George Mason (actor)

George Mason is a New Zealand film and television actor. He secured his first role in the feature film 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous when he was thirteen years old. After deciding to pursue acting full-time, Mason appeared as Regan Ames in Shortland Street in 2011, before making appearances in Tangiwai: A Love Story, Top of the Lake and 3 Mile Limit. In 2013, Mason starred as Ted Keegan in the fifth season of Go Girls and he had a supporting role in crime drama The Blue Rose. From 2014 until 2018, Mason appeared in Australian soap opera Home and Away as Martin Ashford. He later starred in the musical feature film Daffodils (2019) and romantic drama Dirt Music (2020).

For other people named George Mason, see George Mason (disambiguation).
George Mason
Born1991 or 1992 (age 31–32)[1]
Invercargill, New Zealand
OccupationActor
Years active2005–present
PartnerManon Buchalet

Early and personal life

Mason was born and raised in Invercargill.[2] He has two elder sisters. He attended Southland Boys' High School,[2] where he played rugby for the Southland Boys' High School 1st XV and competed in speech competitions.[3] Mason moved to Wellington in 2009 to study a Bachelor of Performing Arts at the Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School.[2][4]

Mason became engaged to his partner, French model Manon Buchalet in 2016.[5]

Career

Mason was thirteen years old when a family friend encouraged him to audition for a role in the 2005 drama film 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous.[6][7] Mason won the role of school bully Arch, and the film marked his first acting job. It also inspired him to pursue acting as a full-time career.[6][7] In 2011, Mason flew himself to Auckland from Arrowtown to audition for the recurring role of Regan Ames in the New Zealand medical drama Shortland Street. Mason had a second audition and learned he had secured the part as he was boarding his flight home.[3] He filmed his first scenes in February and made his first appearance as Regan on 15 April 2011. Mason described his character as "the new bad boy on the block."[2]

Mason had a small role in the television film Tangiwai: A Love Story, which dramatises the Tangiwai disaster.[3] He followed this with a supporting role in the 2013 New Zealand crime drama The Blue Rose, alongside Antonia Prebble.[8] That same year, he made a guest appearance in the mystery drama Top of the Lake.[9] Mason also appeared in the feature film 3 Mile Limit, which tells the story of pirate radio station Radio Hauraki.[8]

Mason joined the cast of comedy-drama Go Girls in 2012. He attended around five auditions, before he was cast as the show's narrator, Ted Keegan, for the fifth season, which aired in 2013.[8] When Go Girls was cancelled at the end of the season, Mason tried to find work in Los Angeles and Sydney. He then relocated to Melbourne, where he worked as a nanny and a labourer. Mason decided to contact fellow New Zealand actor Danielle Cormack and her agent secured him an audition for a Channel 7 pilot. The show was not picked up, but he was then asked to audition for the role of Martin "Ash" Ashford in the soap opera Home and Away.[10] Mason's character was introduced as a friend of established character Darryl Braxton (Steve Peacocke) in October 2014.[11] Mason reprised his role as Ash in three feature length specials; Home and Away: An Eye for an Eye (2015),[12] Home and Away: Revenge (2016),[13] and Home and Away: All or Nothing (2017).[14]

In 2017, Mason secured his first modelling job with underwear and clothing brand Bonds.[15] In April 2018, Mason confirmed that he had filmed his final scenes for Home and Away, which aired later that year.[16] That same year, he filmed the musical feature Daffodils.[17] The film, based on a stage play by Rochelle Bright, was released on 21 March 2019.[18][19] Mason stars as Eric, alongside Rose McIver as his love interest Rose, and singer Kimbra.[17] He also joined the cast of Dirt Music, a film adaptation of Tim Winton's novel of the same name, alongside Garrett Hedlund and Kelly Macdonald. It was filmed in Western Australia.[20]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2005 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous Arch
2010 Choice Night Wardy Short film
2014 3 Mile Limit Bobbie
2019 Daffodils Eric
2020 Dirt Music Darkie
2021 The Power of the Dog Cricket

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Shortland Street Regan Ames Recurring role
2011 Tangiwai: A Love Story Matt Poore TV film
2013 Top of the Lake Guy 1 Episode: "The Dark Creator"
2013 The Blue Rose Ben Gallagher Recurring role
2013 Go Girls Ted Keegan Main cast (season 5)
2014–2018 Home and Away Martin Ashford Main cast (seasons 27–31)
2015 Home and Away: An Eye for an Eye Martin Ashford TV film
2016 Home and Away: Revenge Martin Ashford TV film
2017 Home and Away: All or Nothing Martin Ashford TV film
2021 The Gulf Kris Keegan Episodes: "Inheritance ― Part 1" "Inheritance ― Part 2"
My Life Is Murder Craig Ashford Episode: "Oceans Apart"
2022 Barons The Wizard Episode: "375 Miles From The Surf"

References
  1. "Home and Away star George Mason proposes to Manon Buchalet". Woman's Day. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  2. Crayton-Brown, Kimberley (11 April 2011). "Destination Shortland Street". The Southland Times. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  3. "There's a new bad boy in town". Television New Zealand. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  4. "Southland actor George Mason on refining his craft". Stuff. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  5. "Exciting news for Home & Away's George Mason". New Idea. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  6. "George Mason plays Ted". Television New Zealand. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  7. "I was starstruck by Ray Meagher". TV Week. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  8. Fea, Sue (6 December 2012). "From bad boy to leading man". The Southland Times. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  9. Hyndman, Gwyneth (15 April 2013). "Southern man on quest to make it as actor". The Southland Times. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  10. Perrott, Alan (24 January 2015). "Why Kiwi actors are making it big in Australia". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  11. Domjen, Briana (11 October 2014). "New soap hunk Kiwi George Mason has Home & Away fans all in a lather". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  12. Kilkelly, Daniel (19 August 2015). "Home and Away stars Dan Ewing and Lisa Gormley are returning for a Braxton spinoff". Digital Spy. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  13. Rawsthorne, Sally; Byrnes, Holly (12 December 2016). "Home and Away heads to Alice Springs to film 'special event' with Braxton brothers storyline for Foxtel". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  14. Knox, David (18 January 2017). "Airdate: Home and Away: All or Nothing". TV Tonight. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  15. Harvey, Kerry (18 May 2017). "Home And Away's George Mason tries modelling and considers a US move". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  16. Dainty, Sophie (12 April 2018). "Home and Away exit confirmed for Ash as George Mason bows out". Digital Spy. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  17. Simich, Ricardo (3 March 2018). "How Kiwi filmmakers outran cyclone Gita". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  18. "Kimbra, iZombie's Rose McIver to star in Kiwi musical feature Daffodils". stuff.co.nz. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  19. "DAFFODILS". Daffodils. RAGLAN FILMS LIMITED. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  20. Groves, Don (10 October 2018). "David Wenham and Julia Stone join Gregor Jordan's 'Dirt Music'". IF Magazine. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
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