MURRAY BARTLETT is an Australian actor born on this date. His roles include Dominic “Dom” Basaluzzo in the HBO comedy-drama series Looking, Michael “Mouse” Tolliver in the Netflix revival of Tales of the City, and most recently as “Armond” in the HBO satire comedy series The White Lotus.
He is also widely known for his role portraying “Frank”, opposite Nick Offerman as “Bill”, in the television series adaptation of The Last of Us in the episode “Long, Long Time”. The eoisode was widely considered to be the best of the show’s first season, and a groundbreaking portrayal of a post-apocalytic gay couple.
Bartlett pursued an acting career in Australia for several years, including a role in the series headLand. In 1993, he played con man Luke Foster in Neighbours. In 2000, Bartlett relocated to the United States. His first big break there came a few years later, when he was cast as a guest star in the HBO series Sex and the City. He also played D.K., John Crichton’s best friend, in four episodes of the SciFi Channel series Farscape. In 2006, Bartlett toured with Hugh Jackman in the Australian touring company production of Jackman’s Broadway hit The Boy From Oz.
From March 2007 until the show’s cancellation in September 2009, Bartlett was a cast member on the CBS daytime soap opera Guiding Light, where he played Cyrus Foley. He starred as Dominic “Dom” Basaluzzo in the HBO comedy-drama series Looking from 2014 to 2015, and then reprised his role in the series finale television film, Looking: The Movie in 2016. In 2017, he portrayed a recurring role in the musical drama series Nashville. Bartlett assumed the central role of Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver in the Netflix revival of Tales of the City.
Bartlett was born in Sydney and raised in Perth, Western Australia. He came out to the public as gay early in his career. When asked about the decision in a 2021 interview, he stated, “I didn’t feel like I really had an alternative. I just never felt I could ever be anything but myself.” He lives with his partner Matt in Provincetown, Massachusetts.