A graduate of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, blond, idiosyncratic leading man Hugo Weaving made his feature film debut in the socially conscious low-budget drama The City's Edge (1983), purportedly one of the first Australian films to sympathetically portray the adverse conditions suffered by aborigines.

In 1991, Weaving received Best Actor kudos from the Australian Film Institute for his portrayal of a blind photographer in Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof. In 1994, the actor earned international acclaim playing Tick, a drag queen with a secret, in the cult favorite The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The following year, Weaving was involved in another audience pleaser when he lent his voice to play the sheep dog Rex in Babe. Weaving occasionally appears in U.S. television productions, notably the CBS miniseries Dadah Is Death, in which he played opposite Julie Christie and Sarah Jessica Parker.
He also continues to work steadily in Australia, in addition to appearing in big-budget Hollywood affairs such as The Matrix, in which he starred as an evil agent opposite Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Following his turn in The Matrix with a few low-key romantic comedies (Strange Planet [also 1999 made a return to big-budgeted special effects extravaganzas with his involvement in director Peter Jackson's enormous adaptation of author J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. For the sequels to The Matrix, Weaving would return with a vengeance; with hundreds of Agent Smith clones sent to stop Neo (Keanu Reeves) from leading the revolution against the machines.

Credits by Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide

Filmography

• The Tender Hook (2008)
• The Key Man (2007)
• Transformers (2007)
• The Girl Who Swallowed Bees (2007)
• Happy Feet (2006)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II (2006)
• V for Vendetta (2005)
• Little Fish (2005)
• Peaches (2004)
• Everything Goes (2004)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• "After the Deluge" (2003)
• Enter the Matrix (2003)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
• Horseplay (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Russian Doll (2001)
• The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001)
• The Magic Pudding (2000)
• Strange Planet (1999)
• Little Echo Lost (1999)
• The Matrix (1999)
• Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
• Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)
• The Interview (1998)
• The Kiss (1998)
• True Love and Chaos (1997)
• "Frontier" (1997)
• Halifax f.p: Isn't It Romantic (1997)
• "Naked: Stories of Men" (1 episode, 1996)
• Wild Australia: The Edge (1996)
• "The Bite" (1996)
• "Bordertown" (1995)
• Babe (1995)
• Exile (1994)
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
• What's Going On, Frank? (1994)
• Frauds (1993)
• Reckless Kelly (1993)
• "Seven Deadly Sins" (1993)
• The Custodian (1993)
• Road to Alice (1992)
• Proof (1991)
• ...Almost (1990)
• "Bangkok Hilton" (1989)
• Dadah Is Death (1988)
• "The Dirtwater Dynasty" (1988)
• The Right Hand Man (1987)
• "Melba" (1987)
• For Love Alone (1986)
• Sky Pirates (1986)
• "Bodyline" (1984)
• The City's Edge (1983)
• ...Maybe This Time (1980)

Awards

• Australian Film Institute Award Best Actor "The Interview" 1998
• Montreal Film Festival Best Actor Award "The Interview" 1998
• Australian Film Institute Award Best Actor "Proof" 1991