Don Hany

Hany was born in 1975 in Hornsby on Sydney's Upper North Shore to an Iraqi^[1] father, Tewfiq, and a Hungarian mother, Csilla;^[2] his father is a classically-trained pianist and restaurateur, and his mother is a doctor of economics. Hany's maternal great-grandfather was shot dead outside his home in Miskolc by the Red Army, who mistook him for a German soldier.^[2] In 1946, Hany's maternal grandfather joined the Hungarian Communist Party.^[2] His parents met in Budapest in the 1960s and they emigrated to Australia in 1970.^[2] Csilla rejected the communist doctrine of her native country and Tewfiq spurned the Islamic beliefs of his upbringing. His parents divorced during his adolescence, and he and his twin brother were raised by their mother.^[2] He grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales.^[2] Hany attended high school in the Netherlands for one year as an exchange student, and later completed a degree in dramatic arts at the University of Western Sydney Nepean.^[3]

In 1998, Hany began his television career, starring in the soapie Breakers. In 2000, he had a small role in Water Rats. In 2002, he had a role in the telemovie Heroes' Mountain and in the police drama White Collar Blue.^[4] He later moved to Los Angeles to complete shooting for the short film Winning the Peace. Hany plays an Iraqi-American Marine deployed to Baghdad, and he went on to win the Best Actor award at Method Fest in 2005.^[5]

In 2006, he returned to Australia to work on the film Lucky Miles, which went on to win the audience award for Best Film at the Sydney Film Festival. Beginning in 2007, Hany starred in the Australian mini-drama series East West 101 for SBS television, in which he played the lead role of Zane Malik. The show was later expanded, running for two more seasons, concluding in 2011.^[6] In 2010, Hany won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actor, having been previously nominated for the same role in 2008.^[7] In 2012, Hany and the cast won the Equity Award for Most Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for their work in the third season of the show.^[8]

In 2008, he had a recurring role in the first season of Underbelly, an acclaimed Australian television true crime-drama series on the Nine Network. The series depicts the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, with Hany playing Nik Radev.^[9] In 2009, Hany also starred in the two-part Australian television mini-series False Witness for BBC UKTV. Hany played the role of Sergei Krousov, a Russian mafia figure.^[10] In the same year, he starred alongside Joel Edgerton in ABC1's drama series Dirt Game.^[11]

In 2010, he joined the main cast of the Foxtel drama Tangle, playing politician Spiros Georgiades. He also joined Channel Ten's comedy-drama series Offspring, in the role of paediatrician Chris Havel. He played the love interest and colleague of the series' protagonist, Dr Nina Proudman, played by Asher Keddie.^[4] In 2011, he was nominated for the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor for his roles in Tangle and Offspring.

In 2011, Hany starred in the Nine Network movie premiere of Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer was Here, reprising his role from Underbelly, Nik Radev. In 2012, he was cast in two telemovies, Jack Irish: Bad Debts and Jack Irish: Black Tide, which are based on the books Bad Debts and Black Tide by Peter Temple, and which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.^[12]

In 2013, Hany took the lead role of Sam Callaghan in the HBO Asia production Serangoon Road. The following year, Hany appeared in The Broken Shore, a telemovie that aired on the ABC. He also starred in the mini-series Devil's Playground. In the same year, he appeared in the fifth season of Who Do You Think You Are?.^[2][13] In 2014, he played the lead role in the Australian drama film Healing, alongside Hugo Weaving. Hany plays Viktor, an Iranian prisoner in a low-security correctional centre, close to the end of his 18-year prison sentence.^[13] The film garnered acclaim, including a four-star review from Margaret Pomeranz on At the Movies for ABC.^[14][15] Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter was also enthusiastic Hany's performance: "Weaving is terrific as Matt Perry...But the film belongs to Don Hany, a veteran of Australian television starring in his first major film."^[16] Hany was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 2014 Film Critics Circle of Australia, losing out to Russell Crowe for The Water Diviner.^[17]

In 2014, he was cast as the male lead in Warriors, a pilot for the American Broadcasting Company. The medical drama series, with Hany playing a military doctor, was not picked up for a series order.^[18][19] However, he was later cast as Dr. Jesse Shane, chief of surgery at St. Matthew's Hospital in the NBC medical comedy-drama series Heartbeat (2016).^[20] In 2017, he starred in the critically acclaimed Australian romantic comedy Ali's Wedding.^[21] He received a nomination for AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role, losing out to Dev Patel in Lion.^[22]

In 2018, Hany starred in Foxtel's Showcase mystery romantic drama television series Picnic at Hanging Rock, a television adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay.^[23][24][25] In 2019, Hany played Australian prime minister Ewan Garrety in the second season of the political thriller Secret City, alongside Anna Torv.^[26]

The following year, Hany took over the role of Pierce Greyson in Neighbours from Tim Robards for a guest stint.^[27] In 2022, Hany was cast alongside Claudia Karvan in the Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia co-production The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee, set for the 2023 season.^[28] Hany subsequently withdrew from the production for personal reasons and the role was recast with Nathan Page.^[29]

Don has a twin, Roger Hany, a London-based musician. They both attended primary school and high school on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

Hany married actress Alin Sumarwata in 2011. The couple have two daughters.^[30][31]

He is an agnostic atheist.^[3]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Don Hany.

• Don Hany at IMDb