Craig Matthew Stott is an Australian actor, perhaps best known for his role as Josh Watkins in the ABC television drama East of Everything (2008–09), and as the co-lead character John Caleo in Neil Armfield's Holding the Man (2015).
[9] In 2008, Stott appeared in the fourth episode of the eighth season of drama series McLeod's Daughters as Jamie Mitchell, a teenager who has run away from home.
His next project was East of Everything, where he landed the regular role of Josh Watkins, a character he portrayed from 2008 to 2009 in the series' two seasons.
While Stott was in Los Angeles in November 2013, he received a brief for a "Gay love story, [set in] Melbourne, 1976" – a role within a film the actor believed "seldom comes along...in Australia’s deeply machismo-oriented society".
Following auditions and chemistry tests in London, Stott and fellow Australian actor Ryan Corr were selected as the co-leads of Holding the Man, John Caleo and Timothy Conigrave, respectively.
[4] Actors Anthony LaPaglia, Guy Pearce and Geoffrey Rush were chosen for supporting roles within the film.
[15] The Guardian Australia praised Stott and Corr for their "memorable performances, both tender and strong, and it is their chemistry audiences will recall most vividly"[16] and The Conversation commended both actors, noting their "palpable" chemistry "which is imperative in order to convey the deep bond [Conigrave and Caleo] had.