Bryan Brown

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For the Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, see Bryan D. Brown.
Bryan Brown
Born 23 June 1947 (1947-06-23) (age 62)
Sydney, New South Wales,
Australia
Occupation actor, director, producer
Years active 1977 – present
Spouse(s) Rachel Ward (1983–)

Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Brown was born in Sydney, the son of Molly Brown, a house cleaner and pianist, and a salesperson father.[1] He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown. Brown began working at AMP as an actuarial student and started to act in amateur theatre performances.[2] There he discovered his passion for acting.

[edit] Career

In 1964, Brown went to England, eventually winning minor roles at the Old Vic, and later returned to Australia where he became a member of the Genesian Theatre (Sydney), appearing in Colleen Clifford's production of 'A Man for All Seasons', and later joined the Queensland Theatre Company. He made his first appearance in cinema in 1977, with a small role in The Love Letters From Teralba Road. During the next two years he played in several more Australian films.

In 1980, Brown became known to the international audiences for his performance in Breaker Morant. Although he went on playing roles in Australian productions for several years more, he appeared also in American TV mini-series, after winning popularity in the United States in A Town Like Alice (1981). For The Thorn Birds (1983), starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward, he was nominated for an Emmy. Several years later he starred in several films which had international success, like Tai-Pan, with Joan Chen, Gorillas in the Mist, with Sigourney Weaver, and Cocktail, with Tom Cruise.

In the 1990s and more recently, Brown went on appearing in American and Australian TV productions and occasionally also in movies. He has also appeared in British TV commercials.

[edit] Production work

Brown's production company made the series Twisted Tales and Two Twisted; both are similar to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The second series had an additional twist in that both stories in each episode were connected in some way and the audience had to try and spot how.

[edit] Acting approach

He is one of the rare Australian actors who regularly gets to play parts of Australians and almost always retains his accent for the role. In fact, Tai-Pan is the only film in which he does not play an Australian. (Also, his role in the TV series Against the Wind called for an Irish accent.)

[edit] Honours

In June 2005, Brown was made a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to the community through a range of charitable organisations committed to providing assistance and support to families and young people and to the Australian film and television industry."[3]

[edit] Personal life

Brown has been married to actress Rachel Ward since 1983. He met her while shooting the TV miniseries The Thorn Birds in the same year. Rachel and Bryan have three children, Rosie, Matilda and Joe.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Television

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bryan Brown Biography (1947?-) - Film Reference
  2. ^ Brown, Bryan (7 February 2005). "Opening speech: Bryan Brown". Art Gallery of New South Wales. http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/artexpress1/2005/opening_speech. Retrieved on 30 December 2008. 
  3. ^ "It's an Honour website". Australian Government. http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=1135919&search_type=quick&showInd=true. Retrieved on 29 March 2008. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Brown"
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