Michael Loney

Life in Pictures Ambassador

Perth born Michael completed a Bachelor of Arts (English) at Curtin University (then WAIT) in 1977 before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England (1980-82) with the aid of a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.

 Work in Britain includes touring in various Shakespeare productions, repertoire at the Pitlochry Festival in Scotland and on TV in “Coronation Street”, “Crown Court” and “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” (Granada TV) and “Howards’ Way”, “Tenko” and “Sorry” (BBC).

 Since returning to Perth in 1988, Michael has worked with all the major companies in WA including: “Cosi”, “Much Ado about Nothing”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Importance of being Earnest”, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “The Seagull” and “Blithe Spirit” (Black Swan State Theatre Company), “Shadow of the Eagle”, “Speaking in Tongues”, “Face to Face” (Perth Festival and in Brazil), “Soulmates” and “The Goat or Who is Sylvia?”,(Perth Theatre Company), “Sweetown” (Deckchair) and in many productions, including Noel in “Noel and Gertie”, for the Effie Crump Theatre.

 For Onward Production, Michael appeared in “The Deep Blue Sea” as Sir Phillip Collyer and as Elyot Chase in Noel Coward’s brilliant comedy “Private Lives”.

He has also appeared in seven seasons in Shakespeare in the Park in King’s Park.

 Michael has been nominated five times for Best Actor at the Equity Awards and won the inaugural award in 2000 for “Speaking in Tongues” and in 2010 the award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Leonato in “Much

Ado about Nothing”.

He has also appeared in the television series “Ship to Shore” 1, 11 and 111, “Minty” and “Circuit 11”. Other credits include the horror movie “Needle”, the mini- series “Cloudstreet” and as Judge Heenan in “The Great Mint Swindle”.

Michael also directed a number of productions which were performed at His Majesty’s in Perth including- “You’ve got that thing! A Tribute to Cole Porter”, “Exactly like You, The Magic of Dorothy Fields”, “The Catalinas of Crawley Bay” and “Fancy Meeting You! The Music of Harold Arlen”.

In 2017 and 2018 Michael performed in “The Merry Widow” and “Carmen” for the West Australian Opera Company at His Majesty’s Theatre. In 2017, Michael also directed and wrote “The Snake Pit” a tribute to the infamous Snake Pit at Scarborough Beach in the 1950’s and 60’s, the beginning of Rock and Roll in Western Australia.

Michael and his wife Cathy have been married for 37 years and have two children, Paddy and Meg, and two granddaughters, Ruby and Lola and grandson Oscar.