Xavier Samuel's acting dawn in Adelaide school and university drama; gains world notice in 'Twilight Saga: Eclipse'
Xavier Samuel made his television debut in 2003 on McLeod’s Daughters, filmed in South Australia.
Xavier Samuel, who sprung to world attention in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse film, honed his acting skills during Adelaide schooldays and at Flinders University drama centre.
Born in Hamilton, Victoria, Samuel grew up in Adelaide and completed his second schooling at Rostrevor College. He took on an extra final year drama course under Amanda Portus at Christian Brothers College, Adelaide, and played Tom Snout (the wall) in Rostrevor College’s production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and played Belvile in Christian Brothers College’s presentation of Aphra Behn’s The Rover (The Banished Cavaliers). Samuel attended Flinders University Drama Centre in 2005 and played Hamlet in the graduate production.
Samuel made his television debut in 2003 on McLeod’s Daughters, filmed in South Australia. Also filmed in South Australia’s at Adelaide’s St Ignatius College, 2:37, a 2006 drama written, produced, and directed by film maker Murali Thalluri (also a Rostevor College student) featured Samuel in a cast including Teresa Palmer.
Australian film roles in September (2007), Newcastle (2008) and Further We Search (2008) continued in 2009, with Samuel as Brent in the horror/thriller film The Loved Ones, followed by a starring role in another horror film Road Train and a role in Drowning. An audition tape saw Samuel picked for the role of Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, winning an MTV movie award for the performance.
Films roles followed in Anonymous (2011), a lead in A Few Best Men (2011-12), the 3D feature Bait (201) and short film Sanctuary (2012). In 2013, he played Ian in Adore/Two Mothers, with Robin Wright and Noami Watts.In between films Fury (2014), starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf, and Frankenstein (2015), Samuel made a return to the South Australian stage in the State Theatre Company’s 2014 Adelaide Festival production of Chekov’s The Seagull.
In 2016, Samuel had the film title character in Chris Jones’ The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, with Rachel ward and her daughter Matilda Brown. Also that year, he was back in Adelaide to film Bad Blood, a suspense thriller directed by David Pulbrook.
Samuel’s brother Benedict became an actor, writer and director best known for playing Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter in the Fox crime series Gotham; and sister Bridget became a stage manager.
