Aaron Pedersen

Pedersen, who is of Arrernte and Arabana descent, was born and grew up in Alice Springs,{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/actor-aaron-pedersen-says-the-fear-of-50-motivates-him-20150114-12nfqm.html |title=Actor Aaron Pedersen says the fear of 50 motivates him |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |first=Paul |last=Kalina |date=16 January 2015}} one of eight children. He and his seven siblings grew up in foster homes away from their alcoholic mother,{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/aug/12/aaron-pedersen-is-the-mystery-road-star-one-of-the-greatest-actors-of-his-generation |title=Aaron Pedersen: is the Mystery Road star one of the greatest actors of his generation? |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=theguardian.com}} Margaret, and experienced much family violence in the home.{{cite interview |title=Guestroom - Steven McGregor |website=ABC Local |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=1 September 2011 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/09/01/3307850.htm |format=Audio |interviewer-first=Kate |interviewer-last= O'Toole |first=Steven |last=McGregor |series=The Guestroom}} From an early age, he looked after his brother, Vinnie, who has cerebral palsy and a mild intellectual disability.

In the early 1990s, Pedersen underwent a cadetship at the ABC in Melbourne, and worked as a journalist and presenter. He was a host for the TV series Blackout.

His acting career began in 1994, when he starred in the miniseries Heartland and was voted Bachelor of the Year by Cleo magazine.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0669853/bio |title=Biography: Aaron Pedersen |access-date=2007-09-05 |website=Internet Movie Database}}{{Better source needed|date=October 2020}} He came to notice in 1995 as co-host of Gladiators Australia, an Australian game show.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Pedersen's first major acting role was as lawyer Vince Cellini in Wildside in 1997. In 1999, he played Detective Senior Constable Michael Reilly in Water Rats, and took a major role in The Secret Life of Us (2005).

Since 2007, he had the leading role in SBS's drama series The Circuit, and from 2007 to 2011 he appeared in Channel Seven's drama City Homicide.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} He appeared as Cam Delray in ABC Television's Jack Irish series, beginning in 2012 and running for several seasons.

Pedersen took the lead role of Detective Jay Swan in Ivan Sen's Mystery Road (2013), a role he reprised in its sequel film Goldstone (2016), and its spin-off television series (2018–2020).{{cite web |url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2017/08/19/actor-aaron-pedersen/15030648005079 |work=The Saturday Paper |date=19 August 2017 |title=Aaron's lands |author=Dow, Steve |url-access=subscription}}

He played war veteran Frank Gibbs in A Place to Call Home (2017–2018) and Tom Campbell in Total Control (2019).{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} In 2020 to 2021, he was the presenter for an ABC Television documentary series Australia Remastered. In the same year, he featured as a presenter with writer Holly Ringland in an eight-episode documentary series on ABC Television called Back to Nature.{{Cite web |access-date=15 November 2021 |title=Back to Nature |url=https://peopleandparks.org/project/back-to-nature-a-documentary/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130085412/https://peopleandparks.org/project/back-to-nature-a-documentary/ |archive-date=30 November 2020}}

In 2024, Pedersen would appear in the Foxtel/Binge series High Country.{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Vivienne |date=8 April 2023 |title='High Country': New Original Drama Coming to Foxtel and Binge |url=https://au.variety.com/2023/tv/news/high-country-9214/ |access-date=15 April 2023}}

In 2007, Pedersen was the recipient of the Bob Maza Fellowship, which recognises emerging acting talent and support professional development for Indigenous actors.{{cite web |title=Screen Australia's Indigenous Department celebrates 25 years |website=Screen Australia |date=4 June 2018 |url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/backgrounders/2018/06-04-indigenous-department-25-years |access-date=16 November 2021}}

Pedersen has been nominated for many and won several awards.{{cite web |title=Aaron Pedersen |website=IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0669853/awards |access-date=16 July 2022}}

He won the Best Actor award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival for Darklovestory (2006).

My Brother Vinnie (2006) won the Best Short Documentary award at the Melbourne International Film Festival and was nominated for an IF Award for Best Short Documentary. Pedersen was also nominated for a Deadly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film.{{cite web |title=Aaron Pedersen |website=Platinum Speakers and Entertainers Bureau |date=30 June 2017 |url=https://www.platinumspeakers.com.au/Speakers/Aaron-Pedersen.aspx |access-date=16 July 2022}}

Pedersen won a Deadly Award nomination for Male Actor of the Year in 2003 and 2011, and was nominated for it in 2007.

In 2013, he was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, for his role in the film Mystery Road.{{cite web |title=Aaron Pedersen in Mystery Road |website=Asia Pacific Screen Awards |url=https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/apsa-nominees-winners/2013/best-actor/aaron-pedersen-mystery-road |access-date=16 July 2022}}

After being nominated several times over the years for AFI and AACTA Awards, in 2021 he won the AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series, for his role in Mystery Road.{{cite web |title=Australian Academy announces winners for the 10th AACTA International Awards |website=AACTA |url=https://www.aacta.org/our-news/media-room/australian-academy-announces-winners-for-the-10th-aacta-international-awards/ |access-date=16 July 2022}}{{cite web |title=AACTA International awards for 'Promising Young Woman', Aaron Pedersen |website=IF Magazine |first=Sean |last=Slatter |date=6 March 2021 |url=https://if.com.au/aacta-international-awards-for-promising-young-woman-aaron-pedersen/ |access-date=16 July 2022}}

Pedersen speaks at schools and prisons, and is concerned at the rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians, seeing parallels with the early history of Australia, being founded as a penal colony; the link between poverty and crime.

Other speaking roles include emceeing various events, including the Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival, and has hosted Black Nite Film Festival since 2009. He was co-host of the 2011 Deadly Awards, and has undertaken many other public speaking engagements.

Pedersen has looked out for his younger brother Vinnie, who has cerebral palsy and mild intellectual disabilities, on and off since he was a child. In 1997, when Aaron was pursuing his career as an actor in Sydney, their grandmother, who had been helping to care for Vinnie in Alice Springs, died. There were no services available nor other family support, so Aaron took on the role as full-time carer and Vinnie joined him in Sydney. After things got difficult for Aaron, his de facto mother-in-law, Mum Frances, stepped in and Vinnie moved in with her.

Vinnie accompanies Aaron during his filming.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/arts/television/aaron-pedersen-mystery-road.html |title=Aaron Pedersen Is a Different Kind of Archetypal Leading Man |access-date=17 April 2022 |website=The New York Times}} The short documentary film My Brother Vinnie (2006), written by Pedersen, directed by Steven McGregor, and shot by Warwick Thornton (both friends), was selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival and Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival.{{cite web |title=My Brother Vinnie (2006) - The Screen Guide |website=Screen Australia |date=16 March 2018 |url=https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/my-brother-vinnie-2006/22216/ |access-date=15 July 2022}}{{youTube|oHMyg9DN_Do|My Brother Vinnie (2006)}} (28 mins) VJM, 7 Feb 2017.{{cite web |title=Video Overview My Brother Vinnie (2006) |website=Australian Screen Online|publisher= National Film and Sound Archive |url=https://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/my-brother-vinnie/ |access-date=15 July 2022}}

Pedersen's partner in life is Sarah Bond. He says that caring for Vinnie means that there is no space in their lives for children. He loves working with wood, and has a "secret desire to be a tradie".

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/12/arts/television/aaron-pedersen-mystery-road.html "Aaron Pedersen is a different kind of archetypal leading man"] by Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Times, 13 October 2020

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• {{IMDb name|id=0669853}}

{{AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Australian game show hosts

Category:Australian male television actors

Category:Indigenous Australian male actors

Category:Male actors from the Northern Territory

Category:People from Alice Springs

Category:1970 births