Aswan Reid
Acting
Biography
'The New Boy' is Aswan’s first acting role. He was born in Alice Springs in the centre of Australia and has lived most of his life there. His family is from Warakurna and Kiwirrkurra Aboriginal communities, in Central and Western Australia. Since shooting the 'The New Boy', Aswan and his family have been living in Adelaide, where he goes to school. In 2024, Aswan won the Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts (AACTA) Award for Best Lead Actor in Film for his role in The New Boy.
Known For
When their boat sinks while crossing the Timor Sea during World War II, a troop of young Australian soldiers must find a way to survive the harsh seas on a quickly shrinking raft. Hundreds of miles from anywhere, they must confront interpersonal conflicts, enemy attacks, and the advances of one very large, very hungry great white shark.
Beast of War
In a remote monastery in 1940s Australia, a mission for Aboriginal children is run by a renegade nun, Sister Eileen. A new charge is delivered in the dead of night – a boy who appears to have special powers. When the monastery takes possession of a precious relic, a large carving of Christ on the cross, the new boy encounters Jesus for the first time and is transfixed. However, the boy’s Indigenous spiritual life does not gel with the mission’s Christianity and his mysterious power becomes a threat. Sister Eileen is faced with a choice between the traditions of her faith and the truth embodied in the boy, in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.