Noel Hodda
Noel Hodda is an Australian actor, writer, dramaturge, director and teacher, he was born in Albury, New South Wales.
Career
Acting and narration
Hodda was a founding member of the Riverina Theatre Company, located in Wagga Wagga and Project TYER, a Theatre In Education Co., for whom he also wrote and appeared in the play Strata Digger. Subsequently, he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art at the UNSW Sydney and then worked as an actor for the Sydney Theatre Company, the Queensland Theatre Company, the Griffin Theatre Company, the Ensemble Theatre, the Q Theatre, Marian Street Theatre, Sport for Jove at the Seymour Centre and others. He also performed in major national and international tours, including The Removalists, Are You Lonesome Tonight?, The Club, Life of Galileo, Chasing the Dragon, Diving for Pearls and Dinner.He has appeared in numerous Australian television series and tele-dramas as both a lead and guest character. His first major television gig was a regular role in the drama Sons and Daughters as Rob Keegan, from 1982 to 1984. He played celebrity TV doctor David Fielding in E Street from 1989 to 1991 and patriarch Ron O’Donnell in Out of the Blue in 2008. Hodda has also had guest roles in Neighbours, Janet King and Rake.
His film appearances include A Step in the Right Direction, The Highest Honour , Silver City, Emoh Ruo and The Bet among others.
Hodda began recording books as a student at NIDA as a means of earning extra money. He became a long-standing narrator for Vision Australia from 1977 to 2009. In gaps between his work in the theatre, films and television, he has recorded hundreds of talking books for them, as well as the ABC and commercially. He has been shortlisted for several Talking Book Awards and won the National Library TDK Australian Audio Book Award for his narration of the novel Cold Mountain. He has also performed voiceover work for numerous advertisements.
Writing
Hodda has written and staged numerous plays including Issues Addressed, The Secret House, Half Safe, Photographs, On The Public Record, The Sculpture Garden, In This Light and Threat: Norma, Norm & the Dog. A selection of his plays titled "Plays: Noel Hodda" was published by Janus Imprint.His play Later was chosen to be workshopped at the prestigious Banff playRites Colony, in Banff, Canada in 2004. His play Rehearsing Julie was nominated for a Silver Gull Play Award in 2024. His one act play Norma was made into a short film.
His television writing credits include episodes of the ABC TV G.P. drama.
Hodda was writer in residence both at Charles Sturt University School of Performing Arts and University of Wollongong Faculty of Creative Arts.
Directing and teaching
Hodda is an Honorary Life Member of Griffin Theatre Company, where he was a board member, Chairman of the Board, Director of D-Week and a member of the Literary Committee. Currently, he still acts, directs and teaches.He assesses plays for Page to Stage and Parnassus' Den. He has also been a script assessor for the Australia Council for the Arts, The Australian National Playwright's Centre and Belvoir Street Theatre, and has conducted acting and writing workshops for many organisations. He has been Artist-In-Residence at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, and has also taught acting and voice there on short-term appointments, as well as at the University of Wollongong School of Performing Arts.
His dramaturgical work on the play Codgers by Don Reid contributed to that play winning the prestigious Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award in 2006.