel Lang.[15]
Most recently, Emmett has directed over 100 episodes of Shortland Street for TVNZ.