Mali Hudson
Mali Hudson is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, played by Kyle Shilling. The character made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 11 January 2023. Shilling is the first Indigenous actor to portray a regular main character in the soap. He auditioned for other roles in Home and Away but was unsuccessful for those roles. Producers liked Shilling's auditions and created the role of Mali for him. Shilling hoped his casting would inspire young Aboriginal viewers to pursue acting careers. Mali is introduced into the series as friend of Dean Thompson and works as a surfboard shaper in Dean's surfboard shop. Mali is characterised as cheeky, caring and family oriented. Mali's Indigenous culture has largely been written into his characterisation. The show hired an Indigenous cultural consultant to work with scriptwriters to ensure the representation of the culture was correct. Writers also introduced Mali's family during his tenure, consisting of his mother, Victoria Hudson, his sister Elandra Hudson and brother, Iluka Hudson.
Writers created a relationship storyline with Rose Delaney, who is a police officer. Her job is contentious to their dynamic because of the police mistrust that exists in the Indigenous community in Australia. Writers explored the issue in depth as the pair try to overcome their differences. Their relationship ultimately fails despite Shilling and Marillier both claiming the characters have "undeniable" chemistry. One of Mali's first notable storylines featured him being caught up in a bomb explosion. The accident results in Mali having a perforated eardrum and explores his coping mechanisms during his recovery. In 2024, writers used Mali's brother Iluka to include Mali in criminal themed stories. These were at odd's with his characterisation but writers navigated him through a feud with the Allen family. They hold Mali and his friends hostage, stab Levi Fowler, severely assault Iluka and damage his friendship with Mackenzie Booth. Mali then gets involved in gang violence in a revenge attack on the Allens. Writers placed the character through a brief period of self-reflection and Mali vows to never make the same mistakes again. They then explored his artistic talents via a story where he contemplates becoming a professional artist.
Mali has been well received by critics of the genre, with some claiming Shilling "made history" with the role and another branding it a "ground-breaking role". Mali has also been described as a "popular character", a "firm favourite" and a "fan favourite". Mali has also been noted by critics as being "happy-go-lucky" and "caring", so his role in the show's criminal stories has been deemed "uncharacteristic" of him.
Casting
Actor and rapper Kyle Shilling was cast in the role of Mali and it was his first television role. Shilling had auditioned for other roles on Home and Away but failed to gain the roles. Shilling's first audition was a lead nurse role but casting directors did not think it suited him. Producers liked his "energy" and how he auditioned and decided to create a new character for Shilling to play. Shilling told Alice Penwill from Inside Soap that in his audition he was "cheeky, dropping a few jokes, having fun" and producers told him they wanted these characteristics for Mali. In May 2022, Shilling revealed that he had signed up to appear in an ongoing role in a "high profile" show, but could not reveal its identity. Shilling felt ill and nervous on his first day filming. He recalled arriving on-set with "head spins and a bad feeling" in his stomach. He became so anxious that half an hour before filming his first scenes he vomited four times. Shilling spent his first six months on-set filming in secrecy before his casting was publicised. Both the character and Shilling's casting details were announced on 5 December 2022 via Australian news websites. Confirming his casting via his Instagram account, Shilling revealed he was "stoked" to join the show, describing it as an "absolute privilege". He added that he could not wait for viewers to watch Mali's story.Shilling is the first Indigenous actor to portray a regular main character in the soap. Home and Away also released a promotional photograph of Mali, depicting him with a surfboard complete with an Aboriginal design by artist Brentyn Lugnan. This conveyed that the character would be a keen surfer. Shilling is from the Wiyabal clan of the Bundjalung people. He hoped his casting would serve as inspiration to other Aboriginal viewers, especially the younger demographic who he hoped would be more inclined to pursue an acting career. He noted that when he grew up in the 1990s, there were no Aboriginal characters in Home and Away or television in general to relate to. He told Jessie Stoelwinder from PerthNow that had Mali been on television then, "I would have been more driven as a young person to want to better myself and explore acting." He added that "as Indigenous people, we are always categorised as athletes; there was never any other avenue I thought I could go down. When you feel like you’re stereotyped your whole life, that has a huge effect. Looking back on my 10-year-old self, if I had seen someone like Mali Hudson on such a big series, I would have wanted to be him." Upon winning the role, Shilling was told that the writers and producers wanted to develop his character around him and what he did in his audition. His character and storylines were developed alongside an Aboriginal script consultant, who also helped with the creative decisions for Mali and his introduction. Shilling made his first on-screen appearance as Mali during the episode broadcast on 11 January 2023.
Development
Characterisation
Shilling told Nadine Morton from The Canberra Times that Mali is characterised as being "fun, he's cheeky, he cares for his family". He later assessed that despite Mali's "fun" side, he can be an "annoying" character at times. He told Stuff's Kerry Harvey that "Mali is this positive person who loves his family and loves his culture." He told Rachel Lucas from Whattowatch.com "Mali’s a great, switched-on bloke" and that he would like writers to create him serious storylines.In an interview with Emma Ruben, Shilling delineated Mali as "family-oriented, loving, caring, cheeky, culturally driven." In an interview printed in Woman's Day, Shilling summed up Mali as "cheeky, fun and caring". He told Metro's Stephen Patterson that Mali is a "happy chappy and is a good bloke". He described him as family oriented because he is "always helping" and "taking care of" his family members. Shilling revealed that Mali is also driven when he wants to achieve something in his career, family or relationships. Mali enjoys teaching surfing because it is "everything that he wants to do: be in the ocean, be surfing, to work around surf equipment all day." Mali wears sleeveless tank tops in the show, including a Togati shirt designed by Shilling's brother Perry Langham.
Mali has been shown on-screen with facial hair. Shilling was diagnosed with Alopecia affecting his facial hair and the show's make-up department helped him cover it up for filming. Viewers noticed his facial hair loss and began commenting about it online and even trolled Shilling about Mali's appearance. This led Shilling to publicise his diagnosis and asked viewers to be mindful of the comments they make via social media.
As the show's first Aboriginal regular character, producers hired an Indigenous cultural consultant to work with scriptwriters to ensure the representation of the culture was correct. They originally offered Shilling the opportunity to help develop such stories, but he did not feel confident he could "navigate the wider population of Indigenous culture" alone. The entire production team ensure Shilling is comfortable with the particular stories they create for Mali, especially when "it is related through cultural reasoning or events." Shilling praised the show's efforts but noted it had taken too many years for them to incorporate the culture into the show via Mali's storylines. Shilling revealed that the cultural advisor had to be mindful of which particular groups of people he took information from. He noted that because there are varying Indigenous peoples across Australia, they needed to be careful not to incorrectly portray aspects of Mali's story. Writers portrayed Mali as being from the Bundjalung people and the cultural adviser tried to use traditions from those people in the character's scenes. He revealed that he received positive feedback from fellow Indigenous Australians and the general public who were interested in learning about the culture.
Shilling noted how Home and Away had successfully introduced cultural traditions for their Māori family, the Paratas. Shilling revealed that writers planned to introduce Mali's cultural background "slowly" but he was excited about the opportunity to explore it. He added that he anticipated writers exploring Mali's family and even introducing corroboree ceremony celebrations. In his first episode, Mali used the term "jarjum", meaning baby in Indigenous Bundjalung language. Shilling revealed that he received a positive reaction online from its use and described it as "great" the show included his language. One Aboriginal Australian tradition they used on-screen was a smoking ceremony that involves smouldering native plants to produce smoke. Shilling revealed that Ray Meagher who plays original character Alf Stewart was happy about the inclusion.
Introduction
To facilitate Mali's arrival in the show, the Seven Network aired a promotional trailer about Mali's initial stories. Shilling told Bridie Tanner from ABC North Coast that Mali is not labelled as anything upon his introduction and "he is there to make a difference in his own life". When the character was announced, it was alluded that Mali has a connection to an established character, which was later confirmed to be Dean Thompson. The pair are old friends and Shilling commented "you see their friendship blossom again after reconnecting on screen, its a great story." In his first scenes, it is established that Mali is a surfboard shaper, who helps design and build the surfboards for Dean's shop. Shilling told Inside Soap's Penwill that Mali had been referenced as the "mysterious surfboard-shaper" in previous episodes. Mali has been shaping the boards for Dean for "the past few years" but now viewers finally "put a name and face to him". Shilling stated that if he could have one item from any television character, it would be Mali's surfboard "because that thing is amazing."Dean introduces Mali to his partner Ziggy Astoni and John Palmer, who invites Mali to join the surf lifesaver team. Dean and Ziggy later realise that Mali has "a specific reason" for visiting the Bay, but he keeps it to himself. Shilling told Tanner that Mali comes into the show "as a helping hand" to Dean, but he eventually gets a "life changing option" of whether or not to stay in Summer Bay. Shilling likened the storyline to a "tug of war" in which it is unclear whether or not Mali will stay.
Dean asks Mali to run the surf board shop full-time because he wants to concentrate on parenthood. Shilling told Lucas that "Mali is very family-orientated" and it wants "to do right by" his family and his friends. The story gives Mali a reason to stay in Summer Bay and a permanent placement within the series. Mali later goes onto run the local surf board shop following Dean and Ziggy's departure. Shilling described the actors departures as "emotional". He added that O'Connor became his friend so "when his character offers me the board shop, there was such a sense of him also offering me this space now." Shilling believed that Mali had "big shoes to fill" by taking over the role of surf board shop from Dean.