Mark Coles Smith

Mark Coles Smith, who also performs as Kalaji, is an Aboriginal Australian actor who works on stage and screen, and also as a sound designer, field recordist, writer and composer. Raised in Western Australia, he began acting at fourteen in the Network Ten children's show Ocean Star after his aunt took him to an open audition, and he trained in Aboriginal theater at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. His portrayal of Tilly in Last Cab to Darwin (2015) won him an FCCA Award for best supporting actor, and he later appeared in Picnic at Hanging Rock and Occupation: Rainfall (2020). He played a younger Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin, taking best actor in a series prizes at the domestic AACTA Awards and at the international AACTA Awards, and in 2023 he was the first Indigenous Australian actor nominated for a Gold Logie. A Helpmann Award came in 2017 for The Drover's Wife.