Australian Actors and Actress
by ArtiShreder | created - 19 Sep 2012 | updated - 22 Sep 2017 | Publicstill in progress
1. Eric Bana
Actor | Dirty John
Eric Bana was born Eric Banadinovic on August 9, 1968, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is the younger of two brothers. His father, named Ivan Banadinovic, came from Zagreb, Croatia, and worked as a manager for Caterpillar Inc. His mother, named Eleanor Banadinovic, came from a German family ...
CHOPPER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Bryan Brown
Actor | Cocktail
Bryan Brown was born on June 23, 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is an actor and producer, known for Cocktail (1988), Breaker Morant (1980) and Two Hands (1999). He has been married to Rachel Ward since April 16, 1983. They have three children.
TO MANY MOVIES ... SIMPLY NICE MAN
3. Mel Gibson
Actor | Braveheart
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is ...
PAY BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRAVEHEART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. Nicole Kidman
Actress | Moulin Rouge!
Elegant Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were there on educational visas.
Kidman is the daughter of Janelle Ann (Glenny), a nursing instructor, and Antony David Kidman, a biochemist and clinical ...
FAR AND AWAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Russell Crowe
Actor | Les Misérables
Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...
GLADIATOR / CINDERELLA MAN / 3:10 TO YUMA
6. Guy Pearce
Actor | Memento
Guy Edward Pearce was born October 5, 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK to Margaret Anne and Stuart Graham Pearce. His father was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to English and Scottish parents, while Guy's mother is English. Pearce and his family initially traveled to Australia for two years, ...
THE TIME MACHINE / FIRST SNOW / 33 POSTCARDS / LOCKOUT / THE PROPOSITION
7. Hugh Jackman
Actor | Les Misérables
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer and producer. Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as superhero, period, and romance characters. He is best known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film ...
THE PRESTIGE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. Hugo Weaving
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4, 1960 in Nigeria, to English parents Anne (Lennard), a tour guide and teacher, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist. Hugo has an older brother, Simon, and a younger sister, Anna, who both also live and work in Australia. During his early childhood, the ...
PRESCILLA .... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Heath Ledger
Actor | Brokeback Mountain
When hunky, twenty-year-old heart-throb Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a "pretty boy" and an actor of little depth. He spent several years trying desperately to sway this image, but this was a double-edged sword. His work comprised ...
BATMAN .....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10. Joel Edgerton
Actor | The Gift
Joel Edgerton was born on June 23, 1974 in Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia, to Marianne (van Dort) and Michael Edgerton, who is a solicitor and property developer. His brother is filmmaker Nash Edgerton. His mother is a Dutch immigrant. Joel went to Hills Grammar School in the Western Suburbs...
WISH YOU WHERE HERE / WORIOR
11. David Wenham
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
David Wenham is an Australian actor who is known for his portrayals of Faramir from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Friar Carl from the Van Helsing franchise and Dilios from 300. He also acted in Moulin Rouge, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Dark City, Top of the Lake, SeaChange ...
12. David Gulpilil
Actor | Rabbit-Proof Fence
David Gulpilil is a legendary Yolngu actor, a First Nations person of Northern Australia, born around 1953. The local missionaries gave him his birthdate of July 1, 1953, just as they gave him his Christian name David, although he admits he liked that name from the start. His last name, Gulpilil, ...
13. Sam Worthington
Actor | Avatar
Samuel Henry John Worthington was born August 2, 1976 in Surrey, England. His parents, Jeanne (Martyn) and Ronald Worthington, a power plant employee, moved the family to Australia when he was six months old, and raised him and his sister Lucinda in Warnbro, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.
...
NO ONE MOVIE ....BUT IS WELL KNOWN ARROUND
14. Anthony LaPaglia
Actor | Without a Trace
Anthony wanted to be a soccer player but he didn't have the skills so he taught in a school for 10 months until he realized that it wasn't his vocation and then spent some years working in a shoe store before moving to New York where he spent time as a barman and a sprinkler system installer to ...
15. Rod Taylor
Actor | Inglourious Basterds
Suave and handsome Australian actor arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s, and built himself up from a supporting actor into taking the lead in several well-remembered movies. Arguably his most fondly remembered role was that as George (Herbert George Wells), the inventor, in George Pal's spectacular ...
16. Simon Baker
Actor | Margin Call
Simon Baker was first recognized in 1992, when he received Australia's prestigious Logie award for Most Popular New Talent. Upon relocating to Los Angeles with his family, Baker was immediately cast in the Academy Award winning film L.A. Confidential (1997).
17. Chris Hemsworth
Actor | Snow White and the Huntsman
Christopher "Chris" Hemsworth was born on August 11, 1983 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to Leonie Hemsworth (née van Os), an English teacher & Craig Hemsworth, a social-services counselor. His brothers are actors, Liam Hemsworth & Luke Hemsworth; he is of Dutch (from his immigrant maternal ...
18. Cate Blanchett
Actress | Carol
Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten ...
19. Melissa George
Actress | Hunted
The second of four children, Australian actress Melissa George was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1976. The daughter of Pamela, a nurse, and Glenn George, a construction worker, Melissa initially expressed interest in various forms of dance rather than acting. During her childhood, George ...
20. Mia Wasikowska
Actress | Alice in Wonderland
Mia is an Australian actress, born and raised in the country's capital, Canberra. She is the daughter of photographers Marzena Wasikowska and John Reid. Her mother is Polish and her father is an Australian of British ancestry. She has an older sister, Jess, and a younger brother, Kai. At age eight,...
21. Naomi Watts
Actress | Mulholland Dr.
Naomi Ellen Watts was born on September 28, 1968 in Shoreham, England to Myfanwy Edwards "Miv" (Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume/set designer, and Peter Watts (Peter Anthony Watts), Pink Floyd's road manager. Her maternal grandfather was Welsh. Her father died when she was seven and she ...
22. Geoffrey Rush
Actor | The King's Speech
Geoffrey Roy Rush was born on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, to Merle (Bischof), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force. His mother was of German descent and his father had English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. ...
23. Errol Flynn
Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn was born to parents Theodore Flynn, a respected biologist, and Marrelle Young, an adventurous young woman. Young Flynn was a rambunctious child who could be counted on to find trouble. Errol managed to have himself thrown out of every school in which he was enrolled. In his late teens ...
24. Ryan Kwanten
Actor | True Blood
HBO's mega-hit True Blood created by Academy Award winner Alan Ball set the stage for Ryan's talent. For seven seasons he portrayed the fan favorite Jason Stackhouse. Most recently in the film world, Ryan has been discretionary yet fruitful with his choices of project. Working for a second time ...
25. Ben Mendelsohn
Actor | Rogue One
Despite his prominence in Hollywood as a character actor known for playing villains and criminals, Ben Mendelsohn has been a leading man in Australia since starting acting as a teenager.
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Carole Ann (Ferguson), a nurse, and Frederick ...
26. Toni Collette
Actress | The Sixth Sense
Toni Collette is an Academy Award-nominated Australian actress, best known for her roles in The Sixth Sense (1999) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Collette was born Toni Collett (she later added an "e") on November 1, 1972, in Blacktown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is the first of three...
27. Paul Hogan
Actor | Crocodile Dundee
Paul Hogan became a worldwide success with his irresistible comic performance in Crocodile Dundee (1986), which he created and co-wrote. This earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor as well as an Academy Award nomination (for Best Screenplay). The versatile actor got his start in Australian ...
28. Rachel Griffiths
Actress | Six Feet Under
Her mother, Anna Griffiths, is an art consultant. Her uncle is a Jesuit priest. Has two older brothers. One brother, Ben, is a ski instructor. Lived on the Gold Coast, Queensland until age five, then moved to Melbourne. Attended Star of the Sea Catholic Girls' College, did well at school and ...
29. Judy Davis
Actress | Husbands and Wives
Davis was educated at Loreto Convent and the Western Institute of Technology and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1977. She found international success with the role of Adela Quested in A Passage to India (1984). Her performance was nominated an Academy Award for Best...
30. Isla Fisher
Actress | Wedding Crashers
Isla Lang Fisher was born on February 3, 1976 in Muscat, Oman, to Scottish parents Elspeth Reid and Brian Fisher, who worked as a banker for the U.N. She spent her early childhood in Bathgate, Scotland, before moving to Perth, Australia with her family in the early 1980s. From a young age, Isla ...
31. Elle Macpherson
Actress | The Edge
Elle Macpherson was born on March 29, 1964 in Cronulla, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She is a producer and actress, known for The Edge (1997), Batman & Robin (1997) and Friends (1994). She has been married to Jeffrey Soffer since July 2013. She was previously married to Gilles Bensimon.
32. Jack Thompson
Actor | 'Breaker' Morant
Australian actor Jack Thompson was born John Hadley Payne on August 31, 1940 in Manly, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney. Outside of Oz, he is best known for his appearances in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Breaker Morant (1980), The Man from Snowy River (1982), Midnight in the Garden of...
33. Colin Friels
Actor | Darkman
Colin Friels was born on September 25, 1952 in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. He is an actor, known for Darkman (1990), Water Rats (1996) and Malcolm (1986). He has been married to Judy Davis since October 30, 1984. They have two children.
34. Rose Byrne
Actress | Spy
Rose Byrne was born in Balmain, Sydney, Australia. She is the daughter of Jane, a primary school administrator, and Robin Byrne, a semi-retired statistician and market researcher.
She landed her first role in a movie, Dallas Doll (1994), when she was 15 years old.
Since then, Rose has appeared in a ...
35. Noah Taylor
Actor | Almost Famous
Noah George Taylor, the elder of two boys, was born in 1969 in London, England, to Maggie (Miller), a journalist and book editor, and Paul Taylor, a copywriter and journalist. His family lived in both England and New Zealand before returning to his parents' native Australia in 1974. His parents ...
36. Michael Caton
Actor | The Castle
During his illustrious 40-plus year career, Michael Caton has performed in television, theatre and film both here in Australia and abroad. His foray into the world of show business was an auspicious affair. In 1963 in a 60-seat community theatre called The Twelfth Night Theatre, the then 20-...
37. Abbie Cornish
Actress | Bright Star
Abbie Cornish, also known by her rap name Dusk, is an Australian actress and rapper. Following her lead performance in 2004's Somersault, Cornish is best-known for her film roles as the titular heroin addict in the drama Candy (2006), courtier Bess Throckmorton in the historical drama Elizabeth: ...
38. Stephen Curry
Actor | Rogue
Stephen Curry is an Australian comedian and actor who has appeared in many television drama and comedy series, and feature films. Curry was born in Melbourne in 1976. The youngest of five children, he grew up in Deepdene in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Curry was raised Catholic and attended Our ...
39. Gary Sweet
Actor | Police Rescue
Gary Sweet was born on May 22, 1957 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor, known for Police Rescue (1989), Alexandra's Project (2003) and Adoration (2013).
40. David Field
Actor | Shantaram
David Field is known for Shantaram (2022), Preacher (2016) and The Inbetweeners 2 (2014).
Unknown outside of Australia
41. Kate Ritchie
Actress | Home and Away
Kate Ritchie was born on August 14, 1978 in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. She is an actress, known for Home and Away (1988), Underbelly (2008) and Cops LAC (2010). She has been married to Stuart Webb since September 25, 2010. They have one child.
42. Graham Kennedy
Actor | The Club
Born in Melbourne in 1934 Graham Kennedy remains an icon in Australian TV, an accolade earned from his hosting of the long-running In Melbourne Tonight (1957) or IMT on Channel Nine. With his sidekick Bert Newton and aided and abetted by a range of brillant comedians including Joff Allen and a ...
43. John Waters
Actor | Offspring
John Waters is one of Australia's most recognised and respected television, film and theatrical actors. He was born in London, England on December 8 1948, to Scottish actor Russell Waters and wife Barbara. The family, including siblings Philip, Angela, Stephen and Fiona, lived in a rented top floor...
All the Rivers Run !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
44. Sigrid Thornton
Actress | SeaChange
An icon of the Australian screen, Sigrid Thornton has starred in many of the films now regarded as classics of the Australian cinema. They include George Miller's box office hit The Man From Snowy River (Fox Classics), The Lighthorsemen (RKO), directed by Simon Wincer, Slate Wyn And Me (Hemdale) ...
All the Rivers Run !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
45. Jacki Weaver
Actress | Silver Linings Playbook
Jacqueline Ruth Weaver is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. She is known internationally for her performances in Animal Kingdom (2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012), both of which earned her nominations for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Weaver emerged in the ...
46. Wendy Hughes
Actress | Return to Eden
Wendy Hughes was an accomplished actress who had won over 13 major awards. She had been called "one of the world's great actresses" with "the beauty and talent to become an international star". Hughes was born in Melbourne and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She has two children,...
47. Chips Rafferty
Actor | Wake in Fright
Years before Jack Thompson arrived on the scene, Chips Rafferty was regarded by many as the personification of the stereotypically rugged, straightforward and laconic Aussie male. Tall and thin, though not particularly striking in appearance, Rafferty was a tailor-made star for the austere, ...
48. Melissa George
Actress | Hunted
The second of four children, Australian actress Melissa George was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1976. The daughter of Pamela, a nurse, and Glenn George, a construction worker, Melissa initially expressed interest in various forms of dance rather than acting. During her childhood, George ...
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