An attractive blond leading man of Australian films, Weaving scored an international hit as one of a trio of drag queens heading across the continent in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994). He made his film debut as a naive bumpkin who becomes caught up in a love triangle in the low-budget "The City's Edge" (1983), reportedly one of the first Australian films to focus on the plight of its native aborigines. Weaving followed with romantic roles as a dour tutor in "For Love Alone" (1985) and the title character, a bounder employed by a sickly titled Englishman, in the period melodrama "The Right Hand Man" (1986). In "Wendy Cracked a Walnut" (1990), Weaving portrayed a fictional character who comes to life in the fantasies of a woman (Rosanna Arquette).

The actor hit his stride with his award-winning performance as a distrustful blind photographer in Jocelyn Morehouse's "Proof" (1991). As Martin, Weaving was both touching and mysterious as he negotiated his way through relationships with his adoring housekeeper (Genevieve Picot) and a restaurant worker (Russell Crowe) on whom Martin relies for descriptions of the photographs he takes. In 1993, he appeared as a villainous capitalist in Yahoo Serious' "Reckless Kelly", as Anthony LaPaglia's partner in the crime drama "The Custodian" and as a husband involved with insurance fraud in Stephan Elliott's feature debut "Frauds". The following year, Elliott cast Weaving as a drag queen in the surprise hit, "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". He also voiced Rex, the aging sheepdog, in the delightful fantasy "Babe" (1995).

While "Priscilla" made him known on a world-wide basis, Weaving eschewed Hollywood fare. He offered a strong turn as a self-destructive burnt-out hippie who meets up with some petty criminals in "True Love and Chaos" (1997). He was hilarious as a predatory real estate agent in Rose Troche's unjustly little-seen "Bedrooms and Hallways" and received his second Best Actor Award from the Australian Film Institute as a petty thief undergoing police interrogation in "The Interview" (1998). Despite maintaining a rather low-profile, Weaving saw his stock rise again in the USA as the malevolent Agent Smith in the hit sci-fi thriller "The Matrix" (1999).

A handful of Weaving's many TV appearances Down Under have made their way to the small screen in the USA. He co-starred with Julie Christie and Sarah Jessica Parkerin the CBS miniseries "Dadah Is Death" (1988). Weaving also appeared in the PBS biopic "Melba" about famed Australian opera star Nellie Melba (shown on "Great Performances" in 1989) and was featured alongside Nicole Kidmanin the miniseries "Bangkok Hilton" (TNT, 1990)