Lachy Hulme (born 1 April 1971) is an Australian actor and screenwriter. He has written several films and has appeared in a number of Australian and US film and television productions. His roles have included CIA Agent Robert Wheeler in The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, Sparks in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and Immortan Joe and Rizzdale Pell in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Early life Hulme was born in Melbourne, Victoria where he has lived most of his life. Hulme completed his secondary-schooling at Melbourne's Wesley College, graduating with honours in drama, appearing in school theatrical productions such as South Pacific and Rover in 1988. His early career included appearances in theatre productions Rinaldo 441 and Sexual Perversity in Chicago and roles in Australian TV series Blue Heelers, Stingers and White Collar Blue.
Career Hulme's first film role was starring in the Australian 1994 thriller The Intruder, directed by Richard Wolstencroft but the film was not released due to the sudden closure of the production company Boulevard Films (it was belatedly released on DVD in 2005). In 1997, Hulme wrote the screenplay for the Canadian action-thriller Men with Guns directed by Kari Skogland (not to be confused with the similarly titled US film directed by John Sayles that was released the same year).
In 2000, Hulme appeared in the Australian thriller Four Jacks, directed by Matthew George. Hulme received the prize for best actor at that year's Melbourne Underground Film Awards.
In 2001 Hulme re-teamed with George when the latter directed the controversial film comedy Let's Get Skase which Hulme both co-wrote and starred in. The film's premise was inspired by the real-life comedy event staged by Andrew Denton back in the 1990s on his late-night show Denton in which he had staged a telethon called Chase for Skase to raise funds to hire a kidnapper to bring fugitive businessman Christopher Skase back to Australia from Spain where he had moved following the collapse of his business empire in 1991. The film was a satirical comedy in which Hulme played the leader of a rag-tag gang of hired kidnappers who plan to break into Skase's Spanish mansion and smuggle him back to Australia to face his creditors. Unexpectedly, the real-life Skase died in Mallorca in August 2001 whilst the film was in post-production, causing some criticism of the timing of the film's release shortly afterwards.
In 2003, Hulme scored roles in the sequels to the smash-hit science-fiction film The Matrix. He played the role of Sparks, one of the free-born crew members of one of the hover-ships in the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both films shot in Sydney. He also reprised the role for the Enter the Matrix video games. He wrote an introduction to the 2003 edition of Dick Russell's 1992 book The Man Who Knew Too Much about Richard Case Nagell.
During preparations to film The Dark Knight (2008), the sequel to Batman Begins (2005), it was reported that Hulme was being considered for the role of the Joker. Ultimately, the role went to fellow Australian actor Heath Ledger. Hulme later said that he had never been in the shortlist for the role; he had never even met the film's director, Christopher Nolan, despite media reports to the contrary.
In 2006, Hulme played the role of MacDuff, alongside Sam Worthington in Geoffrey Wright's adaptation of William Shakespeare play Macbeth, in which the play was set amongst Melbourne's criminal underworld. Although the film received mixed reviews and fared poorly at the box office, Hulme's performance received considerable praise. That same year, Hulme played a brash, foul-mouthed record company executive in the Australian film comedy BoyTown directed by Kevin Carlin and reprised the role in the unreleased spin-off mockumentary BoyTown Confidential directed by Tony Martin.
In 2008, Hulme appeared in the Australian TV comedy series The Hollowmen, produced by Working Dog Productions. Over the next two years, Hulme appeared in episodes of the TV comedies Chandon PicturesMeet The New Kerry Packer Set To Bowl Audiences Over In Nines Howzat The Daily Telegraph and The Librarians as well as the police drama Rush. In 2010, Hulme became a regular cast member on the drama series Offspring, playing the role of the brilliant but eccentric Dr. Martin Clegg in seven seasons.
Hulme has continued to also work in theatre, appearing in the Sydney Theatre Company's 2009 production of the comedy-drama play Elling, based on an original Norwegian film and novel and directed for the stage by Pamela Rabe, a performance for which Hulme received good reviews.
He returned to the big screen in 2011, appearing as a rogue SAS soldier in the action-thriller The Killer Elite, directed by Gary McKendry. The film, an Australian–US co-production and partially filmed in Victoria, starred Robert De Niro, Jason Statham and Clive Owen.
In 2012, Hulme starred in the television film Beaconsfield, a dramatized depiction of the Beaconsfield Mine Collapse in Tasmania, 2006 where one miner was killed in a sudden cave-in and two others, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, were trapped for 14 days, prompting a large-scale rescue operation which drew in nationwide media coverage. Hulme starred as Russell, deliberately gaining weight in order to play the burly miner, alongside Shane Jacobson who played Webb.
He had a well received supporting role in the 2012 Australian comedy Any Questions for Ben?, created by Working Dog Productions. In addition to Beasconsfield, Hulme starred in the title role in another film, Howzat! Kerry Packer's War. Hulme, having lost most of the weight he gained in 2011 for the filming of Beaconsfield (for the sake of his other acting commitments with the Fundamental Amish Theatre Company of Frankston), was again obliged to regain more girth to play the role of the heavy-set famous businessman. The role earned Hulme considerable praise and the film was a ratings hit.Howzat Kerry Packmers War Pulls In Over 2million Viewers Herald Sun
In 2012, Hulme also appeared in the comedy film Scumbus, written and produced by, and starring, Ed Kavalee, the film airing in November. Hulme has also appeared in Kavalee's next feature, the comedy-satire Border Protection Squad, which has been completed but is awaiting a distributor.
In 2013, Hulme starred in the prequel to Howzat!, a miniseries called Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War. Hulme played the role of another member of the Packer dynasty, Sir Frank. The miniseries aired in September and Hulme received good reviews, one critic praising his "forceful performance" although ratings were disappointing.
In March 2014, Hulme was cast in the Nine Network's eight-part 2015 drama series, Gallipoli and in which he played Lord Kitchener.
In 2024, Hulme appeared as Immortan Joe (replacing the late Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Rizzdale Pell in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the fifth film in the Mad Max franchise and a spin-off/prequel to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road.
On 16 October 2025, Hulme was announced as Ebenezer Scrooge for the 2025 season of A Christmas Carol.
Filmography
Films Year Title Role Notes Ref. 1994 The Intruder Intruder DVD 1997 Men with Guns Writer2001 Four Jacks Carl Porter Let's Get Skase Peter Dellasandro Also writer 2002 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Robert Wheeler2003 The Matrix ReloadedSparks The Matrix Revolutions2006 Macbeth Macduff BoyTown Marty Boomstein 2011 Killer Elite Steven Harris2012 Any Questions for Ben? Sam Scumbus Adam Yeardley John Doe: Vigilante Ken Rutherford 2014 The Little Death Kim 2015 Border Protection Squad Dennis 2022 Three Thousand Years of Longing Sultan Suleiman 2023 Teach Me How to Cry Graeme McRae Short film 2024 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Immortan Joe/ Rizzdale Pell
Television Year Title Role Notes Ref. 1992 Acropolis Now Writer; Episode: "The Lars Supper" 1997 Raw FM Ruthy Episode: "In Arcadia" 1998 Blue Heelers Joe Fantini 2 episodes 1999 Stingers Graeme Wilkins Episode: "Signal One" 2002 White Collar Blue Frank Conti 2 episodes 2008 The Hollowmen David 'Murph' Murphy 12 episodes2009 Chandon Pictures Derek Episode: "A Script Is Written" Rush Jacob White Episode #2.5 2010 The Librarians Hasan 2 episodes 2010–2017 Offspring Dr. Martin Clegg 69 episodes2012 Beaconsfield Todd Russell TV film Howzat! Kerry Packer's War Kerry Packer TV miniseries Jack Irish: Black Tide Dean Canetti TV film 2013 Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War Frank Packer Miniseries 2014 It's a Date Rory Episode: "How Much Research ShouldYou Do Before Dating?"2015 Gallipoli Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener 3 episodes The Secret River Thomas Blackwood 2 episodes The Ex-PM Lachy Hulme Episode: "Immortality" 2016 The Caravan Martin Clegg 7 episodes 2018 Romper Stomper Blake Farron 6 episodes 2019 Preacher Frankie Toscani 4 episodes
Theatre Year Title Role Company Notes Ref. 2014 The Speechmaker Melbourne Theatre Company Working Dog Productions 2016 Speed-the-Plow Sydney Theatre Company Rosyln Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay Sydney 2025A Christmas CarolEbenezer ScroogeMelbourne Comedy Theatre
Video games Year Title Credit Role Notes Ref. 2003 Enter the MatrixSparks Voice role, motion capture performance and live-action full motion video 2005 The Matrix: Path of Neo In-game footage only
Voice work Year Title Credit Role Notes Ref. 2012–present Fox Footy and Fox Sports Broadcast announcer
References
External links