Shane Briant

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Shane Briant (born 17 August 1946 in London, England) is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin. But became a professional actor aged 21 playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana theatre. He currently resides in Sydney, Australia.

[edit] Stage and screen

A year later he played one of the leads in Children of the Wolf, with Sheelagh Cullen and Yvonne Mitchel at London's Apollo Theatre. Briant was subsequently nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' award by the London theatre critics that year for this role. Put under contract at Elstree Film Studios in late 1973, Briant starred in four films; Straight on till Morning, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter and Demons of the Mind. He also appeared in television series such as Van der Valk, The Sweeney as well as Jack Gold's The Naked Civil Servant with John Hurt. During this time Briant appeared in countless B.B.C drama series and Plays of the Month, most notably Warris Hussein's Notorious Woman opposite Rosemany Harris, Geoerge Chakiris and Jeremy Irons. In 1974, in Hollywood, he played the name role in Glenn Jordan's The Pictutre of Dorian Gray a two part Movie of the Week for America's A.B.C. network. Other later film and television credits include John Huston's The Mackintosh Man with Paul Newman; guest starring in Jeffrey Bloom's Veronica Clare; playing Jack Palance's son in the film Hawk the Slayer, starring in David Wolper's Murder is Easy with Olivia de Havilland, and Just Jaekin's Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Since the early 1980s, the bulk, but not all, of Briant's acting work has been in Australian and New Zealand films and television. He has starred in 14 films in Australia and New Zealand, including Simon Wincer's The Lighthorsemen, Shaker Run, Chamelian 3, Grievous Body Harm, and Cassandra. His TV credits include: Anzacs, The Flying Doctors, Bodysurfer, Darlings of the Gods, The Man from Snowy River, Wildside, Murder Call, the European co-production Mission Top Secret, All Saints and the American sci-fi series Farscape and Time Trax.

[edit] Writing and art

Briant has had five novels published in Australia; The Webber Agenda, The Chasen Catalyst, Hitkids, Bite of the Lotus and Graphic, and has had exhibitions of his art works hung in Sydney.

The first short film he wrote, A Message from Fallujah won the "Best of the Fest" award at the 2005 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and was in the final mix of ten shorts for consideration for an Academy Award that year.