Aden Young
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Handsome Australian actor Aden Young was identified as a hot property early in his career, but shied away from roles that would earn him greater fame, instead opting for parts in smaller Australian films. Brown-haired, with pleasant features and a suggestive mischief in his eyes, Young's charisma and charm shone through his portrayals and gave even the nastiest of characters a compelling dimensionality, rendering them almost likable. The young actor made his big screen debut co-starring as a 17th Century French carpenter boy working as translator and guide to a Jesuit missionary priest in the Canadian wilderness in Bruce Beresford's "Black Robe" (1991). This debut performance exhibited his intuitive approach to acting, and garnered notice and acclaim. The following year, he was featured in the Australian production "Over the Hill," a movie chronicling the cross-country travels of a freewheeling grandmother.
Young's next project was the more mainstream action thriller "Sniper" (1993), co-starring alongside American actors Tom Berenger, Billy Zane and J T Walsh. That same year he amassed credits with featured roles in the Australian films "Love in Limbo," "Broken Highway," and "Shotgun Wedding," which gained him experience and domestic recognition if not worldwide fame. In 1994, he starred in the odd drama "Exile," playing a man sentenced to an isolated island after being convicted of stealing sheep. There he is joined by a young woman with whom he falls in love and awaits a child, only to be found out and persecuted. That same year the love quadrangle drama "Metal Skin" was released to raves in Australia (although its US release was held up until 1999).
1996 saw the actor turn in several notable performances, including his acclaimed turn in "River Street" as an ambitious and somewhat ruthless real estate executive. Young took a supporting role in the touching comedy "Cosi," playing the spiteful friend of an aspiring theater director ("Metal Skin" co-star Ben Mendelsohn) hired to steer a production of Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutte" in a mental hospital. Young's role was relatively small but his appealing portrayal of a two-faced pal was among the most memorable in the film. He then took the lead in "Hotel de Love," starring as Rick Dunne, the jaded manager of an especially tacky Australian honeymoon hotel who becomes reacquainted with a former lover (Saffron Burrows). Young went on to co-star in the period drama "Cousin Bette" (1998), a strangely comedic adaptation of Honore de Balzac's classic novel. As Wencenslas, the down-on-his-luck sculptor rescued by Jessica Lange's spinster title character, he serves at the catalyst of Bette's dramatic rage. After being redeemed by Bette (who fancies that he should become her lover), Wencenslas becomes quite the playboy, falling in love with the young and privileged Hortense Hulot (a member of Bette's own family), and taking up with courtesan Jenny, Bette's only friend. That same year he again tackled an adaptation of a literary classic, this time as star of "Under Heaven," a modern reworking of Henry James' "The Wings of the Dove." Co-starring Joely Richardson and Molly Parker, the film was a capable retelling, served well by Young's consistently multidimensional portrayals of men of ambiguous morality.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1981
At age nine, moved from Canada to Australia (date approximate)
1991
Made film debut as a young translator and guide to the wilds of western Canada in the 17th Century-set feature "Black Robe"
1992
Featured in Australian film "Over the Hill"
1993
Starred in the Australian films "Love in Limbo," "Broken Highway," and "Shotgun Wedding"
1993
Co-starred alongside Tom Berenger and J T Walsh in the Australia/U.S. co-production "Sniper"
1994
Starred in "Exile," a romantic drama set in 19th Century Australia
1994
Appeared in the quadrangular love story "Metal Skin" (released in the U.S. in 1999)
1996
Had a featured role in the mental hospital-set comedy "Cosi"
1996
Portrayed the manager of a gaudy Australian honeymoon hotel who meets up with the love he lost thirteen years earlier in "Hotel de Love"
1996
Starred as an ambitious and uncommitted real estate executive in "River Street," earning a Best Actor nomination from the Australian Film Institute
1998
Starred in "Under Heaven,", a modern reworking of "The Wings of the Dove," Henry James' tale of greed, deception and love
1998
Was featured as a romancing sculptor in "Cousin Bette," the France/U.K./U.S. co-production that marked his first non-Australian film
2001
Co-starred in "Serenades" as the childhood sweetheart of Muslim woman in Australia
2002
Acted opposite Steve Irwin in the comedy adventure film "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course"
2007
Joined the cast of USA Network's short-lived "The Starter Wife," starring Debra Messing
2009
Landed a supporting role in the biographical drama "Mao's Last Dancer"
2011
Cast opposite Robert De Niro, Clive Owen, and Jason Statham in the action feature "Killer Elite"
Companions
