Jeremy Eden

Archibald Prize 2025 finalist
Jeremy Eden
Felix Cameron
oil on canvas
© the artist

Australian actor Felix Cameron is best known for playing the young Eli Bell in the Netflix series Boy swallows universe, based on Trent Dalton’s award-winning novel. In 2024, at just 15, Cameron won two Logie Awards for his performance – Best Lead Actor in a Drama and Most Popular New Talent. He also appeared in the 2020 film Penguin Bloom alongside Naomi Watts.

‘I was inspired to paint Felix after seeing his Logies acceptance speech; it was incredibly moving,’ says artist Jeremy Eden.

‘I was already a big fan of Boy swallows universe and I thought Felix gave such a powerful, grounded performance. After meeting him and his family, I wanted to portray him not as a character, but as himself: a teenager at home, passionate about sport.

‘I painted him spinning a cricket ball in his family’s home in regional Victoria, wearing the shirt he wore to the Logies. Behind him is the view from their property.’

The portrait took three months to paint, with Eden describing it as ‘the most ambitious work’ he’s attempted to date. Eden won the 2022 People’s Choice award for his portrait of Samuel Johnson in that year’s Archibald Prize.