Meyne Wyatt is an award winning Wongutha-Yamatji writer, director and performer.
He recently wrote his first one-hour episode of television for Netflix’s HEARTBREAK HIGH with Fremantle Media which will air in 2022. Meyne is currently working in many writing teams for television, from drama to comedy including writing an episode on S3 of the ABC’s award winning political drama TOTAL CONTROL for Blackfella Films. Meyne is developing his smash hit debut play CITY OF GOLD for television with Bunya Productions. He is under commission to write a new play for Sydney Theatre Company. Meyne’s first short film, which he wrote and will direct, is produced by Bunya Productions and supported by Screen Australia.
Meyne’s debut play CITY OF GOLD, which he also starred in, had a stunning world premiere in 2019 in Meanjin and then on Gadigal Land in a co-production with Queensland Theatre and Griffin Theatre Company where it sold out and received rave reviews. In 2022, CITY OF GOLD had another smash-hit, sold-out production, on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar in a co-production for Perth Festival, Black Swan Theatre Company before returning to Gadigal Land for Sydney Theatre Company
CITY OF GOLD has been described as a howl of rage at the inequality, injustice and wilful ignorance of this country’s 21st century, and is an urgent play for our times. It was shortlisted for the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Drama. At the 2020 Sydney Theatre Awards, CITY OF GOLD was nominated for Best New Australian Work; and Meyne won Best Male Actor in a Leading Role, with Shari Sebbens winning Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role for their performances in the play.
In 2022, Meyne published his first children’s book, MAKU, with Pan Macmillan which he wrote and illustrated. In 2024, MAKU won the DANZ Children’s Book Award in the Chapter Book category.His play, CITY OF GOLD, is published by Currency Press. In 2020, Meyne was awarded the Packing Room Prize in the Archibald Prize, the most prestigious award for visual art in Australia, for his self-portrait.
After graduating from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art as an actor, Meyne’s performance in Lachlan Philpott’s SILENT DISCO at Griffin Theatre Company earned him the Sydney Theatre Award for Best Newcomer. Other theatre performances include: KING LEAR, BLOODLAND (Sydney Theatre Company); PETER PAN, BURIED CITY (Belvoir); and GLORIA (Griffin Theatre Company).
Meyne’s television credits include the tele-movie THE BROKEN SHORE, and REDFERN NOW, for which he earned nominations for Most Outstanding Newcomer at the 2014 Logie Awards and an AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama. From 2014 to 2016, Meyne appeared in NEIGHBOURS, making history as the first Indigenous actor to join the main cast. Following this, Meyne appeared in BLACK COMEDY, THE LEFTOVERS (HBO), the AACTA award winning series MYSTERY ROAD, LES NORTON, and PREPPERS. For film, Meyne has featured in THE SAPPHIRES, THE TURNING, and STRANGERLAND opposite Nicole Kidman and Hugo Weaving.