PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Tony Ayres
Tony Ayres
Born	16 July 1961 (age 63); Portuguese Macau
Years active	1992–present
Awards	AACTA Award for Best Children's Television Series; 2013 Nowhere Boys ; Inside Film Award for Best Director; 2007 The Home Song Stories; Berlinale "Teddy" for Best Feature Film; 2002 Walking on Water; Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction; 2007 The Home Song Stories; Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted); 2007 The Home Song Stories

Tony Ayres (born 16 July 1961) is an Australian showrunner, screenwriter, director in television and feature film. He is most notable for his films Walking on Water and The Home Song Stories, as well his work in television, including working as the showrunner on The Slap and teen adventure series Nowhere Boys.

Early life

On 16 July 1961, Ayres was born in Portuguese Macau (now in China).^[1] In 1964, Ayres' mother married an Australian sailor and migrated her family to Perth, Western Australia.^[2]

In 1972, when Ayres was 11 years old, his mother died by suicide. She was a nightclub singer.^[2]^[3]

Ayres' stepfather died of a heart attack three years after the death of his wife, and two days before he was due to remarry.^[2]^[4] Ayres and his older sister briefly lived with their stepfather's former fiancée, before being placed in the care of Ayres' history teacher (whom his sister would later end up marrying).^[2] Ayres temporarily relocated to Canberra, ACT, to study, before moving back to help care for the teacher and his children.^[2] Ayres' 2007 film The Home Song Stories is loosely based on this early period of his life.^[3]

Education

Ayres attended Ardross Primary School and Applecross Senior High School, later studying photography and printmaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, before working as an exhibition curator. He later completed postgraduate studies in film and video at the Swinburne Film and Television School (now the University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM School of Film and Television) in Melbourne, Victoria.^[1]^[4]

Career

In feature films, Ayres' first feature Walking on Water won the "Teddy Award" at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2002 and won 5 AFI awards. His second feature film, The Home Song Stories, also premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won 24 Australian and international awards including 8 AFI Awards.

Ayres was the showrunner and director of the eight episode miniseries The Slap, which won five AACTA Awards, including Best Miniseries or TV Movie, and was nominated for a BAFTA and International Emmy. His other credits include producing the comedy series Bogan Pride with Rebel Wilson, and directing the telemovie Saved. Ayres was the showrunner for the ABC3 show Nowhere Boys, as well as executive producer on Old School and Devil's Playground.

Personal life

He is openly gay.^[2]

Filmography

Film

Title	Year	Credited as			Notes
Title	Year	Director	Producer	Writer	Notes
Double Trouble	1992	Yes	No	Yes	Documentary short film
Exposed	1997	Yes	No	No	Short film
Mrs. Craddock's Complaint	1998	Yes	No	Yes	Short film
China Dolls	1998	Yes	No	Yes	Documentary film
Sadness	1999	Yes	No	No	Documentary film
Walking on Water	2002	Yes	No	No
The Home Song Stories	2007	Yes	No	Yes
Lou	2010	No	Yes	No
Miss South Sudan Australia	2011	No	Yes	Yes	Documentary film
The Turning	2013	Yes	No	No	Segment: "Cockleshell"
Spine	2013	No	No	based on an idea	Short film
Cut Snake	2014	Yes	No	No
Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows	2016	No	executive	Yes
Ali's Wedding	2017	No	executive	No

Television

The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

Title	Year	Credited as				Network	Notes
Title	Year	Creator	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Network	Notes
Six Pack	1992	No	No	Yes (1)	No	SBS TV	Anthology series
Under the Skin	1994	No	No	Yes (1)	No	SBS TV	Anthology series
Naked: Stories of Men	1996	No	No	Yes (1)	No	ABC	Anthology series
The Violent Earth	1998	No	No	Yes (3)	No	Nine Network	Miniseries
Saved	2009	No	Yes	No	No	SBS TV	Television film
The Slap	2011	No	Yes (2)	No	No	ABC1	Producer
Nowhere Boys	2013–18	Yes	No	No	Yes	ABC3 ABC Me	Producer (series 1) Executive producer (series 2–4)
Glitch	2015–19	Yes	No	No	Yes	ABC TV
Stateless	2020	Yes	No	No	Yes	ABC TV
Clickbait	2021	Yes	No	Yes (5)	Yes	Netflix	Limited series
Fires	2021	Yes	No	No	Yes	ABC TV	Anthology series

Key
†	Denotes television series that have not yet been aired

Executive producer-only

Title	Year	Network	Notes
The Last Valley	2005	ABC	Documentary film
Two Men & Two Babies	2008	SBS TV	Documentary film
Anatomy	2009–13	ABC1	Docuseries Producer (series 1–2) Executive producer (series 3: 1 episode, series 4)
The Straits	2012	ABC1
Underground: The Julian Assange Story	2012	Network Ten	Television film
Next Stop Hollywood	2013	ABC1
Old School	2014	ABC1
Devil's Playground	2014	Showcase
The Slap	2015	NBC	Miniseries
Maximum Choppage	2015	ABC2
The Family Law	2016–17	SBS	Series 1–2
Wanted	2016–18	Seven Network
Seven Types of Ambiguity	2017	ABC TV
Creamerie	2021	TVNZ OnDemand	Web series