Mark Coles Smith, also known by his musical identity as Kalaji, is an Aboriginal Australian film, television, and theater actor, sound designer, field recordist, writer, and composer. He grew up in Broome, Australia, and received a certificate in Aboriginal Theatre from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
Smith has won numerous awards, including the Yvonne Cohen Award from VCA Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts in 2007 and a Helpmann Award for Best Actor in a Play for The Drover's Wife. He is known for his roles in the feature films Last Cab to Darwin (2015), Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), and Occupation: Rainfall (2020), as well as the television series Mystery Road: Origin (2022), and the Canadian series Hard Rock Medical (2013–18). In 2023, he became the first Indigenous Australian actor nominated for a Gold Logie. He won Best Actor in a Series in both the AACTA International Awards and the domestic AACTA Awards for his role in Mystery Road: Origin.
