Tony graduated from the Australian Film Television and Radio School with a BA in Film and Television writing in 1996.
He started writing for the theatre in 1995 and for television in 2001 and he made his film debut in 2003 directing THE RAGE IN PLACID LAKE, which he adapted from his stage play THE CAFÉ LATTE KID. The film starred Rose Byrne, Miranda Richardson and Ben Lee and won the Audience Award at the Melbourne International Film Festival, AFI Award for Best Screenplay and two AWGIES (Australian Writers Guild Award) being Best Screenplay Adaptation and Gold AWGIE.
Tony wrote for various television programmes in Australia including many episodes on multiple series of THE SECRET LIFE OF US, LOVE MY WAY, TANGLE, OFFSPRING and PUBERTY BLUES. Tony co-created, wrote and script produced on both series of PUBERTY BLUES. Tony co-created, wrote and produced the very successful Australian television comedy series, DOCTOR DOCTOR in 2016. The series continued for 5 seasons.
In 2015 Tony wrote and directed his second feature film, the comedy-drama ASHBY, starring Mickey Rourke, Sarah Silverman and Emma Roberts. The film screened at the Tribeca Film Festival.
In 2018 Tony received critical acclaim for his screenplay of the historical comedy-drama film THE FAVOURITE, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, Olivia Coleman and Rachel Weisz. The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival (winning Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize), opened the New York Film Festival and screened at many other film festivals including Telluride and the 62nd BFI London Film Festival. Tony received a Best Original Screenplay nomination at 21st Academy Awards and won Best Screenplay at the British Independent Film Awards, a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay and Screenwriter of the Year at London Film Critics’ Awards
Tony created, wrote and was showrunner/EP on the comedy drama series THE GREAT in 2019, for Hulu. The series revolves around the anti-historical life of Catherine the Great, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. It is based upon his play about Catherine the Great, which premiered at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. Series 1 screened in 2020, series 2 in 2021 and series 3 in 2023. Tony won the Writers Guild Award two years running for his episodes on series 1 and series 2.
In 2021 Tony adapted Alasdair Gray’s novel POOR THINGS in to a feature film for director Yorgos Lanthimos. The cast includes Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef.
