Adelaide’s own Kodi Smit-McPhee looks to cement his Hollywood legacy

Kodi Smit-McPhee has the chance to be the first South Australian to win an acting Oscar in over 80 years when he is nominated for Best Supporting Actor today.

An exhausted Kodi Smit-McPhee – the first South Australian to be nominated for an acting Oscar in more than 80 years – is resting up for Monday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

The 25-year-old, raised at Allenby Gardens in Adelaide’s western suburbs, is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the bullied Peter Gordon in Jane Campion’s brooding western, The Power Of The Dog.

Proud father and fellow actor Andy McPhee said his son – who has been in a whirlwind of interviews for the much-touted movie – has been told to rest before the glitzy ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

“Kodi’s just exhausted having been flying around the world to promote the film,” Andy told The Advertiser exclusively from his base in LA.

“He’s only just got back from the BAFTAS (in London) and there was a trip to Jordan as well.

Kodi Smit-McPhee attends the 94th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Monday, dressed in a baby blue suit. Picture: David Livingston/Getty Images

Kodi Smit-McPhee playing Peter Gordon in The Power Of The Dog on Netflix

“This is the most exciting time of his young life but he’s handling the pressure brilliantly, he’s so level-headed.”

Andy, a former Overland train driver who became an actor by accident after being cast in a Hungry Jacks ad in 1987, will be joined at the Oscars by his publicity-shy ex-wife, and Kodi’s mother, Sonja.

The couple also have daughter Sianoa, 30, who first found fame aged 11 on Neighbours as Bree Timmins, and son Caden, 17, who has flown in from Melbourne to celebrate with his brother.

“We used to watch the Oscars show on telly in Adelaide when the kids were tiny and I was a part-time actor,” Andy said.

“So, when we’re walking in together that’s going to be the biggest ‘wow’ – that we’re here at the ceremony, and it’s all because of that little rug-rat (Smit-McPhee).

Kodi Smit McPhee with his dad, fellow actor Andy McPhee. Picture: David Litner

Kodi Smit-McPhee has just returned from the Baftas in London. Picture: Getty Images

“It’s going to be a dream come true but a dream we never really had because you can’t think this happens for people like us.”

Smit-McPhee is only the second SA actor to be nominated for an Oscar after Dame Judith Anderson, who played the villainous housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 classic film Rebecca. She lost to Jane Darwell for The Grapes of Wrath.

Bookmakers have Smit-McPhee as second favourite – behind US actor Troy Kotsur for CODA – after the South Aussie won best supporting actor at the prestigious Golden Globes in January.

An Oscar win would see him join Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight, 2008) as the only Australians to walk away with the gold statue for Best Supporting Actor.

The statue that Kodi Smit-McPhee hopes to walk away with on Monday.

But it will be no fluke. At 10, Smit-McPhee won the Australian Film Institute’s most promising newcomer award in his first role opposite Eric Bana in the film Romulus, My Father (2007).

He played Viggo Mortensen’s son in The Road (2009) with Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce and has been in two megahit X-Men films as the mutant Nightcrawler.

He will be seen next on screen in Baz Luhrmann’s epic bio-pic of Elvis Presley playing actor and singer Jimmie Rodgers.

McPhee said his son’s next film project will be in London with Oscar-winning film director Alfonso Cuaron.

The Mexican-born filmmaker, who won best director Oscars for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018), is making the eight-episode miniseries Disclaimer for AppleTV+ with Cate Blanchett and Gary Oldman in the lead roles.

Plans are on hold for a return to Australia for Smit-McPhee, who likes to catch up with his Adelaide-based older siblings.

“I’m just really looking forward to cheering on my kid,” Andy said.

“I’ve bought a brand-new suit in blue from the same guy who dresses Kodi and win, lose or draw, we’re all going to have the best night ever.”