Dichotomia, Barry Otto

The actor Barry Otto (b. 1941) trained as a graphic artist at Brisbane Technical College, and began his working life drawing fashion illustrations for advertising agencies. He started acting in amateur theatre after watching his sister, who was a model for June Dally-Watkins, performing in one-act plays. In 1968 he turned professional, taking a part in the TV soap opera Until Tomorrow. But he retained a love for live theatre, and after the formation of the Queensland Theatre Company in 1970 he worked alongside the likes of Geoffrey Rush, gaining a reputation as one of the country's finest stage actors. During the eighties he appeared in such TV blockbusters as The Dismissal (1983) and Vietnam (1987). His first major film role came in Bliss (1985), for which he won the AFI and Sydney Film Critics' Circle Best Actor awards. He has since appeared in Strictly Ballroom (1992), Cosi (1996), Kiss or Kill (1997), and Oscar and Lucinda (1997). Otto has also been in the Great Gatsby (2013) and the Dressmaker (2015), and despite his consistent movie roles, he has been performing in theatre. In 2013, he was to be in the highly anticipated one-man show ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ at the 2013 Adelaide Festival, but pulled out at the last minute due to exhaustion and an overwhelming schedule.

This photograph by Peter Brew-Bevan was entered into the 2009 National Photographic Portrait Prize. Inspired by Otto’s favourite artist, Sandro Botticelli, he has been covered in kabuki paint to resemble one of Botticelli’s pastel drawings. This portrait shows Otto’s contrasting sides and balances between the confident artist and the quizzical and unsure actor.