Wayne Tunks

Wayne Tunks was born on July 1, 1975, in Blacktown Hospital, in Sydney's Western Suburbs. He is the third child of Frederick and Lorraine Tunks, his older brothers are Robert and Gary. Wayne studied at Marayong South Primary School and then Doonside High School. Wayne showed a considerable interest in the arts, joining the Let's Video group, with the Western Area Adolescent Team. There Wayne completed two courses, and won an award for the short film, "One Great Night", which Wayne co-wrote and starred in. Wayne went to Charles Sturt University, in Wagga Wagga from 1993 - 1995, where he studied a Bachelor of Arts in Television Production. After University he worked in newspaper advertising and then became an arts writer for the now defunct Sydney version of Beat Magazine. After unsuccessfully attempting to shoot his first film, Tunks decided to write and produce his first play and was quickly bitten by the theatrical bug. His first play, Beyond the Door, was performed in August 2000 at the Mad Monkey Studios and starred Rebecca Smart, Rodger Corser and Tunks himself. Over the next few years, Tunks cemented himself as a leader in the Sydney independent theatre scene. His most successful show have included, The Subtle Art of Flirting (selling out five seasons), The Bridesmaid Must Die!, We'll Always Have Wagga, Silvertop Ash, The Girlie Show, Fag Boy & the Married Guy, Hell Hath No Fury, Flame Trees, Bitch, Go West, The Burlesque Effect and 37 Ways To Say I'm Gay. As an actor, he has appeared in a number of television shows and films, including Underbelly: Squizzy, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Casting Game and soon to be released feature film, Fragmentary, where he also worked as a casting consultant. In 2010, Tunks moved to Melbourne to become a storyliner on Neighbours, Australia's longest running drama series. In 2012, he also worked as creative consultant and first assistant director on documentary series, A House Around the Corner. in 2015, Tunks returned to Sydney. In 2017, he was the Festival Director for Short+Sweet, the world's biggest short play festival. In 2017, he shot his first web series, After Nightfall, for which he acted as writer, director, actor and co-producer. in 2018 the first season was released and immediately began to pick up awards worldwide. These include, Best Director at the Web Series Festival in Utah, Best Mystery / Thriller Series at the NYC Web Fest, Best Thriller Web Series at the Baltimore New Media Web Fest and Best Web Series and Best Ensemble at the Changing Face International Film Festival in Sydney. Season Two completed filming in 2018 and will be released in 2019. In January 2019, Tunks wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in feature film, According to Otto, an adaption of his hit stage play.