The Matrix star was feted with the Best Actor prize at this year's (15) Helpmann Awards for his turn in a production of Samuel Beckett's 1957 work Endgame.

Sirens star Pamela Rabe won the female equivalent for her role in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, while other awards went to the Aussie stage version of Les Miserables, which won five prizes including Best Musical.

Australian rocker Paul Kelly received the JC Williamson Award, which is given to an entertainer who has made an "outstanding contribution" to the arts Down Under.