just one week to go – echoing his departure from high school – Beckley was approached by Wayne Harrison, then artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company, to appear as Frid in that company's production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music. (He appeared opposite a then unknown Toni Collette as Petra.) With the school's blessing, Beckley began his post-student career a week earlier than expected and graduated with his class at the official ceremony in early 1991. The next few years saw Beckley work for various companies in a range of projects. These included a rigorous 6-month T.I.E. (theatre in education) tour for the Bell Shakespeare Company which Beckley still considers as "earning one's stripes". Other cast members were Berynn Schwerdt, Colleen Cross and Julia Zemiro (now a household name on Australian televisions). Small television roles started to appear on his CV between theatre jobs. He had guest roles on the Australian police series Water Rats and the Australian/American sci-fi series Farscape. Wayne Harrison invited him back to the STC to appear in Antony and Cleopatra starring theatre stars Sandy Gore and John Stanton. The prestigious Griffin Theatre Company cast him in Clark in Sarajevo and then as the leading role of Dave in Neil Cole's play Alive at Williamstown Pier, the true story of a politician's fight with bipolar disorder and his consequent "outing" by the Australian media. Beckley received strong praise for his portrayal from national critics. The Australian Jewish News called his work "virtuoso". Lydia Clifford of The Daily Telegraph writing "I felt privileged to be a spectator of emerging talent". It was shortly after this that Beckley was cast as Rhys Sutherland in the long-running television program Home and Away, where he stayed for just over four years (2000–2004). His character arrived with a wife and three daughters. The Sutherlands went on to be one of the most popular families to ever appear on the program. While on the show, the production company made two specials for release on DVD: Hearts Divided and Secrets and the City, the latter film concerning Rhys's disappearance after the revelation of a previous affair. Each special contained not-to-be-televised footage, a new concept that proved a success. Upon leaving Home and Away Beckley returned to England in 2005. Signing with a London agent, he booked his first audition, which found him playing Capt. Roger Wittaker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on London's