Jonathan Duffy

Jonathan Duffy is an Australian born Actor, Comedian and Cabaret Performer. Born Jonathan Harland Duffy in Brisbane, Queensland, Jono commenced acting tuition at the age of eight. Jono transitioned to the role of filmmaker in 2011 with his first feature Documentary, "The Doctor's Wife." The film was an autobiographical story following Duffy and his then partner, Dr Vincent Cornelisse as they made the move from the Metropolis of Brisbane to the central Queensland town of Mundubbera as an openly gay couple. The film was well received and had a successful festival run. The Doctor's Wife went on to win Jono the Award of Excellence in Filmmaking at the Canada International Film Festival in 2012; as well as a distribution deal with leading LGBT production house and distributor Guest House Films. In 2012, Jono also became one of the male faces of Australian eyewear designer Fritz Frames. He also lent his voice to the characters of "Thurber" and "Roger" in the short film "Pickman;" as well as the lead in the musical short "Life is Crap." Jono ended 2012 as a speaker at TedX Southbank Women. He was one of only two men to speak at the event. In 2013 he moved to Melbourne once again to support Cornelisse, who is now specialising in Sexual Health Medicine. Since arriving, Jono has appeared in a number of theatre productions including "Playing Rock Hudson," "Dorian," and the comedy festival show "And what's your freeking problem?". Jono co-directed and edited a short documentary series, "Finding Your Niche," along with Ryan Coonan. The film is an exploration of the work done by Daniel Witthaus, an Australian Anti-Homophobia Educator and the founder of the National Institute for Challenging Homophobia Education (NICHE). The short screened at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. Jono also directed, edited and shot the NICHE "Your Story" campaign, which Launched on IDAHO Day 2012. The web-based series features live-drawn animations of LGBTI people's stories from rural, regional and remote Australia. The series has been watched by thousands around the world and featured online by; The Huffington Post, SameSame, DNA and many others. After a long hiatus, Jono returned to his firs loves (comedy and cabaret) in 2013. He marked his return with his solo show, "You're Just Loike Moi," in Shepparton, with all proceeds going to GV Pride to assist with the Out in The Open Festival. In 2014 Jonathan premiered a new show, "Without me, I'm Nothing," as part of the Midsumma Festival. During the festival he also hosted "How I Found My Niche," the launch of Daniel Witthaus' long awaited second book. Jonathan later teamed up with Dean Arcuri for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, their show #Hashfagz, a duo comedy looking at the app based world we now live in. The show played to sell out audiences. Jono also appeared in Fly on the Wall Theatre's Production of Teleny. In this controversial production he played multiple characters including a woman. For the role Jono underwent an extreme transformation; losing nearly 20kgs and shaving off his eyebrows to bring La Comptesse Alice de Janze to life. The production left audiences with divided opinions but cemented Duffy as more than just a comedian. In 2015 Jono premiered a new show "Versatile Bitch." This is the sequel to "Without Me, I'm Nothing," and the second in a trilogy. He spent 2015 touring Australia and New Zealand. Jono also appeared as a Ringmaster in "Dolly Diamond under a big top;" Provided voice and pupeteered the character of Mr Foggles in "Dolly Diamond Christmas in July;" as well as a guest performer in regular cabaret evenings. In March of 2015 Jono and Vincent Cornelisse amicably separated and he decided to move to Europe. Jono is now based in Iceland. Since arriving in the land of fire and Ice, Jono has also taken on some big projects. He co-directed the music video for Páll Óskar's Gegnum Dimman Dal (through the dark valley), which was nominated for music video of the year at the 2016 Icelandic People's Choice Awards. Jono wrote, directed and produced his own one hour special 'Jonathan Duffy, Not Quite Live From Reykjavík' for Melbourne's Midsumma Festival. It was the first time a digital show had been included in this program. He later co-wrote Hera Björk, The Queen of Effing everything, a cabaret about the life of Icelands most famous Diva. Jono also landed a small role in the Icelandic feature film Sjór og Salóme (Snow and Salóme).. At the beginning of Summer he teamed up with Icelandic national treasure, cartoonist and comedian Hugleikur Dagsson. Their show Icetralia ran for the summer of 2016 and then turned into a podcast with the same name. Jono is currently preparing to head to Stockholm in May for the Eurovision Song Contest. He is the creative director for Iceland's entry into the contest (Greta Salóme - Hear Them Calling). Later in 2016, Jono will be spoke at TedXReykjavík and premiered a new cabaret show 'Australiana.' In December Jono headed back to Australia where he premiered the final show in the trilogy he started in 2014. Miserable has been his most revealing and intimate show to date. Since returning to Iceland he has performed a return season of Australiana and has also co-created the first gay comic strip in Icelandic history. Bruce the Angry Bear comes out every Thursday on gayiceland.is.