Max Cullen (b. 1940), actor and artist, trained in art in Sydney in the 1950s, worked as a commercial artist and illustrator for some years, and has continued to exhibit solo and in group shows including the Archibald, Blake and Sulman Prizes. He began to study acting at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre in 1963. He has performed regularly on stage since, in productions including Emerald City, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, A Cheery Soul, Hamlet, A Street Car Named Desire and As You Like It. He won the 1990 Sydney Theatre Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Tempest, and in recent years he gained critical acclaim for his turns in Death of a Salesman and Small Poppies, the latter opposite Geoffrey Rush. Cullen has appeared in a host of popular Australian television series since the 1970s including Skippy, Division 4, Homicide, Matlock Police, Kingswood Country, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Police Rescue, McLeod's Daughters, All Saints and Love My Way. In 1994 he won both the AFI award and the Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Spider and Rose; his most recent film is Jindabyne (2006). He has written, directed and produced several short films and short stories and reported on the arts for the Sunday television show.
