Appetite for disruption: Boy Swallows the AACTA awards

The critically adored Netflix adaptation of the Trent Dalton’s best-selling debut novel has dominated Australia’s film and television awards.

Boy Swallows Universe cast members Lee Halley, Felix Cameron and Zac Burgess and writer Trent Dalton at the 2025 AACTA Awards on the Gold Coast. Picture: Getty Images for AFI

Boy Swallows Universe did precisely that at the 2025 the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards on Friday night.

The hit Netflix series, based on the semi-autobiographical debut novel by Trent Dalton, gulped down six more awards – having ­already won six at Wednesday night’s AACTA Industry Awards Gala – bringing its total to 12 and leaving little for the competition.

The critically adored coming-of-age drama about a Brisbane boy navigating family trauma swept the acting categories. Young star Felix Cameron won Best Lead Actor for his portrayal of Eli Bell, while Phoebe Tonkin took Best Lead Actress for playing his complex mother Frances.

Lee Tiger Halley and Deborah Mailman dutifully collected the Supporting Actor and Actress awards, rounding out a clean sweep that had felt inevitable after the series dominated the Logie Awards last year.

Elsewhere, Heartbreak High, Netflix’s spiky teen dramedy, won Best Drama Series for its second season. And the ABC’s Fisk continued its comedy reign, with Kitty Flanagan taking home Best Actress in a Comedy for her portrayal of a small-time lawyer. Global juggernaut Bluey naturally won Best Children’s Program.

Memoir of a Snail director Adam Elliott attends the 2025 AACTA Awards on the Gold Coast. Picture: Getty Images

In film, Jacki Weaver and Sarah Snook took home Best Supporting Actress and Best Lead Actress, respectively, for their work in Adam Elliot’s claymation gastropod weeper Memoir of a Snail.

Better Man, the Robbie Williams jukebox biopic, picked up four more AACTAs, bringing its total to nine – despite being an outright disaster at the US box office (pulling in a dismal $US1.2m for its opening three days), where it transpired Americans really, truly do not know who Robbie Williams is.

Robbie Williams on the Gold Coast red carpet at the awards. Picture: Annette Dew

Director Michael Gracey won Best Direction in Film, while Jonno Davies – who spent much of the film in a motion-capture suit pretending to be a monkey – won Best Performance in the newly minted category for digital acting. Damon Herriman collected his fourth AACTA for the film.

Williams himself was there to walk the carpet and perform his chart-topping hit Angels. Paul Kelly also performed How to Make Gravy, which was adapted into the first original film for streamer Binge last year.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which also struggled at the box ­office, left with a handful of technical trophies, including Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Sound.

The audience-voted awards crowned the US Netflix series Outer Banks Australia’s Favourite TV Show, while Jon M. Chu’s technicolour box office monolith Wicked won Favourite Film.

Margot Robbie claimed Favourite Australian Actress for the second year running, despite taking a year off acting in 2024, while Chris Hemsworth won Favourite Actor.

For the second year running, the AACTA awards were held on the Gold Coast, at HOTA, Home of the Arts.

On the red carpet, Hollywood stars including Henry Cavill and Guy Pearce walked alongside hometown heroes such as Alycia Debnam-Carey, Aisha Dee, and Kate Mulvany.