Best Aussie Actors
by LilianLosjo | created - 17 Oct 2013 | updated - 17 Oct 2013 | PublicI list my favorite actors and actresses from down under, Australia and New Zealand :) Feel free to comment
1. 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 ...
2. Karl Urban
Actor | Star Trek
Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Karl Urban now lives in Auckland. Born on June 7, 1972, he is the son of a leather-goods manufacturer (who had hoped that Karl would follow in his footsteps). His first acting role was when he was 8 -- he had a line on a television series. However, he did ...
3. Bridie Carter
Actress | McLeod's Daughters
Bridie Carter was born on December 18th in Melbourne, Australia and is the oldest of three children - she has two younger brothers.
Bridie has been nominated for the TV Week Logie Awards three times. In 2003 she was nominated for a Silver Logie For Most Popular Actress, this award is voted for by ...
4. Alex O'Loughlin
Actor | Hawaii Five-0
The Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin was born in August 1976.
Alex started out his film career in 2004, when he starred in Oyster Farmer (2004) as Jack Flange. The following year, he returned to the big screen as Michael Carter in Feed (2005), a movie that he also co-produced and helped write. Also ...
5. Aaron Jeffery
Actor | McLeod's Daughters
Aaron Jeffery is a New Zealand/Australian actor and voice over artist who was born in 1970 in Auckland New Zealand. Aaron is a NIDA graduate. Jeffery is best known for his roles on Underbelly Files: Chopper (2018), Neighbours (1985), Outrageous Fortune (2005) and for his roles on Australian award ...
6. Travis Fimmel
Actor | Warcraft
Travis Fimmel was born near Echuca, Victoria, Australia, to Jennie, a recreation officer for the disabled, and Chris, a cattle farmer. He was raised on a 5500-acre farm located between Melbourne and Sydney. Until the age of seventeen, his life was spent at school and working on the family farm, ...
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 ...
8. Brett Tucker
Actor | Station 19
Brett Tucker was born on May 21, 1972 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is an actor, known for Station 19 (2018), The Americans (2013) and Arcane (2021).
9. Sam Neill
Actor | Jurassic Park
Sam Neill was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to army parents, an English-born mother, Priscilla Beatrice (Ingham), and a New Zealand-born father, Dermot Neill. His family moved to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. He went to boarding schools and then attended the universities ...
10. Martin Henderson
Actor | Smokin' Aces
Martin Henderson was born in Auckland, New Zealand. He began acting when he was 13, appearing in Strangers (1989), a local television production. He attended Westlake Boys High School and Birkenhead Primary. He first became a star in his home country when he starred in the series Shortland Street, ...
11. 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: ...
12. 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).
13. Peter O'Brien
Actor | X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Peter O'Brien is an Australian actor, best known for his role as an original cast member of the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Shane Ramsay. O'Brien was born in the South Australian town of Murray Bridge, located 76 km south-east of the state capital Adelaide. He started off as a teacher at ...
14. 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.
...
15. Jay Ryan
Actor | It Chapter Two
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Jay made the move across to Australia at the age of 19 to take on the role of Jack Scully in Network Ten's long running series, "Neighbours" and as Seaman Billy 'Spider' Webb in the Nine Network's "Sea Patrol". He has also appeared in "Young Hercules", "Xena: Warrior ...
16. 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...
17. 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 ...
18. Andy Whitfield
Actor | Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Andy Whitfield was born on October 17, 1971 in Amlwch, Anglesey, Wales, UK. He was an actor, known for Spartacus (2010), Gabriel (2007) and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011). He was married to Vashti Whitfield. He died on September 11, 2011 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
19. John Noble
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Artistic Director of Stage Company of South Australia 1977 - 87. Head of Drama, Brent St. School of Arts (Sydney) 1997-00. Directed over 80 plays, including 'Sons of Cain' on London's West End (1986). Freelance actor. Semi-regular in TV series 'All Saints'. Voice and acting teacher.
20. Jesse Spencer
Actor | House M.D.
Jesse Gordon Spencer is an Australian actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1994-2000, 2005, 2022), Dr. Robert Chase on the American medical drama House (2004-2012) and Captain Matthew Casey on the American drama Chicago Fire (...
21. 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 ...
22. Andy Serkis
Actor | War for the Planet of the Apes
English film actor, director and author Andy Serkis is known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for such computer-generated characters as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001-2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), ...
23. 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 ...
24. Anna Torv
Actress | Fringe
Anna Torv (born 7 June 1979) is an Australian actress known for her role as FBI agent Olivia Dunham on the Fox television series Fringe (2008-2013). Torv was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the daughter of Susan (née Carmichael) and Hans Torv, also grew up in Gold Coast, Queensland. Her father is of ...
25. Yvonne Strahovski
Actress | Stateless
Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski was born and raised in Australia. Her parents were Polish immigrants. She attended the Santa Sabina College for her high school education. She then went on to study Performance at the University of Western Sydney's School of Contemporary Arts, graduating in 2003. ...
26. Craig Horner
Actor | See No Evil
Craig Horner was born on January 24, 1983 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He is an actor and producer, known for See No Evil (2006), Legend of the Seeker (2008) and Swimming Upstream (2003).
27. Grant Bowler
Actor | Atlas Shrugged: Part I
Grant Bowler can be seen as the male lead, 'Nolan', in Syfy's Defiance, which returned for its second season, June 2014. Bowler in his recent hiatus shot four movies back-to-back including the psychological action film, "Swelter", alongside Jean Claude Van Damme & Alfred Molina, Sci-Fi thriller "...
28. Charles Mesure
Actor | Street Legal
Charles Mesure was born Wednesday, August 12, 1970, in Somerset, England. When he was five, his family moved to Australia and he grew up in Sydney.
He studied law at Sydney University and was very active in SUDS, the school's dramatic society. He sang tenor in an a capella group called Cinco. After ...
29. Rachael Carpani
Actress | Triangle
Rachael is best known for her role as Jodi Fountain on the much loved Australian series McLeod's Daughters, for which she was nominated at the 2007 TV WEEK Logie Awards for both a 'Silver Logie - Most Popular Actress' and the 'Gold Logie - Most Popular Personality in Television.' Other Australian ...
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