Robert "Bob" Alfred Morley is an Australian actor and television director. He played Drew Curtis on Home and Away in 2006 to 2008.
Early Life[]
Morley is the son of a Filipina mother and an Australian Irish father, who died when he was young.[2] Morley has two older sisters and one older brother.[1]
He grew up on a farm in Kyneton, a small country town in Victoria,[2] and studied drama at school all the way through to Year 11, until he was asked not to continue.[3]
Morley told The Age that he was a naughty student and did not take things seriously.[3]
After he completed year 13, Morley moved to Melbourne and began an engineering degree.[2] A year later, he decided to enroll in Creative Arts at the La Trobe University and he got himself an agent.[1][2]
Career[]
Morley began his career by acting in various university theatre productions, short films and plays including Falling to Perfect and Tale From Vienna Woods.[1][3]
Morley appeared in the 2005 low-budget horror film Dead Harvest directed by Damian Scott[1] and as an extra in the soap opera Neighbours.
That same year he got a part in Angels with Dirty Faces and his performance brought him to the attention of the Home and Away casting directors.[3]
Morley joined the cast of Home and Away as Drew Curtis in 2006.[3] For his role as Drew, Morley was nominated for the Most Popular New Male Talent Logie Award.[4]
Morley appeared in the second series of the Australian celebrity singing competition series It Takes Two from May 2007. On 12 June 2007, he was voted off after six weeks on the show – even though he received his highest score that night.
In 2008, Morley departed Home and Away and he was cast as Tony Moretti in the Nine Network's 2008 action drama series The Strip.[5] The series was cancelled due to low ratings and did not return for a second series.
He went on to appear in the 2008 Nine Network's Scorched.[2] Morley was nominated for Cleo magazine's "Bachelor of the Year" award.
In 2009, he starred as Lorca in the play Palindrome for a Dead Poet. The following year, Morley featured in season four of Sea Patrol in the 5th episode titled "Paradise Lost".[6]
In 2011, he starred in the Australian thriller Road Train directed by Dean Francis.[7] The picture was released in North America as Road Kill.
In June 2011, it was announced that Morley had joined the cast of Neighbours as Aidan Foster, a love interest for Chris Pappas (James Mason).[8] Morley and Mason's characters formed the show's first gay couple.[8]
Morley took a ten-week break from the soap to appear in Blinder, a feature film about Australian rules football.[9] He returned to the set of Neighbours in early June 2012.[9]
On 21 February 2013, Philiana Ng and Lesley Goldberg from The Hollywood Reporter reported that Morley had been cast as Bellamy in The CW's The 100 which is filmed in Canada.[10]
As of 2019, The 100 is airing its sixth season. Morley began filming a role for the drama Lost in The White City in June 2013.[11]
In 2018, Morley completed the Warner Bros. Television Directors’ Workshop.[12]
Philanthropy[]
On 21 September 2015, he tweeted fans a link to purchase a shirt that he designed[13] in order to raise funds for beyondblue,[14] an Australian organization that provides information and support for Australians' mental health.
He designed another shirt in 2017,[15] in which the campaign proceeds were donated to the JED Foundation, a non-profit for the protection of emotional health and the prevention of suicide.
In September 2017, he joined fellow The 100 cast mates to participate in the BC Children's Hospital Benefit Soccer match in Vancouver, Canada.[16][17]
During the match Whitecaps Alumni and other Hollywood Stars took to the pitch at BC Place in support of the charity.
Fans have set up a charity project in his name, the Bob Morley Fans Charity Project on YouCaring, in which they auction off signed merchandise they get at conventions and donate the proceeds through the organization to other organizations such as the ACLU, the JED Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.[18]
Personal Life[]
Morley dated his former Home and Away co-star Jessica Tovey, who played his onscreen love interest, Belle Taylor from 2007 to 2008. He began dating his The 100 co-star and former Neighbours star Eliza Taylor and they married in May 2019.
Filmography[]
Film[]
- (2010) Road Train - Craig
- (2013) Blinder - Nick
- (2014) Lost in White City - Avi
Television[]
- (2006-2008) Home and Away - Drew Curtis
- (2007) It Takes Two - Himself
- (2008) Scorched - Brendan
- (2008) The Strip - Tony Moretti
- (2010) Sea Patrol - Sean
- (2011-2013) Neighbours - Adrian Foster
- (2014-present) The 100 - Bellamy Blake
- (2016) Winners & Losers - Ethan Quinn
As Director[]
- (2019) The 100 - Episode: Ashes To Ashes