| John Howard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 October 1952 Corowa, New South Wales, Australia |
John Howard (born 22 October 1952 in Corowa, New South Wales) is an Australian stage and screen actor. Howard is best known for his appearances in the film The Club, and the television series SeaChange, Always Greener, All Saints and Packed To The Rafters. Howard is married to Kim Lewis (who is famous for her role on Sons and Daughters), and has a child with her.
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Howard's first role was in 1978's My Boys Are Good Boys, in a minor role. His next film had him gain high recognition in the industry - starring in the popular film The Club. He then went on to play the villain 'Preston Preston' in the 1988 film Young Einstein.
John Howard is also a well known television actor and has appeared in a number of Australian programs. He played Frank Reilly in Wildside (1997–1998), he portrayed Bob Jelly in SeaChange (1998–2000), Ken in Changi (2001) and he played John Taylor in Always Greener (2001–2003). John Howard also had the regular role of Dr. Frank Campion in the Australian medical TV drama, All Saints which finished in October 2009. Overseas, he is best known as the villain Silverthorn from the early 1990s Australian children's programs The Girl From Tomorrow and Tomorrow's End: The Girl From Tomorrow Part II. He has also appeared in David Williamson's play, Dead White Males in the lead role of Dr Grant Swain.
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.
In 2010, he appeared in the Seven Network's hit TV series Packed to the Rafters playing Dave Rafter's father, Tom Jennings.
He will continue to work with the Seven Network in 2011, also starring in City Homicide's mini-series titled "No Greater Honour" while continuing working on Packed to the Rafters.
In 2011 John Howard appeared in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of the Tim Winton play Rising Water.
After the politician 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. Often characters in The Games had the same names as the actors playing them - Howard's episode mocked the Sydney Olympics when staff hired the actor (played by himself) as a stand in for the Prime Minister, as they supposed foreign dignitaries would not know the difference.
John Howard the actor, identifying himself only as "John Howard", said "Sorry" to Indigenous Australians for their treatment by English settlers and their descendants. This was a direct comment on the repeated refusal of the then Prime Minister to make an apology on behalf of the Government of Australia.
The actor also appeared on the Australian "news channel" television show CNNNN (a mock 24 hour news channel comedy series created and performed by The Chaser) as a guest to discuss the Iraq war, being criticised by a presenter confusing him with John Howard the Prime Minister.
He is 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 history's tractor.[1]