Noel Hodda

Noel Hodda (born 1954) is an Australian actor, writer, dramaturge, director and teacher, he was born in Albury, New South Wales.

Career

Acting and narration Hodda was a founding member of the Riverina Theatre Company, located in Wagga Wagga and Project TYER, a Theatre In Education Co., for whom he also wrote and appeared in the play Strata Digger. Subsequently, he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the UNSW Sydney and then worked as an actor for the Sydney Theatre Company, the Queensland Theatre Company, the Griffin Theatre Company, the Ensemble Theatre, the Q Theatre, Marian Street Theatre, Sport for Jove at the Seymour Centre and others. He also performed in major national and international tours, including The Removalists, Are You Lonesome Tonight?, The Club, Life of Galileo, Chasing the Dragon, Diving for Pearls and Dinner.

He has appeared in numerous Australian television series and tele-dramas as both a lead and guest character. His first major television gig was a regular role in the drama Sons and Daughters as Rob Keegan, from 1982 to 1984. He played celebrity TV doctor David Fielding in E Street from 1989 to 1991 and patriarch Ron O'Donnell in Out of the Blue in 2008. Hodda has also had guest roles in Neighbours, Janet King and Rake.

His film appearances include A Step in the Right Direction (1981), The Highest Honour (aka Heroes of the Krait/Southern Cross) (1982), Silver City (1984), Emoh Ruo (1985) and The Bet (2006) among others.

Hodda began recording books as a student at NIDA as a means of earning extra money. He became a long-standing narrator for Vision Australia from 1977 to 2009. In gaps between his work in the theatre, films and television, he has recorded hundreds of talking books for them, as well as the ABC and commercially. He has been shortlisted for several Talking Book Awards He has also performed voiceover work for numerous advertisements.

His play Later (eventually known as Across the Water) was chosen to be workshopped at the prestigious Banff playRites Colony, in Banff, Canada in 2004. His play Rehearsing Julie (now re-drafted and titled Manda) was nominated for a Silver Gull Play Award in 2024.

His dramaturgical work on the play Codgers by Don Reid contributed to that play winning the prestigious Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award in 2006.

Music Hodda was the bass player in two resident bands for Griffin Theatre Company in the 1980s – The Brian Roberts Big Band (jazz, blues and country) and The Fabulous Front Girls and their backing band The Coathangers (a surf band formed to play at a 1985 benefit rally against the closure of live theatres).

Narration / voiceover

Audiobooks YearTitleRoleRef. 1999 Cold Mountain Narrator The Hobbit Narrator Avis Budget Group Voiceover 1986 Crosscuts – A Rock and Roll Cabaret Director Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company 1987–1989 The Secret House Playwright Stables Theatre, Sydney, Anthill Theatre, Melbourne, The Hole in the Wall Theatre, Perth with Griffin Theatre Company 1990 Half Safe Playwright Riverina Playhouse, Wagga Wagga, Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company Photographs Playwright Charles Sturt University School of Performing Arts On The Public Record Playwright University of Wollongong Faculty of Creative Arts 2004; 2013 Later (renamed Across the Water) Playwright playRites Colony, Banff, Canada, Laguna Community Hall with Valley Artists 2006 Codgers Dramaturg 2013 The Secret House Playwright National Theatrette, Melbourne with Australian National Theatre 2015 The Secret House (reading) Playwright Bowen Library Theatrette, Sydney 2018 The Sculpture Garden Playwright Laguna Community Hall with Valley Artists Inc 2022 In This Light Playwright / Producer Flight Path Theatre, Sydney with Ca Va Productions Threat: Norma, Norm & the Dog Playwright Later made into a short film directed by the writer 2025 Manda (formerly Rehearsing Julie) Writer Actors Benevolent Fund, Sydney Strata Digger Project TYER, a Theatre In Education Co Never a Moment's Peace East Coast Theatre Company