Master and Commander Pirkis started his acting in school plays while attending Eton, though he never took them seriously. Pirkis was cast for his first professional role in 2002, when he appeared in the successful film,
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. One of four teenage actors chosen for the film, Weir soon discovered that Pirkis had "an old actor's soul in his body," and consequently gave him more acting challenges. Because his character loses an arm, Pirkis wore a prosthetic stump on set; tucking his real arm to the side, he practised how to write and eat using only his left arm. Pirkis completed the amputation scene in two takes, thinking of the death of a family friend for inspiration. and won the
Evening Standard British Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the
Young Artist Award for Best International Performance by a Young Actor at the
25th Young Artist Awards. Pirkis was also nominated for Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role – Male at the 4th Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards. Jeremiah Kipp of
Slant Magazine praised Pirkis, writing that he "makes a winning impression as midshipman Lord Blakeney, a pugnacious one-armed lad who imitates the masculine bravado of Crowe and the bookish reserve of
Bettany."
Rome In 2005, Pirkis made his television debut. At the beginning of the first season,
The Washington Post columnist
Tom Shales remarked: "Played both knowingly and innocently by Max Pirkis, he gives the audience something it desperately needs... a character to root for, or at least care about." During the second series, Pirkis was replaced by
Simon Woods in order for the show to depict an older version of the character.
Embankment Films In February 2016, Pirkis was appointed head of acquisitions and distribution at
Embankment Films. ==Filmography==