| Kym Gyngell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 April 1952 Melbourne, Australia |
| Other names | Kim Gyngell |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1974-present |
| Spouse | Suzanne Dowling |
Kym Gyngell (usually spelled Kim Gyngell) (born Kimberly Gyngell, 15 April 1952 in Melbourne) is an Australian AFI award winning comedian and film, television and stage actor. His second cousin is Nine Network CEO David Gyngell.
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In the late 1980s, he appeared in The Comedy Company and developed several popular characters, a few of which survived beyond The Comedy Company. One of his characters, Col'n Carpenter (who neglects to pronounce the letter 'i' in his name Colin), is a slow Australian with unique speech mannerisms. Col'n went on to have his own sitcom that ran for two seasons, in the early 1990s.
Also in the early 1990s, Gyngell appeared in a series of public service announcements for the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand.
Gyngell was a regular on the popular Australian series Full Frontal during the mid-1990s, where he starred alongside Eric Bana before Bana attained Hollywood fame. His most notable characters included; "Leon" (Art critic who used to show up on talk shows and say the word "Crap"); and as characters sending up Kerry O'Brien (host of the ABC's The 7.30 Report) and John Laws (former 2UE radio broadcaster).
Once he left Full Frontal, he had a few guest roles, including comedies The Micallef Program and Pizza, and on drama's The Secret Life of Us, CrashBurn and Love My Way.
Since 2007, Gyngell played Father Harris on the ABC comedy The Librarians.
In 2008, Gyngell had a role in Underbelly (TV series) for the Nine Network and also in ABC1's comedy Very Small Business.[1]
In 1985, Kyngell starred in his first film – in 1985 – in the film Wills & Burke playing William John Wills. In 1988, he played Ian McKenzie in Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which earned him an AFI award for Best actor. In 1988, he appeared in Bachelor Girl (1988) and in Grievous Bodily Harm. In 1990, he was in What the Moon Saw, and starred in Heaven Tonight which earned him an AFI nomination.
In 2000, he starred in the surprise hit of the year, in the comedy, The Wog Boy playing the Supervisor; In 2002, he played the character of Paul in The Hard Word and as Richard in Blow.
In 2005, he was in The Writer.
Gyngell received an AFI award in 1988 for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" for his role in Boulevard of Broken Dreams which starred John Waters who won the AFI "Best Actor" award; Gyngell was also nominated for his performance in Heaven Tonight (1990).[2] In 2005 Gyngell won the Best Actor award at the St Kilda Film Festival for his role in The Writer.[3]
Gyngell played with various theatre collectives in the early 1970s, such as La Mama, The Pram Factory, Hoopla (the predecessor of the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne). In the late 1970s, he performed with the Sydney Theatre Company. In 2003, Gyngell played Robert in a production of David Auburn's play Proof which toured Australia. In 2008 Gyngell played William in the two-hander Ninety by Joanna Murray-Smith at the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC); the production then toured extensively throughout Australia with Rachel Gordon. Later that year he played Tartuffe in Molière's The Hypocrite at the MTC opposite Marina Prior and Garry McDonald.[4]
Gyngell is married to the screenwriter and actress Suzanne Dowling; they have one daughter. He also has an adult daughter from a previous marriage.
Gyngell played keyboards in the Melbourne band Le Club Foote, who released their only album Cinema Qua in 1984, along with a couple of singles. The album was produced by Colin Hay.[5]