Brandon Walters was the breakout star of Baz Luhrmann's Australia as the inquisitive child Nullah, but what happened to the actor after that?
Summary
- Brandon Walters took a hiatus from acting for 11 years after his role in Australia.
- Despite his international acclaim, Walters struggled financially, and acting wasn't feasible for him.
- Walters has appeared in two other acting roles after Australia. Unfortunately, he faced legal troubles in 2020 and hasn't acted since.
Brandon Walters was 11 years old when he appeared in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, memorably stealing scenes as the young Indigenous boy Nullah, but what happened to him afterward isn't as well known. Hailing from the West Australian town of Broome, Walters had a tumultuous childhood as he was diagnosed with leukemia, a condition that he beat by the age of nine. His life then obviously turned upside down when his very first foray into cinema turned out to be a big-budget venture like Luhrmann’s 2008 epic, notably sharing the screen with popular movie stars like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
Walters apparently wasn’t even aware of Jackman and Kidman’s stardom when he was cast for his part (via The Sydney Morning Herald). The movie’s general narrative revolves around Kidman as an Englishwoman struggling to maintain a ranch in World War II-era Australia. Walters plays the inquisitive ranch boy Nullah. For his debut performance, he received a Satellite Award, a Young Artist Award, and a Chicago Film Critics Association Award. Afterward, he disappeared from screens for many years.
Brandon Walters Took A Hiatus From Acting For 11 Years After Australia
Despite breaking out as a child star in Australia, Brandon Walters didn’t pursue acting full-time. In a 2019 interview with It’s Your Day magazine (via Now To Love), Walters revealed that he found Hollywood “weird” after making the journey from West Australia to Los Angeles and New York. Australia might be the one flop among Baz Luhrmann's movies at the box office, but it didn't hurt Walters's career prospects. He even quickly worked with Luhrmann again for a $40 million tourism campaign in which he appeared in advertisements. Still, he reportedly only earned $120,000 AUS (around $90,000 USD at the time) for his substantial work on the movie.
Walters revealed that his Australia co-star Nicole Kidman was willing to help him pay for an acting course in Sydney, but he refused because he was too young and didn’t want to be alone.
Despite the international acclaim he achieved, Walters's family still struggled financially, and acting wasn’t in the cards for the boy. Settling back in Broome, he started a family of his own with his high-school sweetheart, and the couple have two children together. Interviewed when he was 23 years old, Walters revealed that his Australia co-star Nicole Kidman was willing to help him pay for an acting course in Sydney, but he refused because he was too young and didn’t want to be alone. Since then, Walters has been dabbling in multiple jobs, including a stint at the local mines. Then, in 2020, he resumed acting.
Brandon Walters Has Appeared In 2 Other Acting Roles Since 2008’s Australia
Brandon Walters’s first acting credit after playing Nullah in Australia was a brief role in the series Mystery Road. This show, a spinoff of the movie of the same name, continues to follow Indigenous Australian detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) as he investigates disappearances and murders in northern Western Australia. Walters briefly appears as a character named Shaney in the first three episodes of season 2, which premiered in 2020. Shaney is a drifter who spends his days hanging around with other questionable individuals and is naturally fearful of the show's protagonist.
That same year, Walters made a two-episode appearance in the Australian series Operation Buffalo. The historical fiction miniseries is set during the British nuclear bombing tests in Australia in the 1950s. Most of the action takes place at Maralinga, a site in outback South Australia near the titular operation. Walters plays Billy, a local who aids the scientists.
Meanwhile, Walters's Australia character, Nullah, got a new lease on life in 2023 with the Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman TV show Faraway Downs. This six-part limited series is a serialized extended cut of Baz Luhrmann’s 2005 movie with some additional footage. Using material shot when he was 11 years old while making Australia, Walters appears in all six episodes of the show.
All episodes of Faraway Downs are streaming on Hulu.
Brandon Walters Reportedly Faced Legal Troubles In 2020
Unfortunately, 2020 was a turbulent year for Brandon Walters despite his return to acting. Citing a downward spiral mentally, Walters pleaded guilty to several crimes and misdemeanors. Walters was initially fined $1,650 for smashing his ex's car window with a rock. Two weeks later, he broke into her home with the intention of threatening her. Walters was also found with 0.1 grams of meth when taken into custody. These multiple offenses were covered by media outlets like Australia’s Broomread and the UK’s Daily Mail. Not many details were published about the subsequent punishment, however, even though it’s clear that the breakout star of Australia hasn’t acted since then.
