Bryan Brown AM (b. 1947), actor and producer, worked as an insurance salesman before doing theatre in Australia and London. His first Australian film appearance came in The Love-Letters From Teralba Road (1977). He was in Newsfront (1977), Breaker Morant (1980) and Winter of Our Dreams (1981) before appearing in the US mini-series The Thorn Birds (1983) – which won him an Emmy, an international profile, and the hand of co-star Rachel Ward. He made Give My Regards to Broad Street (1985) with Paul McCartney before embarking on his Hollywood heyday: F/X (1986), Tai-Pan (1986), Cocktail (1988) with Tom Cruise, Gorillas in the Mist (1988) with Sigourney Weaver, and FX 2 (1991). In 1990 he was back in Australia for Blood Oath. His recent Australian films include Dead Heart (1996), which he also produced; Two Hands (1998), Risk (2000), Mullet (2001) and Dirty Deeds (2002). As well as starring in various made-for-television movies and series, in 2004 he made a Hollywood comeback in Along Came Polly, co-starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston; he was in Australia (2008) before producing and starring in Beautiful Kate, written and directed by Rachel Ward.
