Colin Friels (b. 1952), actor, arrived in Australia as an adolescent with his Scottish parents, both blue-collar workers. After a stint as a brickie’s labourer in Melbourne, he gained a place at NIDA. He won a lead part in his first film, the powerful drama Monkey Grip (1982), his dark role a contrast to the persona he had established on Play School in 1980. In 1986 he won the AFI award for best actor for the gentle comedy Malcolm; he won the AFI award for best actor in a television drama for Halifax fp in 1995. His many films include Kangaroo (1987), High Tide (1988), the cult classic Dingo (1991), Cosi (1996), five telemovies in the Black Jack series (2003-2007) and The Book of Revelation (2006). He won a best actor Logie in 1997 for his work in Water Rats, in which he starred for three years, and both Helpmann and Mo awards for best actor for his stage work in Copenhagen. Despite serious illness, he acted through the late 1990s; he won the Film Critics’ Circle of Australia best actor award for Tom White in 2004. Over the last decade he has appeared in the films The Eye of the Storm (2011) and Mabo (2012), the television dramas The Secret Daughter (2016-2017) and Mystery Road (2018), and the stage play Faith Healer (2017), directed by his wife, Judy Davis.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the Estate of Stuart Campbell 2012
© Estate of Stuart Campbell
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