Aaron Pedersen

Aaron Pedersen began acting after initially training as a journalist at the ABC in Melbourne. His television credits include Wildside, Water Rats, MDA, Territorians, Grassroots, Queen of Hearts, Black Jack, and The Secret Life of Us. Aaron’s film credits include Dead Heart, Saturday Night, Dark Love Story, Grange, Unfinished Business, Mimi, Mirror Images and De-Evolution.

In 2007, Aaron was awarded Male Actor of the Year and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Film at the Deadly Awards for his work on My Brother Vinnie which he wrote and starred in. The acclaimed documentary explores his close relationship with his brother Vincent who has a mild intellectual disability and cerebral palsy. The film also won awards at the 2006 Melbourne International Film Festival, the 2007 St Kilda Film Festival, and the 2007 Sydney Flickerfest Film Festival. In 2006, he won the Melbourne Underground Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in Dark Love Story.

Aaron’s performance in the SBS series The Circuit, saw him nominated for both a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor and an AFI Award for Best Actor in a Drama in 2010. He has starred in the popular Seven Network series, City Homicide. For his leading role as Detective Jay Swan in the television series Mystery Road, opposite Judy Davis, he won an AACTA International Award for Best Actor in a Series. His other television works include Total Control opposite Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths; The Gloaming; The Code; East West 101; A Place to Call Home; The Circuit and Jack Irish opposite Guy Pearce.

On-stage, Aaron has performed for Australia’s major theatre companies, including King Lear (Melbourne Theatre Company); The Visitors, Signs of Life and The Club (Sydney Theatre Company); The Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Black Swan); as well as Eating with Your Eyes Closed (Queensland Theatre) and the Cost of Living (Melbourne Theatre Company).

Aaron is an Arrernte/Arabana man from Alice Springs. He is noted in his community as an outspoken and passionate advocate for cultural values. He participated in a play reading of Conversations with the Dead, addressed the United Nations in New York, and spoke at the Art Gallery of NSW about the journey of an Indigenous artist working in Australia.

Aaron is also an experienced MC and guest speaker.