Chris Herden

Previous paid speaking roles

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Reel Management

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• English

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• Australian
• UK English
• USA California
• USA New York

• French
• German
• Italian

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Chris Herden

www.chrisherden.com.au

I am a skilled actor and an accomplished and versatile singer with a career spanning a broad spectrum of musical styles.

Television – Big Sky, Home and Away, Police Rescue, Australia’s Most Wanted

From semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Aria Competition to being the opening act for UK heavy rockers Motorhead - I really do sing it all! I deliver classy, smooth full-voiced renditions of artists such as Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and even Pavarotti...

In August 2018 I played the doomed egotistical opera tenor Piangi in Triple Threat Theatre Company's production of "Phantom of the Opera' and in March this year I played the role of Ian Burden in a corporate musical tribute presented by PGT Reclaimed at the Park Hyatt in Saigon.

In 2017 I was Professor John Holywell in the play 'Purely Acedemic' presented by the University of Queensland Computer Sciences faculty at the Brisbane Convention & Entertainment Centre

I was Phantom/Raoul understudy for the original three year Sydney season of Cameron Mackintosh's 'Phantom of the Opera' and toured Australia in the Paul Robeson tribute Deep Bells Ring.

Starring role (and publicist) for 'Boadicea-The Celtic Rock Opera' at La Boite Theatre June 2014.

Conducted a music theatre workshop, 'Hell & High Water' (about the 17th Century shipwreck Batavia) at the Innovation Forum for Independent Schools Queensland at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre July 2012.

Claudius in 'Brave New World Order' at the Brisbane Powerhouse in 2010

Jean Valjean in 'Les Miserables' in 2009

I wrote, directed and starred in 'An Australian Tribute to an American Sweetheart' (about American singer Nelson Eddy) at the Brisbane Cabaret Festival.

Macduff (and chorus master) for the record breaking 'Macbeth- the Contemporary Rock Opera' (4900 seats sold in 17 performances at the Cremorne Theatre Brisbane) in 2006.

'I Love You ...You're Perfect ... Now Change!' for Mixed Company (Cement Box and Roundhouse Theatre)

Vic Christian in Australian premier of the Pet Shop Boys musical 'Closer to Heaven' (Powerhouse Theatre).

I've regularly featured with the Queensland Pops Orchestra and was a participant in Opera Queensland's Young Artist Program and all of the company's opera seasons from 1988 to 1993.

Other theatre credits include The Sentimental Bloke, Tommy, Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, White Horse Inn, Chess, Chu Chin Chow, Maid of the Mountains, Annie, Scrooge, Desert Song, Hits of the Blitz, Cabaret and The Boys from Syracuse.

I am also a freelance journalist, publicist, providor of PR services and was a regular contributor to Brisbane lifestyle magazine bmag.

Am a former secretary of the Queensland Writers Centre and since 2010 have worked as a teaching associate for the University of Queensland’s School of Medicine.

I provide role-play services to Queensland Health, University of Queensland, Bond University and Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency

Previous speaking roles

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Reel Management

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Feature Film: Blood Oath, Redheads, Swimming Upstream, San Andreas

TVCs: Sizzler, Suncorp Bank, Westpac Bank, Queensland Mangoes, Queensland Fruit & Vegetables, Insultec, Chickadee Chickens, Samsung, QLD Health, Medibank Private, Virgin Services, Isuzu, Toyota World Cup, Gold Lotto

Part-time model - paid commercial work

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ID Entertainment

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Classically trained

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Tenor

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• Pop
• Rock
• Classical
• Opera

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• Pop
• Rock
• Metal
• Jazz

• Classical

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Influences: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Doors, Elo, Supertramp, Franco Corelli, Pavarotti, Celin Dion, The Beatles, The Who, Nelson Eddy

A founding member of hard rock bands Unleashed and Bowser, I toured extensively supporting national and international acts including INXS, Steeleye Span, XTC, The Cure, Uriah Heap, Motorhead and Midnight Oil.

Music Theatre

Phantom of the Opera (Piangi) – TTT Productions Mackay – Simone de Haas – August 2018
PGT Reclaimed (Ian Burden) – Elevate Communications – Park Hyatt Ho Chi Minh – Vietnam – 2018
Purely Academic (Prof John Holywell) – UQ Computer Sciences – BCEC – Cienda McNamara – 2017
Cry Wolf – Actors Corporate Training Australia (ACTA) – Susan Fleming – 2017
XANADU (Danny Maguire) – Harvest Rain Incubator Program – Catarina Hebbard
Boadicea-The Celtic Rock Opera (Catus Decianus and publicist) – Dianne Gough Productions – La Boite Roundhouse
Hell & High Water (Director, Producer and Actor) – Independent Schools Queensland Innovation Forum – BCEC
Brave New World Order (Claudius) – Dianne Gough Productions – Brisbane Powerhouse
Les Misérables (Jean Valjean) – Ignations Theatre Co – Schonell Theatre UQ
An Australian Tribute to an American Sweetheart – Brisbane Cabaret Festival – QPAC
CY 2026 - Brisbane City Council’s recycling machine mascot – 4-year BCC Waste Management program
Macbeth-The Contemporary Rock Opera (Macduff) – Dianne Gough Productions – Cremorne Theatre QPAC
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! (Various roles) – Mixed Company – Roundhouse Theatre (return season)
Closer to Heaven (Vic Christian) - Pet Shop Boys musical – Australian Premier – Brisbane Powerhouse
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! (Various roles) – Mixed Company – Cement Box Theatre
Izit Entertainment – Sydney based street theatre improvisation group
Phantom of the Opera (Phantom, Raoul and Buquet understudy) – Cameron Mackintosh – Theatre Royal Sydney
Chess (Arbiter and Anatoly understudy) – Robert Gavin (director) – Orford Productions – South Bank Piazza
Sherwoodstock (backup vocalist) – Toadshow Productions – Lyric Theatre QPAC
Cabaret (Ernst Ludwig) Stuart Maunder (director) – Brisbane Light Opera – Rialto Theatre
Hits of the Blitz (various) Stuart Maunder (director) – Brisbane Light Opera – Rialto Theatre
The Desert Song (Red Shadow) – Brisbane Light Opera – Twelfth Night Theatre
Deep Bells Ring (Paul Robeson) Errol O'Neill (director) – BWIU – Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney
Fiddler on the Roof (Mendel) – Newcastle Light Opera
Chu Chin Chow (Nur Al Huda) – Newcastle Light Opera
The Power Prism (The Dark One) Brent McGregor (director) – Hunter Valley Theatre Company
Chicago (Billy Flynn) – Newcastle Dramatic Arts Club
Tommy (Tommy) Alan McFadden (director) – Hunter Valley Theatre Company
Annie (Bert Healy/Senator Hull) – Newcastle Dramatic Arts Club
The Sentimental Bloke (The Bloke) – Newcastle Dramatic Arts Club

Concert Stage

Asia Pacific Cities Summit – Brisbane City Council Welcoming Dinner – Brisbane City Hall
Hats Off Brisbane – Brisbane Powerhouse and Twelfth Night Theatre
Inaugural Sydney Cabaret Convention – Sydney Town Hall
Featured artist with Queensland Pops Orchestra – Colin Harper MBE and Barrie Gott
Lyric Opera of Queensland seasons
Lyric Opera of Queensland Young Artists Program and Queensland Tours – Dir: Stuart Maunder
Member of La Cappella – classical and easy listening acapella quartet
Moscow on Ice support artist and producer (Moscow State Ballet) – Lyric Theatre QPAC - Brisbane
Serenade to Music & other ABC concerts with Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Metropolitan Opera Aria Competition – semi finalist

Expert

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|Chris the Writer|

I have an extensive work history as journalist, PR professional, publicist and creative writer.

I am a former management committee board member and secretary of the Queensland Writers Centre

My creative writing projects include a musical theatre work based on the lives of Golden Years of Hollywood stars Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, the most popular singing team in movie musical history. "FORBIDDEN LOVE-Nelson Eddy Down Under" is a fictional account of Eddy's real life visits to Australia during the 1960s. It begins in 1962 and the famous movie star brings his hit nightclub show to Sydney where he also hopes to find an idyllic getaway for his Hollywood sweetheart, MacDonald, who is now gravely ill. Forlorn and full of regrets, he reflects on the tragic failings of his own love life while he plays matchmaker for an ambitious young journalist and the unassuming, artistic son of a bigoted Kings’ Cross racketeer.

I've also written a television pilot. "Hologram Sam" is a sci-fi thriller set in a future dystopia where fossil fuels are depleted and the world is totally reliant on the Sun for energy. A shy young physicist uses her father’s ingenious virtual world technology to outsmart an assassin after she witnesses a murder. Trapped within the mammoth Holo-E complex, she discovers a military conspiracy has hijacked the space mission that shields Earth from solar catastrophe.

For seven years I was the leading arts/entertainment reporter for Queensland lifestyle magazine Bmag (distributed to more than 420,000 Brisbane households).

Here is a link to my interview with Anthony LaPaglia - https://www.chrisherden.com.au/projects/anthony-la-paglia-mental-bmag-article/

In Demand Entertainment

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• English

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• Australian
• UK English
• USA California
• USA New York

• French
• German
• Italian

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For the Independent Schools Queensland Innovation Forum at BCEC in 2012, Chris wrote, produced and presented a workshop based on a music theatre work, Hell & High Water, which started as a work in development with UQ’s Underground Productions.

Chris also often takes on a presenting/facilitator role in his work with the Men's Health Teaching Associate Program operated by the University of Queensland School of Medicine