# Tyler Coppin

Tyler Coppin (born 9 November 1956) is an American-Australian actor, playwright and American dialect coach for actors in film, television and theatre.

## Personal life and education

Coppin is a fourth-generation Californian born in Roseville, California, the second child of Ronald and Gayle (Terry) Coppin. He was raised in the Sacramento suburbs of Rancho Cordova and Carmichael, California. The Coppin family are also long-term residents of Stinson Beach, California. Coppin attended Rio Americano High School and California State University, Sacramento before migrating to Australia aged 19, where he attended and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
He divides his time between the United States and Australia after residing in Sydney for many years working in theatre, film and television. In 2001 Coppin moved to Melbourne with Jane Borghesi where the couple married in 2006. They have one son.
He became an Australian citizen in 1993.

## Career

Coppin's many stage appearances include the Child Catcher in the Australian national production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mr Mushnik in the 2016 Australian national tour of Little Shop of Horrors, Robert Helpmann in his one-man play Lyrebird: Tales of Helpmann, and Puck in the acclaimed Opera Australia production of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Baz Luhrmann with set and costumes by Catherine Martin. In 1989, at the request of playwright Patrick White he played the role of Young Manitoba in the Sydney Theatre Company production of The Ham Funeral, directed by Neil Armfield.
Coppin has appeared in the Melbourne Theatre Company's production of Born Yesterday, His Girl Friday, Ruby Moon, A Behanding in Spokane by playwright Martin McDonagh, and as Vice Principal Panch in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which he wrote additional material.
His television appearances include Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King and Neighbours.
His film appearances include Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson, The Spierig Brothers' Winchester and Predestination, The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, The Tender Hook, Emulsion, One Night Stand, Lorca and the Outlaws and Mad Max 2.
Coppin is also a dialect coach of the American accent, having started training actors during the 1980’s Australian New Wave film era. These include Heath Ledger, Melissa George, Joel Edgerton, Magda Szubanski, Ben Mendelsohn, Colin Friels, Marcus Graham, Madeleine Madden and Mavournee Hazel.
He has also narrated several audiobooks, including an adaptation of the American children's TV series Bear in the Big Blue House, released by ABC for Kids.

## Credits
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | The Survivor | Boy | Feature film |
| 1981 | Mad Max 2 | Defiant Victim | Feature film |
| 1984 | One Night Stand | Sam | Feature film |
| 1984 | Starship (aka 2084 or Lorca & the Outlaws) | Detective Droid | Feature film |
| 1987 | Twelfth Night | Party Guest | TV film |
| 1993 | Sniper | Ripoly | Feature film |
| 1993 | Reckless Kelly | Hollywood Bank Teller | Feature film |
| 1996 | Race the Sun | Bob Radford | Feature film |
| 1996 | The Beast | Harry | TV movie |
| 1997 | Doing Time for Patsy Cline | Bobby Joe | Feature film |
| 2001 | Jet Set | Jim | |
| 2005 | Three Dollars | Giles | Feature film |
| 2006 | Emulsion | Agent | |
| 2008 | The Tender Hook (aka Boxer and the Bombshell) | Donnie | Feature film |
| 2009 | Accidents Happen | Narrator | Feature film |
| 2014 | Predestination | Dr. Heinlein | Feature film |
| 2016 | The Death and Life of Otto Bloom | J.C. Tippit | Feature film |
| 2016 | Hacksaw Ridge | Lynchburg Doctor | Feature film |
| 2018 | Winchester | Arthur Gates | Feature film |
| 2021 | Lone Wolf | Hippy Karl | Feature film |

#### As writer

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Happy Feet | Contributing writer | Animated feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1982 | Play School | Host | TV series |
| 2006 | Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King | Richard Fornoy | TV anthology series |
| 2020 | Neighbours | Basil Gardener (recurring role) | TV series |

### Stage
#### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | Lower Depths | | NIDA Theatre, Sydney |
| 1979 | The Beggar’s Opera | | NIDA Theatre, Sydney, Playhouse, Canberra |
| 1979 | The Ballad of the Sad Café | | NIDA Theatre Sydney |
| 1979 | Rumpelstiltskin | Rumpelstiltskin | Parramatta Town Hall with Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust |
| 1980 | Danton's Death | Saint Just / Beggar | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 1980 | Inside the Island | Andy | Nimrod Theatre, Sydney |
| 1980 | Volpone | | Nimrod Theatre, Sydney |
| 1981 | The Choir | Michael | Nimrod Theatre, Sydney, Universal Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1982 | You Can’t Take It With You | | Sydney Opera House with STC for Sydney Festival |
| 1984 | 1984 A.D. | | Arts Theatre, Adelaide with Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust for Adelaide Festival |
| 1986 | The Philadelphia Story | | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1987 | The Country Wife | | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1987 | Travelling Light | | Studio Theatre for Melbourne Festival of the Arts |
| 1988 | Haircut | | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Six Years Old Theatre Company |
| 1988 | Strictly Ballroom | | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Six Years Old Theatre Company |
| 1988 | Angels | | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Six Years Old Theatre Company |
| 1989 | The Ham Funeral | Young Manitoba | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 1990 | Three Sisters | | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1991 | Buzz | | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 1992 | Much Ado About Nothing | | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1992 | The Heidi Chronicles | | Ensemble Theatre, Sydney |
| 1992 | The Cockroach Opera | | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 1992 | The Real Live Brady Bunch | Greg Brady | University of Sydney with Footbridge Theatre |
| 1993 | The Real Live Brady Bunch - and the Real Live Game Show | Greg Brady | Comedy Club, Melbourne for Melbourne International Comedy Festival |
| 1993–94 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Singer | Sydney Opera House, State Theatre, Melbourne with Opera Australia |
| 1993–94; 1995; 1997 | Picasso at the Lapin Agile | Picasso | Belvoir Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company with Melbourne International Arts Festival, Playhouse Adelaide, Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, Melbourne Athenaeum |
| 1994 | Short Circuits | | Seymour Centre, Sydney for Sydney Festival |
| 1995 | Tales of Helpmann | Robert Helpmann | Bondi Pavilion |
| 1995 | Tales of Helpmann (Bobby's Fluffy Trip) | Robert Helpmann | Performance Space, Sydney |
| 1995 | Saint Joan | | Sydney Opera House |
| 1996 | A Midsummer Night’s Dream | | Sydney Opera House |
| 1996 | Wasp | Son | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 1997 | Pageant | Miss Texas | Harry M Miller |
| 1998–99 | Lyrebird: Tales of Helpmann | Robert Helpmann | Q Theatre, Penrith, Price Theatre, Adelaide, Sydney Opera House, Downstage Theatre, Wellington, Playhouse, Canberra, Cochrane Theatre, London |
| 2000 | The Small Poppies | | Butter Factory Theatre, Wodonga |
| 2001 | Helpmann Awards 2001 | | Lyric Theatre, Sydney |
| 2001 | Emma's Nose: A Comedy of Eros | Freud | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2002–03 | Cabaret | Ernst Ludwig | State Theatre, Sydney, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Festival Theatre, Adelaide |
| 2003 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Puck | Sydney Opera House |
| 2004 | Run Rabbit Run | Andrew Denton / Roger Harvey / John Hartigan / Tom Cocking | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2006; 2007 | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | Vice Principal Douglas Panch | Playhouse, Melbourne, Sydney Theatre |
| 2006–08 | Lyrebird: Tales of Helpmann | Robert Helpmann | Space Theatre, Adelaide & Australian regional tour |
| 2007 | Homebody / Kabul | | Trades Hall, Melbourne |
| 2009 | B.C. | | BlackBox, Melbourne |
| 2010 | Ruby Moon | | Southbank Theatre, Melbourne with MTC |
| 2011 | A Behanding in Spokane | Mervyn | Southbank Theatre with MTC |
| 2011 | At Any Cost? | Brother | The J Theatre, Noosa, Ensemble Theatre, Sydney |
| 2012 | His Girl Friday | McCue | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 2012 | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Child Catcher | Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, Crown Theatre, Perth, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane |
| 2013 | The Dragon | | Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne |
| 2014–15 | Strictly Ballroom the Musical | Terry Best | Sydney Lyric Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane with Global Creatures |
| 2016 | Little Shop of Horrors | Mr Mushnik | Hayes Theatre Company, Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Canberra Theatre, Playhouse, Brisbane, Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney, His Majesty's Theatre, Perth |
| 2016 | Dusty the Original Pop Diva | Gerard O'Brien / Jerry Wexler / Drag Queen | Playhouse, Melbourne with Adelaide Festival Centre |
| 2017 | Born Yesterday | Ed Devery | Southbank Theatre, Melbourne, Canberra Theatre with MTC |
| 2019 | Shakespeare in Love | Wabash / Lambert | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| Glengarry Glen Ross | Sydney Opera House |

#### As playwright / writer / director

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1987 | Flabbadadabbadadaddy-o! | Co-writer | Melbourne International Comedy Festival |
| 1988 | Haircut | Contributing writer | STC |
| 1991 | Buzz | Co-writer / Director | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 1992 | Dance Camp 3 | Director | Belvoir Street Theatre for Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras |
| 1995 | Tales of Helpmann | Actor / Writer | Bondi Pavilion, Performance Space, Sydney |
| 1998–99; 2006–08 | Lyrebird: Tales of Helpmann | Playwright | Sydney Opera House, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, City of London Festival, Australia, New Zealand, United States |
| 2004 | UnAmerica | Playwright | Shortlisted for 2004 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award |
| 2005 | The Minutiae of Inertia | Playwright | Melbourne Fringe Festival |
| 2006; 2007 | The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | Additional written material written | Playhouse, Melbourne, Sydney Theatre |
| | Strictly Ballroom | Contributing writer | |
| | Death of Cook | Contributing writer | Performance Space, Sydney |
| | No One Here Gets Out Awake | Playwright | |
| | Clover | Playwright | |

### Dialect coach

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1989 | Speed-the-Plow | American Dialect Coach | MTC stage production |
| 1995 | Babe | American Dialect Coach | Feature film |
| 1996 | Peter Benchley’s The Beast | American Dialect Coach | TV movie |
| 1996 | Race the Sun | American Dialect Coach | Feature film |
| 1998 | Dark City | Dialogue Coach | Feature film |
| 2003 | The Night We Called It a Day | American Dialect Coach (Nicholas Hope) | Feature film |
| 2006 | Superman Returns | American Dialect Coach | Feature film |
| 2009 | Where the Wild Things Are | American Dialect Coach (uncredited) | Feature film |
| 2010 | Torn | American Dialect Coach | |
| 2019 | Strange Chores | American Dialect Coach | TV series |
| 2021 | The Vortex | Dialect Coach | Short film |
| 2021–24 | La Brea | American Dialect Coach | TV series |

## Awards

| Nominated work | Award | Category | Result |
| Lyrebird: Tales of Helpmann | Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Fringe First Award | Won |
| The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | Helpmann Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won |
| Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Green Room Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Won |