Atwell did some work with
Channel 7 at the end of primary school and Children's TV for
UNICEF, and also completed a short film made for television. In year 11, with the help of teachers and other students, he formed a school-sponsored theatre company that produced plays such as
Property of the Clan,
All Stops Out and
Dags. He completed a film called
Acting Out alongside
Lara Cox, before taking up his most notable role of
Kane Phillips in the soap opera
Home and Away. Before securing the role of Kane, he auditioned unsuccessfully for the roles of
Tom Nash and
Noah Lawson. He later learned that he had made it into the top 2 for the role of Noah, losing out to
Beau Brady. Atwell played the role of Craig Palmer in short-lived Aussie TV soap,
headLand, and starred in a TV pilot entitled
Call Back by Australian Writer Kate Toon. Other credits include
City Loop, an independent film completed while he was at the university,
The Wayne Manifesto,
All Saints, and the
Hal McElroy film
Mr. Reliable. While acting on
Home and Away Atwell also made a foray into writing and directing. In 2002, alongside his girlfriend at the time, Leah Pappin, he started his own theatre company, ‘ActorCorp’. Atwell co-produced the play
Savage/Love which he also starred in alongside former
Home and Away co-stars
Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen and Leah Pappin. After leaving
Home and Away Atwell travelled to Dublin in 2013, where he was introduced to the producer of the Irish soap
Fair City. Moving there in 2014, he joined the production team of the soap, as a writer, script consultant and producer. He continues to work predominantly as a producer of TV shows in Ireland. He currently works in Drama Development for
RTE, having worked on
Kin,
Hidden Assets and
Smother. Atwell still acts intermittently, and had a recurring role in the BBC/ABC children's TV series
Secret Life of Boys. ==Personal life==