John Howard | Actor |
John Howard (born 22 October 1952 in Corowa, New South Wales) is an Australian stage and screen actor.
He is best known for his appearances in the film The Club, the Australian comedy film, The Crop and the television series SeaChange and Always Greener. He currently plays the regular role of Dr. Frank Campion in the Australian medical TV drama, All Saints. Overseas, he is best known as the villain Silverthorn from the The Girl From Tomorrow tv series, and as the villain Preston Preston in the film Young Einstein.
Early in his career, he decided (partly in response to a recognised tendency for successful Australian actors to end up in England or the US) that he would only appear in Australian productions.
After a different John Howard was elected Prime Minister of Australia in 1996, jokes about the coincidence entered Australian comedy - notably in an episode of the satirical television series The Games in which the organisers of the Sydney Olympics hired the actor (played by himself) to stand in for the Prime Minister, figuring that the foreign dignitaries wouldnt know the difference.
John Howard the actor, playing himself but identifying himself only as "John Howard", said "Sorry"to Indigenous Australians for their treatment at the hands of the English settlers and their descendants, through to the present day. This was a direct comment on the repeated refusal by Prime Minister John Howard to make such an apology on behalf of the Government of Australia.
Since this joke he has appeared at many rallies opposing former Prime Minister John Howards involvement in the Iraq War.
He appeared on the Australian "news channel"CNNNN (a mock 24 hour news channel comedy series) as a guest to also discuss the Iraq war, being criticised by the presenter, who apparently cant tell that hes not John Howard the Prime Minister.
He is also the subject of the song John Howard The Actor (an opening in protest) by Ross McLennan, ex-frontman of the band Snout, featuring the lyrics: My sympathies go out/Go out to John Howard the actor/His nomenclature/Messed up under historys tractor.
Mini Biography
John Howard grew up in Warrawee, NSW Australia and went to Knox Grammar School. He has a sister, Jan, and is married to Kim Lewis, and has a daughter, born in 1996, and a son from a previous marriage.
John Howard dropped out of medicine and law at university. He graduated in 1978 from NIDA with Penny Cook, Robert Grubb. He played leading roles from 1981 to 1994 in various plays, and won a Critics Circle award in 1992 for "The Crucible"and "Mongrels". He was nominated for an AFI award for "Johs Jury".
He was the Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company from 1992 to 1995 and launched the Australian Peoples Theatre (associated with the Sydney Theatre Company). He is most famous for "SeaChange"(1998).
He attended the acting conservatory of the State University of New York at Purchase (SUNY Purchase).
He lowered his age, on his agents advice, to work in The Club (1980).
He attended the same high school as Australian actors Adam Garcia, Hugh Jackman, Andrew Johnston, Reg Livermore, Peter Mochrie, Hugo Weaving, writer Stuart Beattie and radio host John Laws.
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ John Howard | Actor
➼ www.imdb.com - John Howard
➼ www.abc.net.au - Text of John Howard's Apology on 'The Games'
Update Page
