Damon Gameau - Action Man

Documentary filmmaker Damon Gameau is using his work to raise awareness, propose solutions and generate hope about the fate of the planet. Lofty targets? Absolutely. But when your passion runs this deep and the stakes are this high, the sky has to be the limit

- Ben Jhoty

Ever felt like you’re on the wrong path? That nothing you do really matters? That your words are empty and your actions without consequence? Yes? Then you have something in common with Damon Gameau in the late 2000s.

Back in 2008, Gameau was just another aspiring Aussie actor hustling for gigs and turning up to auditions in LA. In between he worked a full-time job at an Asian restaurant. “I was doing the LA thing, thinking that chasing that acting dream was going to give me happiness,” says the 44-year-old, who’s sitting at a kitchen bench in his charming timber home in Bangalow in northern NSW. “I was pretty sad.” Gameau is dressed in a blue linen shirt that brings out his eyes. A red candle shines brightly on the bench between us on what is a particularly gloomy day outside, torrential rain obscuring the view of the rolling hills and lush greenery of this sleepy hamlet turned creative hive.

Gameau would go on to find work as an actor but rather than confirming his career choice, success served only to highlight his emotional dissonance. “I did a couple of things over there and just went, ‘Oh, hang on a minute. I think I’ve got this all wrong. This isn’t giving me the satisfaction in my heart that I thought it would’.”