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. At the New Zealand Screen Awards in 2008 he won Best Actor Award for this role.Best Actor Award – 2008 Awards
Education Sunderland graduated from Toi Whakaari in 1997.
Career Sunderland starred as Uncle Rory in Daniel Borgman's debut feature The Weight of Elephants. 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,A SONG OF GOOD – Feature Film Christmas,CHRISTMAS – Feature Film Stringer Woodenhead 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.
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.
Filmography
Film +YearTitleRoleNotes1992Desperate RemediesChorus #151992Absent Without LeavePaul2003ChristmasBrett2003WoodenheadStrong Man2006Out of the BlueDavid Gray2007The Last Magic ShowLemuel2008A Song of GoodDenis2009The Strength of WaterHunter2009Under the MountainWilberforce Drone 12010TrackerPosse Soldier Crowther2011The Devil's RockColonel Klaus Meyer2012ExistenceRider2013The Weight of ElephantsUncle Rory2014The Little DeathWiry Man2015BacktrackSteve2016The Lost City of ZDan20176 DaysTom Lovett2018The NightingaleDavey / Settler 22019SavageDad2020Bloody HellFather2022The StrangerController / Detective Sergeant Cross2022PearlPearl's Father
Television YearTitleRoleNotes1996Hercules: The Legendary JourneysShepherdEpisode: "Promises"1999DugganPrivate Ewen DalyEpisode: "Last Resort"2001Cleopatra 2525ToxEpisode: "In Your Boots"2004Power Rangers Dino ThunderMonster General #2Episode: "Lost & Found in Translation"2005MatakuThe ViperEpisode: "The Photo - Te Whakaahua"Power Rangers S.P.D.Green EyesEpisode: "Perspectives"TalentGeoffTelevision film2008Kiss Me DeadlyVigo2009Piece of My HeartSharp2010This Is Not My LifeThe Cleaner2 episodes2013Top of the LakeVoice of Choppy 1Episode: "Searchers Voice"2013HarrySpud4 episodes2016RakePhilEpisode #4.52017WantedBryce4 episodes2020The LuminariesJoseph Pritchard6 episodes2024PlumBukowski4 episodes
References
External links Johnson & Laird Agency Talent Profile