Actors Who Emigrated To Australia
Actors From Other Countries Who Chose To Come To Australia. They may have started their profession before arriving or taken it up after settling here.
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- Abigail became Australia's undisputed number 1 female sex symbol through her role as virginal blonde Bev Houghton in Number 96 (1972). English born Abigail was educated in France. Her mother was a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) of Dutch Burgher/Eurasian ethnicity. Abigail came to Australia in 1971 and played female lead in "There's a Girl in My Soup" in Perth. Moved to Sydney and got noticed in a TV commercial in which she played a Marilyn Monroe type bombshell opposite Phil Silvers. Landed the role of Bev in Number 96. Was an original cast member and one of the most popular stars of the series, though Abigail quickly tired of the monotonous storylines for Bev (she was a shy virgin and the scriptwriters conspired to simply throw her into bed with a series of men) and after several public disagreements with the show's producers left suddenly in June 1973. The role of Bev was hastily recast, with the new actress taking over mid-episode. Abigail was the only major star of the series not to appear in the movie version released in 1974. Abigail had difficulty gaining many serious roles after leaving the series, and appeared in several bit-parts closely following the contours of her sex-symbol image in various sex-comedy films of the mid 1970s. Later appeared in several comedy roles on the stage, played a prim French teacher in school based drama Class of '74 (1974) and a super-efficient secretary in the early episodes of hospital soap The Young Doctors (1976). Was finally lured back to Number 96 in 1976 briefly playing a new character called Eve who was to appear in a proposed spin-off series with Elaine Lee though the new series was never picked-up. Retired from acting and lived on a banana plantation in Queensland. Publicly criticized the increasingly overt sex-scenes and violence featured in the later episodes of Number 96. In 1984 after a long absence from the limelight was cast as comic heroine Caroline Morrell in television soap Sons and Daughters (1982) by producers desperate to revamp the show after the departure of the series most famous character Patricia "Pat the Rat" Hamilton portrayed by Rowena Wallace. Abigail's character was a great success and the show survived a further three years with Caroline quickly becoming one of the central characters. She continued with the series until its demise in 1987. Later appeared in guest roles on TV shows such as the long-running series Neighbours (1985), and was added to the cast of floundering series Chances (1991) in a last ditch attempt to spice up its quickly fading popularity. In return to her sex-comedy roots, Abigail's Chances character was a sex-therapist named Bambi Chute.
- Peter Adams was born on 18 May 1938 in New Zealand. He was an actor, known for Cop Shop (1977), Prisoner (1979) and Mission: Impossible (1988). He was married to Kirsty Child. He died on 13 December 1999 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Alexander Archdale was born on 26 November 1905 in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, British India [now India]. He was an actor, known for His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), The Killing of Angel Street (1981) and The Road (1964). He died on 13 May 1986 in Hornsby, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Queenie Ashton was born on 11 November 1903 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for A Country Practice (1981), The Love Boat (1977) and Certain Women (1973). She was married to John Cover. She died on 21 October 1999 in Carlingford, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Jane Badler, the American and Australian actress best known for her role as the evil reptilian Visitor leader "Diana" in the NBC mini-series V (1983), its sequel V: The Final Battle (1984), the subsequent TV series V (1984), and the last season of the latest series V (2009), was born on the last day of 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. She spent her teen years in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she attended Central High School. Jane won the Miss New Hampshire title and competed at the 1972 Miss America Pageant before going on to study drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
In 1977, Jane gained her first major role on the TV soap opera One Life to Live (1968), where she played "Melinda Cramer Janssen" until 1981, returning briefly to reprise the role in 1983. She also starred on the venerable soap opera The Doctors (1963). Jane's other TV roles included a stint on Falcon Crest (1981) as "Meredith Braxton" from 1986 to 1987 and as "Agent Shannon Reed" for the revival of the series Mission: Impossible (1988), which was shot in Australia. She also guest-starred on many TV series.
Jane relocated to Australia after filming Mission: Impossible (1988) Down Under, marrying businessman Stephen Haines. They have two sons, Sam and Harry. Her Australian TV roles include Cluedo (1992) (the British and Australian name of the board game known as "Clue" in the United States). She also had a guest-starring role in Snowy River: The McGregor Saga (1994). In the 1990s, she launched a stage career and cabaret act, including the one-woman show "The Love Goddess: Rita Hayworth".- Actor
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Helmut Bakaitis is attached to the world of acting in both performing, directing and screen-writing. He was born in Lauban, Silesia, Germany (later became Luban, Poland). He moved to Australia, where he was educated in Sydney at the Fort Street High School. On the steps of the Sydney War Memorial, Helmut participated in a school production of Hamlet as the title character and as such made an incredibly strong impression with his shockingly mature portrayal. Among the numerous television series appearances, films and shorts to his credit, Helmut Bakaitis is best known to most audiences (especially western) for his portrayal as the character known as The Architect in the cult science fiction films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). In both these sequels to the 1999 predecessor The Matrix, Helmut artfully portrays The Architect as an analytical and perhaps emotionless genius who created the virtual world of The Matrix, whose memorable and informative speech in the film at last shed light to the truth behind the Matrix's creation and the purpose of The One, (played by Keanu Reeves as Neo) who must make a choice to save the human race from systematic extinction. In addition to his famed Matrix role, Helmut has appeared also in the movie Happy Feet (2006) before again contributing his talents to several film shorts.- Lyndall Barbour was born on 19 May 1916 in Cairo, Egypt. She was an actress, known for You Can't See Round Corners (1967), You Can't See 'round Corners (1969) and Homicide (1964). She died on 10 October 1986 in Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Tony Bazell was born on 30 October 1914 in Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Adventure in Blackmail (1942), Are You Being Served in Australia? (1980) and The Gentle Sex (1943). He died on 18 March 1986 in Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia.
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Briony Behets was born on 21 July 1951 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Long Weekend (1978), The Trespassers (1976) and Families (1990).- Kurt Beimel was born on 22 June 1909 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for The Magic Boomerang (1965), Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and Dead Easy (1970). He was married to Elisabath Perl Beimel. He died in 1980 in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Nicholas Bell was born on 15 August 1958 in Huddersfield, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1995), Dark City (1998) and I, Frankenstein (2014).
- Tushka Bergen was born in London to opera singer Beverley Bergen, and conductor, Anthony Hose. International in her upbringing and experience, Tushka began her acting career at the age of nine, in a role from the modern opera Australia Fair at the Sydney Opera House, where she was directed to spit watermelon seeds into the audience. This was followed by a major role in the German language film Don Quixote's Children whilst living in West Berlin, then Australian projects Mad Max III, The Place at the Coast, and Outback, as well as her AFI nominated performance in the critically acclaimed Always Afternoon.
After guest roles in many TV shows in Germany, including the renowned show Derrick, followed by the British series Poirot and Bergerac, Tushka was introduced to American audiences as Robert Sean Leonard's love interest in Disney's Swing Kids. Soon after this Tushka caught the attention of audiences and critics alike in Whit Stillman's Barcelona.
After Barcelona, Tushka returned to England to shoot Voices, playing American chanteuse Lily Buxton opposite Jeremy Northam. Then, to her immense delight, Tushka was chosen by Academy Award winning director Michael Caccoyannis (Zorba the Greek) to play "Anya" in his film of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard with Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling and Gerald Butler.
Additional projects include Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring opposite Treat Williams, directed by George Miller, and leads in the Australian feature films Hurrah, Turning April and Horseplay, as well as guest roles in the US including Northern Exposure, Angel and CSI, and as Frasier's girlfriend on... Frasier. - Actor
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Randall Berger grew up in Santa Barbara, California, doing a lot of work with local theatre companies, namely Youth Theatre Productions (1967-72) and Alechama Productions (1972). In 1973, wunderlust got the better of him and he emigrated to Australia at age 19 (Best buddy actor Lance Strauss had emigrated with his family in 1971). Following the course set in his early teens, Randall went into professional theatre, namely music theatre in original Australian casts of Broadway and West End shows. He married in 1977 and settled in Melbourne, beginning a parallel career as a professisonal writer in radio, multimedia and advertising, as well as taking extras work and small roles in local TV productions. In 1983, the first film role of note was as a reporter in the film Phar Lap (1983). As a "portly" character actor and an American, roles were few and far between. While only doing a couple of roles a year, Randall still had the opportunity to share some celluloid with a lot of incredible people, notably James Coburn, Reb Brown, Anthony Hopkins, Ron Leibman, Heather Thomas, Joe Bottoms (an old Santa Barbara chum), Barry Bostwick, John Savage, Steven Berkoff, Art Malik, Noah Taylor, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Laura Brannigan, Peter Graves, Paul Hogan, Cuba Gooding Jr. and so on, not to mention the amazing range of directors and DOPs. The highest profile role is one of the most recent, as violinist Isaac Stern in the 1996 film Shine (1996).- Pat Bishop was born on 13 June 1946 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. She was an actress, known for Don's Party (1976), The Paper Man (1990) and Brides of Christ (1991). She died on 28 March 2000 in Melbourne, Australia.
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Dagmar Bláhová was born on 8 March 1949 in Liberec, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for The Prince and Me (2004), Sons of Steel (1988) and Nexus 2.431 (1994).- Jon Blake was driving home late on December 1, 1986, after the final day's filming of The Lighthorsemen (1987) when his station wagon, swerving to avoid a car stopped on the wrong side of the road with its lights off, struck another vehicle. He sustained permanent brain damage and existed in a locked-in state until his death.
Blake's mother (as his legal guardian) sued the man whose car was stopped on the wrong side of the road on Blake's behalf. On December 5, 1995, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that Blake should be compensated for the loss of potential earnings as a star in the United States. After taking evidence from actors, directors, and film critics who indicated his career could have been as big as Mel Gibson's, the court awarded him $32 million in damages. This was later reduced to $7 million after the defence appealed.
Blake was cared for by his mother Mascot and a team of nurses at his mother's home in Sydney until her death in 2007. Blake's son Dustin then took over as his primary caregiver. They relocated to a house on the New South Wales Central Coast in the months before Blake's death. - Julia Blake was born in 1936 in Bristol, England, UK. She is an actress, known for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Aquamarine (2006) and Innocence (2000). She was previously married to Terry Norris.
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John Bluthal (born 28 March 1929) is a British film and television actor and voice artist, mostly in comedy. He is best known for his work with Spike Milligan, and for his roles in the TV series Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width and The Vicar of Dibley. He has also worked in the United States and Australia, in numerous productions.
He moved to England in 1959 and appeared in Citizen James for BBC television, and in the long-running UK TV series Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width in which he played Manny Cohen, a Jewish tailor in business with an Irishman in London. Also in the early 1960s, he provided the voice for Commander Zero in the television puppet series Fireball XL5. He appeared in the role of Fagin in the musical Oliver! at New Theatre, London. He has made dozens of film and TV shows since moving to England.
Bluthal also worked with Spike Milligan over several years, appearing with him in a 1958 Australian television special, The Gladys Half-Hour. He appeared as several characters in Milligan and John Antrobus' stage play The Bed-Sitting Room, which opened at the Mermaid Theatre on 31 January 1963. He also worked with Milligan on the television series Q and its radio counterpart The Milligna Show. He previously worked with Milligan in the radio comedy series The Idiot Weekly and The Omar Khayyam Show. Bluthal is a man of many voices, like Milligan's former radio colleague Peter Sellers, and he was used somewhat like Sellers in Milligan's later work.
Some of his other television appearances include: the Sykes and a... episode "Sykes and a Bath", broadcast on 25 January 1961, 'Allo 'Allo!, Hancock, Minder, The Saint (TV series) episode "The Happy Suicide", The Avengers, Rumpole of the Bailey, Jonathan Creek, Lovejoy, Bergerac, and Inspector Morse, as well as appearing as Major Cheeseburger in The Goodies' episode "Clown Virus". He also appeared on the Australian comedy/satire series The Mavis Bramston Show and as "Enzo Pacelli" in the ABC-TV comedy television series Home Sweet Home.
Bluthal also appeared as Leonid Krassin in episodes of the Thames TV series Reilly, Ace of Spies.
In 1975, Bluthal took the part of Richard Armitage, described as "an Orthodox London Jew", in The Melting Pot. This was a sitcom written by Spike Milligan and Neil Shand, which was canceled by the BBC after just one episode had been broadcast. Bluthal also appeared as "Chalky", a hospital patient, in the episode "I Gotta Horse" of the comedy television series Doctor Down Under (the Australian series of the British comedy television series Doctor in the House, which also starred Robin Nedwell as Dr. Duncan Waring and Geoffrey Davies as Dr. Dick Stuart-Clark).
His films appearances include: The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), three Carry On films, two of the Doctor films, and also The Beatles' films A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), three roles in Casino Royale (1967), and two of the Pink Panther films. Bluthal also played several characters in The Great McGonagall (1974), by Spike Milligan and Joseph McGrath, based on the life of William McGonagall. He portrayed an Egyptologist in the year 1914 for the first part of the film The Fifth Element (1997) and Uncle Karl in Dark City (1998). He also appeared in the comedy Beware of Greeks Bearing Guns (2000).
His work with the National Theatre London included roles in Tales from Hollywood, Entertaining Strangers, Antony and Cleopatra, Yonaadab, The Tempest, Winters Tale, and Cymbeline.
He appeared in an early episode of One Foot In The Grave. His later television appearances have been in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley as the fastidious minutes-taker Frank Pickle and as the caretaker Rocko in Spirited. He also appeared in the 2004 film Love's Brother and in the 2016 film Hail, Caesar!.- Actress
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Betty Bobbitt was an American-Australian actress, author, singer, playwright and theatre performer. Betty was born in Manhattan, New York in 1939 .
Betty is best known for her role as Judy Bryant in the legendary Australian crime drama Prisoner (1979), where she would stay until her characters exit in 1985. Betty would also make appearances in Blue Heelers (1994), Blue Heelers (1994), Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001), All Saints (1998). Betty would also make an appearance in a 2019 Neighbours (1985) episode celebrating the 40th anniversary of Prisoner, and be present at the 40th Reunion luncheon held in 2019.
After her Prisoner exit Bobbitt would return to the Melbourne Theatre Company and continue her theatre work.
Betty would enter semi-retirement in 2010, and run a novelty store, and in 2011 released her book "From The Outside" detailing her time on the hit show Prisoner.
Bobbitt passed away on 30 November 2020 after suffering a stroke five days prior. She was 81.- Ernie Bourne was born on 1 August 1926 in Shaftesbury, Dorset, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Blue Heelers (1994), Neighbours (1985) and Prisoner (1979). He died on 21 January 2009 in Prahran, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Born in London, Shane Briant topped the Law School at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Nominated by the London theatre critics as "Best Newcomer" in 1971, Briant has appeared in 32 features worldwide, most notably The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), The Naked Civil Servant (1975), The Lighthorsemen (1987), John Huston's The MacKintosh Man (1973) and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981). He is also a novelist, having had five books published in Australia: "The Webber Agenda", "The Chasen Catalyst", "Hitkids", "Bite of the Lotus" and his new best-selling thriller, "Graphic", which came out in 2005. The short film he wrote in 2005, A Message from Fallujah (2005), won "Best in the Fest" at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, and many other awards. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and cats. ([email protected])
- Noel Brophy was born in 1917 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for They're a Weird Mob (1966), Number 96 (1972) and The Rovers (1969). He died on 25 April 1981 in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Chelsea Brown was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA as Lois Brown. She passed away from pneumonia March 28, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.
She was an actress, comedienne, singer and dancer perhaps best known for being the first African-American series regular in the iconic, ground-breaking American TV series Laugh-In. With her big, beautiful smile, she was often the sensible foil to the wackier talents of Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley and Goldie Hawn.
Among her many other film and TV credits are The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) and Dial Hot Line (1970). She was married to actor Vic Rooney until his death .
After Laugh-In she moved to Australia where she lived for many decades and enjoyed a long and successful career in film, TV and the stage. She recorded albums and had a very popular cabaret act in which she toured the world.
Her late husband, Vic Rooney played her husband on the Aussie soap E Street (1989). After her husband's death, she moved back to her hometown of Chicago, Illinois where she had a large, extended family and many friends.- Joan Bruce was born on 29 February 1928 in Surrey, England, UK. She was an actress, known for True Believers (1988), Doctor Down Under (1979) and Certain Women (1973). She died on 26 April 2014 in Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia.