Mark Churchill and Joshua Churchill recently graduated together on May 21. Mark Graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Directing, while Joshua graduated with a Diploma of Hair and Makeup. 

Both have hit the ground running, gaining plenty of work in their chosen fields. 

Mark has been acting in a new Australian feature film called Hold On as well as recording an album of original songs and co-editing music videos.

He is also the co-creative director of a theatre festival to be held in Newtown at the end of the year.

“The film is a major commitment because I am in the lead role. I auditioned for it just after I finished studying at Wollongong Uni,” Mark said. 

Prior to studying at NIDA, Mr Churchill graduated with a Bachelor of Performance at the University of Wollongong, where he received the inaugural Emerging Theatre Artist’s Award and the Merrigong Performance Prize.

He said he became increasingly interested in directing while studying performance at Wollongong.

“When I was at Wollongong, I started directing lots in my second year, so i became increasingly interested in directing,” Mr Churchill said.

Mark also is also a fine musician and he has recently been playing gigs in Canberra and Sydney. He is recording an album of his original songs, which he describes as “acoustic atmospheric music.”

“They are just songs about my life. I am not sure if there are recurring themes in there?” he said. 

Apart from this, Mark has been directing and editing music videos for people such as Daniel Trackell for Triple J Unearthed. He has also taken  on the role of co-creative director for a theatre festival to be held in Newtown at the end of the year.

“This is a multi-disciplinary arts festival that my sister Katrina and I are involved with,” he said.

His cousin, Joshua Churchill, graduated with a A Diploma of Makeup from NIDA.

He has since been getting lots of work in both theatre and Television in Sydney. 

“I am working with the ABC on a pilot show as well as working with lots of theatre projects.” Joshua said. 

“I prefer theatre work though, because this is my background.”

Both men trained at the Lieder Theatre in Goulburn.

“The Lieder is what inspired me to try and make a career in this industry,” Joshua said. 

Mark agreed – saying the Lieder had laid the foundations for his career.

“The Lieder was very supportive and they treated me like an adult and the same was expected of me,” he said.