Damien Herriman: from Adelaide boy actor in TV's 'The Sullivans' to playing Charles Manson – twice – amid US roles
Damien Herriman and as Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Adelaide actor Damon Herriman, who began his screen career at eight in 1970s local TV commercials (include for KESAB: Keep South Australia Beautiful) and two years later joined the Australian family series The Sullivans as Frank Errol, went to the other extreme decades later playing cult leader Charles Manson twice in 2018 – in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and in Netflix series Mindhunter.
Herriman also became well known as Dewey Crowe, the hapless criminal with the Nazi neck tattoos, in the Justified television series.
After his boyhood role in The Sullivans, Herriman was cast in other Australian series The Patchwork Hero, Sara Dane, For the Term of His Natural Life and Taurus Rising. He won a Penguin award for excellence in a performance by a juvenile in The Flying Doctors. After a part in children's mini-series Elly & Jools, Herriman was cast as Mark Jorgensen, best friend of Ben Mendelsohn as Danny Clark in Australian cult comedy classic The Big Steal.
Herriman has written and/or directed successful short films, including Tropfest finalists They and The Date. In 2004, he won best screenplay at Flickerfest for the short Soar He also was performer and contributing writer on the ABC sketch comedy series The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting.
His other Australian work includes playing Claudia Karvan’s friend George Wagstaffe in Foxtel’s Love my way; Marcus Dwyer in comedy Laid; simpleton Reg in 100 Blood Acres; and the title role in ABC telemovie The Outlaw Michael Howe. In 2014, he was manager Chris Murphy in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart and in Josh Lawson’s debut feature The Little Death. Other Australian credits include Abe Forsythe’s Down Under; Foxtel’s Secret City and Mr Inbetween; Oscar-nominated short The Eleven O’Clock, ABC telemovie Riot; Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale and Foxtel miniseries Lambs of God.
In 2019, Herriman won AACTA best lead actor for the film Judy and Punch.
His American career began in 2004, playing the roadkill truck driver in the horror film House of Wax. Since 2005, he has worked on The Unit, Redbelt (by David Mamet); Breaking Bad, Wilfred, Cold Case and mysterious hitman Mr. Jones on CBS crime series Vegas. He played convicted Lindbergh baby kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar (2011) and Cavendish gang member in Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger (2013).
He appeared in the Vince Gilligan/David Shore CBS series Battle Creek; homeless Romeo is Flesh and Bone; and violent hitman Buddy in HBO/Cinemax series Quarry. In 2019, he was Paul Allen Brown in Steve Conrad’s Epix series Perpetual Grace, LTD.