| Matthew Sunderland | |
| Education: | Toi Whakaari |
| Occupation: | Actor |
Matthew Sunderland (born c. 1972) is a New Zealand actor, writer, and director. He performed the lead role of David Gray in the feature film Out of the Blue, based on the events of the Aramoana Massacre.[1] At the New Zealand Screen Awards in 2008 he won Best Actor Award for this role.[2]
Sunderland graduated from Toi Whakaari in 1997.
Sunderland starred as Uncle Rory in Daniel Borgman's debut feature The Weight of Elephants.[3] He was nominated for a Best Actor Award in the 2006 NZ Screen Awards for Nature's Way, which screened In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006.
His other feature film roles include A Song of Good,[4] Christmas,[5] Stringer Woodenhead[6] Existence, and The Devil's Rock.
Sunderland made his directorial and screenwriting debut with the short film Tuffy, which deals with estrangement between a father and son, in small town New Zealand.
In 2013, Sunderland played in the stage adaptation of Kate Grenville’s Booker Prize-shortlisted The Secret River with the Sydney Theatre Company, which toured throughout Australia. He also appeared in Shortland Street as White Dragon, in a storyline concluding the three-year Kieran Mitchell story arc.[7]
In 2016, Sunderland played the role of a drunken man resisting alien abduction in the music video for "Bergschrund" by DJ Shadow and Nils Frahm.
Sunderland played the chemist, Joseph Pritchard in the 2020 miniseries The Luminaries.[8]
| 1992 | Desperate Remedies | Chorus #15 | ||
| 1992 | Absent Without Leave | Paul | ||
| 2003 | Christmas | Brett | ||
| 2003 | Woodenhead | Strong Man | ||
| 2006 | Out of the Blue | David Gray | ||
| 2007 | The Last Magic Show | Lemuel | ||
| 2008 | A Song of Good | Denis | ||
| 2009 | The Strength of Water | Hunter | ||
| 2009 | Under the Mountain | Wilberforce Drone 1 | ||
| 2010 | Tracker | Posse Soldier Crowther | ||
| 2011 | The Devil's Rock | Colonel Klaus Meyer | ||
| 2012 | Existence | Rider | ||
| 2013 | The Weight of Elephants | Uncle Rory | ||
| 2014 | The Little Death | Wiry Man | ||
| 2015 | Backtrack | Steve | ||
| 2016 | The Lost City of Z | Dan | ||
| 2017 | 6 Days | Tom Lovett | ||
| 2018 | The Nightingale | Davey / Settler 2 | ||
| 2019 | Savage | Dad | ||
| 2020 | Bloody Hell | Father | ||
| 2022 | The Stranger | Controller / Detective Sergeant Cross | ||
| 2022 | Pearl | Pearl's Father |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Shepherd | Episode: "Promises" | ||
| 1999 | Duggan | Private Ewen Daly | Episode: "Last Resort" | |
| 2001 | Cleopatra 2525 | Tox | Episode: "In Your Boots" | |
| 2004 | Power Rangers Dino Thunder | Monster General #2 | Episode: "Lost & Found in Translation" | |
| 2005 | Mataku | The Viper | Episode: "The Photo - Te Whakaahua" | |
| 2005 | Power Rangers S.P.D. | Green Eyes | Episode: "Perspectives" | |
| 2005 | Talent | Geoff | Television film | |
| 2008 | Kiss Me Deadly | Vigo | ||
| 2009 | Piece of My Heart | Sharp | ||
| 2010 | This Is Not My Life | The Cleaner | 2 episodes | |
| 2013 | Top of the Lake | Voice of Choppy 1 | Episode: "Searchers Voice" | |
| 2013 | Harry | Spud | 4 episodes | |
| 2016 | Rake | Phil | Episode #4.5 | |
| 2017 | Wanted | Bryce | 4 episodes | |
| 2020 | The Luminaries | Joseph Pritchard | 6 episodes |