A portrait of actor Jacob Collins by Sean Layh has won the favour of Art Gallery of NSW staff, who awarded it the Packing Room prize on Thursday, ahead of the Archibald prize’s main announcement on 8 May.

Layh, a self-taught painter who has exhibited in Australia and abroad, said winning the prize for his work – an oil painting titled The tragicall historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke – was “one of the great honours of my professional life”.

Based in Melbourne, he said much of his technical skill was forged through visiting the National Gallery of Victoria’s permanent collection. This is the first time he has been a finalist in the Archibald prize.

“Sean’s entry was an instant standout for the packing room crew. It’s a dark, complex and beautiful double portrait – a tormented Hamlet portrayed by actor Jacob Collins,” senior installation officer William Newell said.

“We couldn’t stop looking a the painting; the work feels alive, as if the exchange between artist, character and actor continues to unfold.”

Collins, formerly Collins-Levy, has appeared in Doctor Who and True History of the Kelly Gang. He played Hamlet in a 2024 production for Melbourne Shakespeare Company, in a performance that inspired the artist. The pair jointly agreed on the title of the portrait, which retains the Elizabethan spelling of the earliest printed editions of the play.

The $3,000 prize is chosen by the AGNSW staff who unpack and hang the Archibald prize exhibition, which this year received more than 1,000 entries, whittled down to 59 finalists.

Portraits of Bondi shooting hero Ahmed al-Ahmed, journalists Virginia Trioli and Jan Fran, surfer Layne Beachley and artist Khaled Sabsabi are among this year’s finalists, alongside paintings by artists Kaylene Whiskey, Richard Lewer, Vincent Namatjira, Tsering Hannaford and Michael Zavros.

The main prize, worth $100,000, will be awarded on 8 May to the best portrait of “some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia”, as judged by the trustees of the gallery.

The $50,000 Wynne prize for landscape painting and $40,000 Sulman prize for subject painting, genre painting or mural project will also be announced on 8 May, with all finalists on show from 9 May at the Art Gallery of NSW.

More to come …