Mark Coles Smith
Birthdate: Feb 22, 1987
Birthplace: Broome, Western Australia, Australia
Mark Coles Smith is one of the most acclaimed Australian Aboriginal actors, having launched his feature film career in the World War I movie, Beneath Hill 60 (2010), with Brendan Cowell, Gyton Grantley, Aden Young and Bella Heathcote under Jeremy Hartley Sims’s direction, and earning ten nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards after a release by Paramount Pictures. Smith had a supporting role in director/writer Sarah Spillane’s Australian drama, Around the Block (2013), starring Christina Ricci, Hunter Page-Lochard, Jack Thompson, and Damian Walshe-Howling, and distributed by Arclight Films.
Smith received multiple Australian film award nominations for his acclaimed supporting performance in the Melbourne-set rom-com, Pawno (2016), co-starring John Brumpton, Kerry Armstrong, Maeve Dermody, Damian Hill, and Malcolm Kennard under Paul Ireland’s direction, co-written and produced by Hill, premiering at the Melbourne Film Festival and released by Mind Blowing Films. Smith again received acclaim and awards nominations for his supporting role in director/co-writer Jeremy Sims’s film adaptation of co-writer Reg Cribb’s 2003 play, Last Cab to Darwin (2015), starring Michael Caton, Ningali Lawford, Emma Hamilton and Jacki Weaver, and won the runner-up prize for audience award in its premiere at the Sydney Film Festival before a release by Icon Film Distribution.
Mark Coles Smith played support in director/writer Luke Sparke’s sci-fi sequel, Occupation: Rainfall (2020), starring Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Gillies, Jason Isaacs and Ken Jeong, and produced and released by Monster Pictures, and then Smith had his first co-starring role in director/writer/producer Genna Chanelle Hayes’s drama about the Boko Haram in West Africa, Akoni (2021), with Kit Esuruoso, Genna Chanelle Hayes, Jemima Osunde and Ophelia Dzidzornu. Smith then co-starred in director/co-writer Jub Clerc’s coming-of-age Australian Aboriginal drama, Sweet As (2022), the first Western Australian feature directed by an Indigenous Australian, starring Shantae Barnes-Cowan, Ngaire Pigr, and Tasma Walton, backed by Screen Australia and released by Roadshow Films.
Smith performed his first voice roles in two consecutive animated features co-directed by Ricard Cusso and Tania Vincent, first in Scarygirl (2023), co-starring the voices of Sam Neill, Anna Torv, Liv Hewson, Rob Collins, Remy Hii and Tim Minchin, produced by Passion Pictures Australia/Particular Crowd/Highly Spirited and which grossed nearly $1.2 million globally; then in the sequel, Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back (2023), with the voices of Deborah Mailman, David Wenham, Ed Oxenbould and Elizabeth Cullen, and produced by Eclectik Vision/Like A Photon Creative. Smith co-starred in the 1970s boxing movie set in Western Australia, Kid Snow (2024), starring Billy Howle, Tom Bateman, Phoebe Ton,kin and Hunter Page-Lochard under Paul Goldman’s direction, and which was produced by Unicorn Films/Immaculate Conception Film/Wynn Media.
Mark Coles Smith co-starred with Daisy Ridley in director/writer Zak Hilditch’s Australian/U.S.-backed zombie movie, We Bury the Dead (2025), with Brenton Thwaites, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and released wide by Vertical (U.S.)/Umbrella Entertainment (Australia). Smith continued his run of lead roles in director/writer Kiah Roache-Turner’s survival-horror movie, Beast of War (2025), co-starring Joel Nankervis, Maximillian Johnson, Lee Tiger Hally, Sam Parsonson, Tristan McKinnon and Sam Delich, and distributed by Well Go USA Entertainment (U.S.)/Rialto Distribution (Australia-N.Z.)/Signature Entertainment (U.K.)/Splendid Film (Germany).
Smith had a lead voice role in his third animated feature with co-director Ricard Cusso and new director Rio Harrington, The Pout-Pout Fish (2026), adapted from Deborah Diesen’s children’s book by screenwriters Elise Allen and Elie Choufany, starring the voices of Nick Offerman, Nina Oyama, Miranda Otto, Jordin Sparks, Nazeem Hussain and Amy Sedaris, and which was released by Viva Pictures (U.S.)/Maslow Entertainment (Australia). Smith was in a supporting role in the U.S.-produced action thriller, The Mark (date to be announced), co-starring Jessica Alba, Tom Hopper, Jessica McNamee, Elsa Pataand ky, Angus Sampson under Justin Chadwick’s direction and produced by Aperture Media Partners/Falcon Films/Highland Film Group, which distributed outside the U.S.
Personal life
Mark Coles Smith was born in Kalgoorie, Australia, and raised on a cattle station (ranch) east of Broome in Western Australia by his parents, including his father (arts project director in remote Western Australia) and mother (academic specialist in Indigenous mental health). Smith’s parents separated when he was a young boy, and Smith lived with his mother, who lived in many parts of Australia as an academic lecturer. Smith reunited with his father at age ten. Smith attended Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia. Smith graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts with a certificate of study in Aboriginal Theatre. Smith lives in the childhood home of Broome after living in Melbourne and Australia’s east coast. Smith’s height is 6’ 0 ¾ ”.
Known For
Mystery Road: Origin
(2022)
Last Cab to Darwin
(2015)
Akoni
(2021)
Pawno
(2015)
Mark Coles Smith Movies
actor
Upcoming (1)
- 2026 |
Previous (14)
- 2026 |
We Bury the Dead
asRiley
After a devastating biological disaster wipes out much of the population, Ava is sent into the ruins to help identify and bury the dead. As she moves through abandoned towns and silent landscapes, her task becomes deeply personal. Searching for traces of her missing husband, Ava is forced to confront grief, survival, and what it means to let go in a world that no longer feels alive.
- 2025 |
Beast of War
asLeo
A group of young soldiers, fresh out of boot camp, find themselves stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean after their ship is sunk by the enemy and must battle for their lives against a giant hungry great white shark.
- 2024 | Kid Snowas Lovely
- 2024 |
- 2023 | Combat Wombat: Back 2 Backas Reginald
- 2023 | Keeping Hope
- 2022 | Sweet Asas Ian
- 2021 | Akonias Sammy
- 2021 |
Occupation: Rainfall
asCaptain Wessex
Two years after aliens land on Earth, survivors from Sydney, Australia, fight in a desperate war as the number of casualties continue to grow.
- 2015 | Last Cab to Darwinas Tilly
- 2016 |
Last Cab to Darwin
asTilly
When Rex, a Broken Hill cab driver, is told he doesn't have long to live, he sets out on an epic journey to Darwin in a bid to die on his own terms.
- 2015 | Pawnoas Pauly
- 2013 | Around the Blockas Steve
- 2010 | Beneath Hill 60as Billy Bacon
Facts About Mark Coles Smith
Mentors: Mark Coles Smith has noted that the bulk of his acting training was with veteran actors, including Aboriginal Australian actor Lisa Flanagan.
Multitalented: Smith has not only pursued a career in acting, but also sound design, field recording, audiobook narration, writing, and music composition.
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