Damon Herriman

Early life and education

Damon Herriman was born in Adelaide, South Australia and grew up in Vale Park. He began acting in local television commercials at the age of eight, but it was not until he was cast as Frank Errol in The Sullivans two years later that his career began to take off. He continued to work regularly as a child actor, with a return to The Sullivans a year later, as well as the Australian series The Patchwork Hero, Sara Dane, For the Term of His Natural Life and Taurus Rising. He received three Logie Award nominations for his performance in The Sullivans.

Career

After appearing in The Flying Doctors, for which he won the Penguin Award for Excellence in a Performance by a Juvenile, and the children's mini-series Elly & Jools, Herriman was cast as Mark Jorgensen, the bespectacled best friend of Ben Mendelsohn's Danny Clark in the Australian cult comedy classic The Big Steal.

As well as continuing to work regularly in film, television and theatre, Herriman has also written and/or directed many successful short films, including the Tropfest finalists They and The Date. In 2004, he won the Best Screenplay award at Flickerfest for the short film Soar, in which he also performed. He was a performer and contributing writer on the ABC sketch comedy series, The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting.

Herriman's other Australian work includes playing Claudia Karvan's workmate and friend George Wagstaffe in the critically acclaimed Foxtel series Love My Way; Marcus Dwyer in the comedy series, Laid; simpleton Reg in the Australian feature, 100 Bloody Acres; as well as the title role in the ABC telemovie, The Outlaw Michael Howe. In 2014, he was seen as manager Chris Murphy in the miniseries INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, as well as appearing in Josh Lawson's debut feature, The Little Death. Other recent Australian credits include Abe Forsythe's feature, Down Under; the Foxtel series, Secret City and Mr Inbetween; the Oscar nominated short, The Eleven O'Clock; the ABC telemovie, Riot; Jennifer Kent's second feature, The Nightingale; and the Foxtel mini-series, Lambs of God. In 2019 he won the AACTA award for Best Lead Actor in a film for his performance in Judy and Punch.

His American career began in 2004, playing the creepy roadkill truck driver in the US horror film House of Wax. Since 2005 he has worked regularly in the United States, starting with such productions as The Unit; Redbelt (both written and directed by David Mamet); Breaking Bad; Wilfred; Cold Case; and mysterious hitman Mr. Jones on the CBS crime series, Vegas.

He played the convicted kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby, Bruno Hauptmann, in the Clint Eastwood-directed J. Edgar (2011), and one of the Cavendish gang in Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger (2013). Next he appeared in the Vince Gilligan/David Shore series for CBS, Battle Creek; the homeless Romeo in the Starz limited series, Flesh and Bone; and the violent hitman Buddy in the first season of the HBO/Cinemax series, Quarry. In 2019, he played Charles Manson in both Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the television series Mindhunter.

In 2019, he appeared as Paul Allen Brown in Steven Conrad's Epix series Perpetual Grace, LTD. In 2021, he was the voice of Kabal in Mortal Kombat, with stuntman Daniel Nelson portraying the character in the suit.

He stars in The Fox, the debut feature film directed by Australian filmmaker Dario Russo, which premieres at the 2025 Adelaide Film Festival in October. It also stars Jai Courtney, Emily Browning, and the voices of Sam Neill and Olivia Colman.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music video appearances

Stage

Awards

In 2018 he was awarded the Orry-Kelly Award, recognising a body of work that contributes to Australia's national identity.

Other works

Music

• 2015: "Raining Gold" – ARO (Aimee Osbourne)

References

References

1. Amanda Mitchell. (2019-06-10). "This Actor Is Playing Charles Manson and the Resemblance Is Eerie".
2. (2009-11-12). "National Film and Sound Archive - Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection - The Big Steal (1990)".
3. (2014-01-15). "Dewey Crowe From 'Justified' Is Australian And His Accent Will Freak You Out".
4. Jagernauth, Kevin. (2010-12-23). "Exclusive: Damon Herriman Joins Clint Eastwood's 'J. Edgar'".
5. (3 March 2014). "CBS' 'Battle Creek' Enlists 'Justified's' Damon Herriman".
6. Sharf, Zack. (2018-08-29). "'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood': Quentin Tarantino Finds His Charles Manson in Australian Actor Damon Herriman".
7. "Sequel to A Quiet Place Officially in the Works, and More Movie News".
8. Pedersen, Erik. (2018-11-05). "'Our Lady, LTD': Damon Herriman & Chris Conrad Join Epix Drama As Regulars; Two Others Round Out Cast".
9. (8 December 2020). "Mortal Kombat Movie Confirms Kabal Actor".
10. Marsh, Walter. (10 September 2025). "‘It is a ripper’: Adelaide Film Festival adds frontier history and a talking fox in 2025 reveal".
11. Debelle, Penelope. (7 October 2022). "The state of science fiction".
12. (23 September 2025). "The Fox".
13. Grobar, Matt. (2025-09-23). "Amazon MGM’s Submarine Actioner ‘Subversion’ Adds Six To Cast".
14. Broun, Alex. (2010). "10,000 Beers". Australian Script Centre.
15. "Damon Herriman".
16. "Damon Herriman". Lisa Mann Creative Management Pty Ltd.
17. "Winners & Nominees".
18. "AFCA 2014 Writing & Film Award Winners". AFCA.
19. "Winners & Nominees".
20. "Winners & Nominees".
21. "Winners at the 2017 Logies".
22. (29 June 2018). "Logies awards 2018: Here's the full list of winners and nominees". ABC News.
23. "Winners & Nominees".
24. "Winners & Nominees".
25. (26 September 2018). "Damon Herriman, Hannah Gadsby Among Australians in Film Awards Honorees".