Bryan Brown

Bryan Brown AM (b. 1947), actor and producer, grew up in Panania in Sydney's western suburbs and began his acting career on stage 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), Winter of Our Dreams (1981) and the mini-series A Town Like Alice before appearing in the US mini-series The Thorn Birds (1983) – which gained him an Emmy, an international profile, and a lifelong partner in co-star Rachel Ward. In 1983 he founded the film and television production company New Town Films, its stated philosophy 'If you own it, they can't tell you that you can't be in it.' Brown's Hollywood heyday began with F/X in 1986 and continued through 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 subsequent Australian films include Dead Heart (1996), 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 return to Hollywood with Along Came Polly, co-starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. He was in Australia (2008) before producing and starring in the New Town Films productions Beautiful Kate (2009) written and directed by Rachel Ward and featuring Ben Mendelsohn, Rachel Griffiths and Sophie Lowe; and Palm Beach (2019), also directed by Ward, with Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi, Jacqueline McKenzie and Richard E Grant. Bankstown's Bryan Brown Theatre is named in his honour.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2013
© Adam Knott