Education
Born in Perth, Western Australia, he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (National Institute on Drug Abuse) with a degree in Performing Arts (acting) in 1999.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (National Institute on Drug Abuse) with a degree in Performing Arts (acting) in 1999.
His first big television break was when he appeared in The Farm in 2000 and met director Kate Woods. She gave him a role in her mini-series Changi in 2001. Priestley played a semi-regular role in The Secret Life of Us, had roles in two American Broadcasting Company mini-series-Changi and The Farm and appeared in Blue Heelers before his first on-air appearance in in July 2004.
The two were known to get up to countless pranks on set.
Priestley also had some notable theatre credits. He worked with the Bell Shakespeare Company, playing Silvio in The Servant of Two Masters, as well as with The Sydney Theatre Company in Major Barbara, both in 2003.
Priestley"s character on the Australian television program (Dan Goldman) was involved with a storyline with his on-screen wife Erica when the actor took his own life. Coincidentally, the final two episodes Priestley was to play in on the program (written before his death) also involved much tragedy and sadness.
On the afternoon of 27 August 2008 Priestley checked into the Swissotel in Market Street, Sydney, under the name "Damien Barker".
He jumped from a window at the hotel at about 2PM. Police confirmed that his body was found in an awning. A police spokesperson said that the incident was not being treated as suspicious. The actor was believed to have been suffering from depression.
Priestley continued to be seen posthumously in his role until November 18, 2008.
Press and camera crews were allowed to enter the church at the permission of the family, under the condition that no details of the eulogy be released in public. Priestley was privately cremated after the ceremony.
lieutenant is also noted at the end of the Channel Seven Perth Telethon 2008 telecast as being in memory of him. Priestly"s co-star John Howard, who played Doctor Frank Campion, said Priestley was a fine actor: “He had the most extraordinary combination of very deft comic touch and great emotional depth.” Actor John Waters, who briefly played Doctor Mike Vlasek, in the series was stunned.
“I worked with him on stage and on screen and will miss him more than I can say right now,” Waters said.
“lieutenant’s so sad,” he said.
Quotations: “I worked with him on stage and on screen and will miss him more than I can say right now,”. “lieutenant’s so sad,”.