Having found success as Mystery Road’s younger version of Jay Swan, Mark Coles Smith is on the brink of international fame. He’s a proud Nyikina man from the Kimberley, who also loves gay nightclubs!
You play the younger Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin. How does it feel to be an indigenous lead actor in such a successful show?
I went in feeling very aware of the responsibility, with two things in mind. One was successfully facilitating a lead role that’s also a positive ‘role model’ in that cultural space. The other is to fill another part of a character’s story that has already been so brilliantly established. Aaron Pederson’s work over the previous seasons of Mystery Road and films, has created an iconic character with a huge audience base. So, there’s a lot of responsibility, but you come out the other side to see the completed season with everyone’s performances and feel very proud!
And the show has found international success!
Yes, I’m recently back from the Toronto International Film Festival, and had an absolute ball. Mystery Road: Origin has been going from strength to strength and now has a North American distribution and new audience. I’m really excited about it, considering there’s already a following for the whole Mystery Road franchise. The Canadians are a lovely people, and really put on a great festival.
Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan, Mystery Road Origin – Photograph by David Dare Parker
Does Aaron Pederson approve of your portrayal of Jay?
I hope so! (laughing) I haven’t spoken to him since it was released, but he called me the new prequel show was announced, and we had a really lovely conversation. I’ve known Aaron since I was eighteen, when we worked on The Circuit for SBS. It was filmed in my hometown of Broome, and Aaron played a lawyer returning to work in the Kimberley. The show was ahead of its time, before others like Redfern Now, Cleverman and Mystery Road. I was very bright-eyed and bushy tailed when Aaron came onto the set. He led with ease and had an incredible ability to make everyone around him feel comfortable. I treat him as a role model and benchmark for how to conduct myself as a lead actor.
Do you think acting roles for First Nation Australians has improved over the past few years?
Absolutely. I think we’re seeing an incredible renaissance of Indigenous art and culture. We’re definitely seeing more roles for Indigenous people, but there’s also been a diversity in interpretations about what those roles represent. There’s a focus on what they look like and what their function is in the context of our modern Australian storytelling. It’s not just about the roles for actors, but the roles in creating and telling our own stories. We’ve really seen a new wave of that over the past decade with up-and-coming writers and directors.
This is DNA’s first ever Indigenous issue. What do you think of that?
I think an Indigenous issue is wonderful, and it’s exciting to see that diversity is not only becoming more apparent, accepted, and integrated, but also there’s a sense of us all being together. There’s a kind of intersection between the LGBTIQ+ community and people of colour that’s like a beautiful rainbow of minorities. It’s about coming together to support and reclaim a shared presence in the whole conversation of what it means to be Australian.
“There’s a kind of intersection between the LGBTIQ+ community and people of colour, that’s like a beautiful rainbow of minorities.”
You seem to have a good affinity with the gay community.
Yes, I can’t hide the fact that I’m a sensitive modern male, and the acting industry has been a blessed outlet to make use of that sensitivity. There was a period in my early teens, where my family thought I was gay, because I always felt excited by the diversity of culture and identity, and the fluidity and possibility of those things. I really gravitated to those kinds of people, and by the time I was sixteen, my cousin Suri who also became a best friend, really brought me into the gay community. I felt so comfortable there and even now when I’m on set, I’m so comfortable flirting with my makeup artist. I really enjoy the sense of play and fun that we have.
Did your cousin take you out clubbing?
He took me to Perth, and I couldn’t get into any of the nightclubs. But the one I could get into was Connections! There were two big bouncers out front, and as my cousin and I walked up, they looked at me and said, “Go right in, young fella.” I had an awesome night there!
So, you kind of got a gay hall pass!
(Laughing) I did! And that place really set the bar for what an awesome night out can look like. There was disco, funk … I’ll always have that memory of a sixteen-year-old, dancing with my cousin to Young Hearts Run Free blasting over the dance floor! I’ve always felt welcome within the gay community.
Mark Coles Smith, Kalgoorlie/Boulder, Western Australia – Photograph by David Dare Parker
Is that your go-to dancefloor song?
That and the Nineties House track 100% Pure Love by Crystal Waters!
Who is your music diva?
I like Adele and Sia, but I had to name a diva that inspires me, it would be Kate Bush!
Have you ever played a gay role?
I’ve played several sexually defined roles! I did the US sci-fi series Hunters which was shot in Melbourne where I played an ex-Australian tactical specialist working for an undercover intelligence agency, hunting aliens! The character had a kind of Greek warrior ethic that real men fuck other men! I also did an episode of Please Like Me with Josh Thomas which was a heap of fun and more recently I play a character called Lovely in the new Australian film Kid Snow.
“There was a period in my early teens, where my family thought I was gay.”
If you were gay, who would be your celebrity crush?
Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen! He was originally a dancer but ended up killing it as an actor. He was the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale and played the lead in Hannibal. He has a deep and formidable masculine presence, but there’s also an intelligent, yet stoic and frosty charisma. A lot argue that he’s the best Bond villain ever.
Your career has stretched from Blue Heelers to Savage River. Has there been a particular pinch yourself moment?
I have that feeling every day! (laughing) I feel very blessed to do what I do and I’m always learning so much on the job, even if that means taking out a note pad while working with the likes of Sam Neil, Michael Caton and Christina Ricci. I was also lucky to do a six-month acting course through the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) that was trialed off campus in Broome. It was a Certificate III in Aboriginal Theatre. It was a small intimate class with a variety of mixed experiences and age ranges, but nothing compares to learning on the job when it’s trial by fire!
Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan, Mystery Road Origin – Photograph by David Dare Parker
Who has been the biggest inspiration on your career?
I want to reference the late and great Uncle Jack Charles, who recently passed away. I worked with him on two projects over the last couple of years and he was just amazing. I have so much respect for him. I had the experience of seeing where he was as an artist in his older age, but also where he was as a person within our community, and he was profoundly inspirational. I’m still grieving his loss and deeply reflecting on the memories. We did the play Bottomless at fortyfivedownstairs as well as touring Australia in Black Ties, an interactive play which was a First Nations Ilbijerri Theatre co-production with the Maori Te Rehia Theatre. It’s a beautiful romantic comedy on stage that turned into a wedding reception that included the audience.
Is there a quote that you live by?
“It is essential that art includes all of us, because if we don’t see ourselves in the stories around us, then that’s just another way of being made marginal and invisible.”
That’s quite profound.
Yes, on a particular level, culture is a story and if we aren’t in the stories, then we aren’t in the culture. I have a sensitive relationship to the world of acting because it requires you to navigate complex relationships that are both empowering and challenging. Storytelling is about our expression of the poetic and mythological, which is really beautiful. But it’s also an entertainment industry dealing with quantifications, and a lot of gate keepers deciding on whether you’re right or wrong for something. So, in many ways it’s still part of the old colonial system. In my profession I use my instincts, intuition, hope and heart, but if you’re born an Indigenous person, you are born into a political situation by default. This country doesn’t even have a treaty with its sovereign First Nations. And the interesting thing is, almost everything was taken from Indigenous Australians – almost everything, but our stories. And it adds to the role of an Indigenous storyteller to consider what stories to tell now, and which of them are meaningfully true. The story of Indigenous Australia is a very true story, and I hope by sharing it, the rest of the world will seek to be a part of that truth.
Mark Coles Smith as Jay Swan, Mystery Road Origin – Photograph by David Dare Parker
What do you do to keep fit?
I’ve been getting into spear fishing lately, which is an interesting form of diving. It’s good for breathing and cardio, but also puts you in a completely different world. Spending time underwater in the reef is great and I love feeling psychically strong along with the clarity and emotional health that comes with it. The endorphins and serotonin is great.
Have you ever had an onset wardrobe malfunction?
Totally! I was wearing double denim on Mystery Road while we were shooting a robbery sequence. I went to the bathroom quickly and somehow managed to get a whole lot of water over the crotch of my jeans. That required a rather quick costume change on the fly – literally! We couldn’t have Jay walking out like he’s pissed his pants!
Some fashion critics would say the real wardrobe malfunction was wearing double denim! Although you really pull it off, in that rustic setting.
Well, I think a renaissance in double denim is inevitable! I’m really into a double denim in charcoal, that’s really well cut and nicely shaped!
What’s your choice on boardies vs. Speedos?
At the moment I’m boardies. It’s been a long time since I’ve donned the budgie smugglers, but they may be on the cards. I’m not sure they’d work for spear fishing, because I wear a weight belt!
Briefs, boxer briefs or freeballs?
The only time I put my boxer briefs on, is when I go to bed. If I get a good pair, I’ll wear them for a while, but generally speaking I don’t like the feeling of insulation! I like to be liberated and set free!
Mystery Road: Origin streams on ABC iview
Follow Mark on Instagram @markcolessmith
