Zbych Trofimiuk (born 7 April 1979)[1] is a Czech-Australian language teacher, academic,[3] and actor. He is known for his award-winning performance as Mike Masters in the children's television adventure series Sky Trackers,[4][5] and as the lead character Paul Reynolds in the children's science fiction series Spellbinder.[6]

Zbych Trofimiuk
Born (1979-04-07) 7 April 1979 (age 45)[1]
Prague, Czechoslovakia[2]

Personal life

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Born in Prague in the Czech Republic[2] in 1979,[1] to Prague-born sculptor Zoja Trofimiuk and Jurek Trofimiuk,[7] the languages of his early years were Czech, Polish, and German. At four years old, he emigrated with his parents to Melbourne Australia, where he began to learn English.[2]

In 2004, he graduated from Melbourne's Victoria University with a B.A. in Performance Studies.[1]

Career

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Television

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Trofimiuk is known for his work as a child actor in Australian television productions.

In 1990, he appeared in ABC's Choices, a short series of mini-dramas about peer pressure and the choices individual children have to make.[8]

In 1994, he appeared in an episode of Network 10's short-lived continuation of the popular Australian soap opera, A Country Practice.[9][10]

In 1995, Trofimiuk starred in leading roles in two drama series for children: first in the educational adventure series Sky Trackers,[11] playing Mike Masters,[12] for which he won the Australian Film Institute's Young Actor Award;[5] and second as the protagonist, Paul Reynolds,[6] in the science fiction series Spellbinder.[13] Both Sky Trackers and Spellbinder won the Australian Film Institute's Award for Best Children's Television Drama (in 1994 and 1996 respectively).[5] Also in 1995, Trofimiuk guested in an episode of the second series of Snowy River - The McGregor Saga.[14]

Theatre

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In 2005, Trofimiuk performed in the play "Bunny", written and directed by Benjamin Cittadini, at the La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.[15]

In 2007, he co-directed La Mama's production "Elmo" with its playwright Cittadini.[16] The play was a follow-up to "Bunny," and the second play in the author's "Trilogy of Love Stories."

Film

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Trofimiuk played the role of Kane in the 2006 independent film Clean.[17]

Teaching and research

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Since 2006, Trofimiuk has taught English as a foreign language, as a teacher in Australia's English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS) scheme; and he is an educational researcher at Melbourne's Monash University, in the Digital Education Research Group.[3][18]

Awards

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Filmography

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Television

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Year Film Role Notes
1990 Choices TV series
1994 A Country Practice TV series, episode 14.14: "Tuesday's Child"[9]
1994 Sky Trackers Mike Masters TV series[19]
1995 Snowy River: The McGregor Saga TV series, episode 2.4: "Fathers and Sons"[14]
1995 Spellbinder Paul Reynolds TV series

Film

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Year Film Role Notes
2006 Clean Kane Independent feature film

Theatre

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Year Film Role Notes
2005 Bunny La Mama Theatre
2007 Elmo Co-director Follow-up to Bunny and second play in the "Trilogy of Love Stories"

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Trofimiuk, Zbych. "Zbych Trofimiuk Presentation & Biography". Artmajeur. Archived from the original on 7 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Trofimiuk, Zbych (February 2015). "Chapter 3". ELICOS Online: Co-creating Flexible Learning Environments (Masters). Monash University. p. 48.
  3. ^ a b Trofimiuk, Zbych. "Zbych Trofimiuk". | Digital Education Research @ Monash. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Sky Trackers". Chip Taylor Communications, LLC. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "1994 Winners & Nominees". AFI | AACTA. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  6. ^ a b Zuk, T. "Spellbinder". Australian Television Information Archive. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  7. ^ Trofimiuk, Zbych (February 2015). "Acknowledgements". ELICOS Online: Co-creating Flexible Learning Environments (Masters). Monash University.
  8. ^ "Choices (1990) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". Screen Australia. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2021. (Please note: at time of writing, the cast info on this webpage does not display in Mozilla Firefox, but it does display in Internet Explorer).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  9. ^ a b Zuk, T. "A Country Practice: episode guide: 1994". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  10. ^ Zuk, T. "A Country Practice". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Sky Trackers". The Australian Children's Television Foundation. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  12. ^ Zuk, T. "Sky Trackers". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Spellbinder - Series 1". Australian Children's Television Foundation. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  14. ^ a b Zuk, T. "Snowy River: The McGregor Saga: episode guide". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Records Description List: Reference Number 2012.0285". University of Melbourne Archives. 20 October 2014.
  16. ^ "Elmo". The Australian Live Performance Database. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Clean (2006)". Blue Lotus Productions. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012.
  18. ^ "About | Digital Education Research @ Monash". Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Sky Trackers (1994) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
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