Wayne Blair | |
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| Born | 28 November 1971 Taree, New South Wales, Australia |
| Alma mater | CQ University |
| Occupation | Television and film director, writer, actor |
| Website | wayneblair |
Wayne Blair (born 28 November 1971) is an Australian writer, actor and director. He was on both sides of the camera in Redfern Now . He is also the director of the feature film The Sapphires .
Blair was born in Taree, New South Wales, to Julie and Bob Blair and has two older sisters, Janet and Mandy. He is an Aboriginal Australian and, although he was born in Taree, he describes himself as a Batjala, Mununjali, Wakkawakka man. [1]
As Blair's father was a soldier the family moved around. While Blair was still young, his father was posted to Woodside in South Australia. When he was a teenager, Blair's family were sent to Rockhampton. In Rockhampton he excelled at cricket and rugby, then later became interested in acting and dancing at school. Blair had a job as a tour guide at Rockhampton's Dreamtime Cultural Centre, where he was also one of the dancers. He went on to do a marketing degree at Central Queensland University, though his elective subjects included comic drama and Australian drama. He briefly went to Sydney to play rugby league for the Canterbury Bulldogs under-21s. [2] After a failed audition for NIDA in 1992, he eventually did a three-year course at the Queensland University of Technology in acting. [3]
Blair's first recorded on-screen appearance was in a 1997 Australian TV film called The Tower. The following year he appeared on All Saints and Wildside . He has also appeared in Water Rats and Fireflies . 1998 was also the year he was one of the first four film makers to be mentored under the Metro Screen Indigenous Mentor Scheme for which he made a short film called Fade 2 Black. Ten years later he was to become a mentor himself under the same scheme. [4]
Blair starred in the original stage production of Tony Briggs's play, The Sapphires in 2005. [5] This play was later turned into a filmscript to be directed by Blair.
In 2007 he starred as Othello for Bell Shakespeare, a show that toured Australia with stops at Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra as well as other cities. He also directed three episodes of Lockie Leonard with a further four in 2010.
In 2008 Blair directed all thirteen episodes of the Australian children's TV series Double Trouble , about twin Indigenous girls separated at birth. In 2009 he wrote an episode of the second season of The Circuit . 2010 saw Blair direct four episodes of the Australian-British children's supernatural comedy TV series, Dead Gorgeous. He directed British-Jamaican Debbie Tucker Green's play Dirty Butterfly and co-directed the biographical play, Namatjira, with Scott Rankin who also wrote the play, both plays at Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre . [6] He was also chosen in the same year as one of the stars of the Sydney Theatre Company's revival of Sam Shepard's True West , directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman. [7]
Wayne Blair was awarded the Bob Maza Fellowship for 2011 by Screen Australia to provide opportunities for career development. [8] 2012 was a big year which saw the making of his hit film, The Sapphires, which brought him recognition around the world with a very positive response at Cannes. [2] Later in the year he starred in three episodes of the ABC's TV drama series, Redfern Now and directed another of the episodes. To finish the year Blair was included in Variety Magazine's top ten directors to watch in 2013. [9]
| Year | Title | Credit | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra | Director | ||
| 2020 | Rams | Lionel | ||
| 2019 | Top End Wedding | Director | ||
| 2018 | Emu Runner | Jay Jay | ||
| 2015 | Septembers of Shiraz | Director | ||
| Nulla Nulla | Black Cop | Short film | ||
| 2013 | Notes | Thanks | Short film | |
| The Turning | Max | |||
| 2012 | The Sapphires | Director | ||
| Wish You Were Here | Willis | |||
| 2011 | X: Night of Vengeance | Bob | ||
| The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg | ||||
| 2009 | Blessed | James Parker | ||
| Ralph | Writer | Short film | ||
| 2005 | The Djarn Djarns | Director and Writer | Wayne the Compare | |
| 2002 | Black Talk | Director | ||
| 2001 | Mullet | James | ||
| Year | Title | Credit | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Aftertaste | Brett | ABC Series | |
| 2020 | Mystery Road – Series 2, Season 2, 3, 4 | Director | ABC Series | |
| 2018 | Mystery Road – Series 1 | Larry Dime | ABC Series | |
| 2017 | The Letdown | Father Whyman | ABC Series | |
| Dirty Dancing | Director | Television film | ||
| 2013 | The Broken Shore | Bobby Walshe | TV Movie | |
| The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting | Director | 3 episodes | ||
| The Gods of Wheat Street | Mini-series 2 episodes | |||
| 2012–2013 | Redfern Now | Director and Writer | Aaron Davis | Directed 2 episodes Wrote 1 episode Acted in 5 episodes |
| 2010 | Dead Gorgeous | Director | 4 episodes | |
| 2009 | The Circuit | Writer | Mini-series 1 episode | |
| 2008 | Double Trouble | Director | 13 episodes | |
| 2007–2010 | Lockie Leonard | Director and Writer | Directed 8 episodes Wrote 1 episode | |
| 2007 | Jackie Jackie | Koori Salesman | TV Movie | |
| 2006 | Small Claims: The Reunion | Det. Lacey | ||
| 2004 | Small Claims | Det. Snr. Const. Lacey | ||
| Fireflies | Wayne Patterson | Season 1, Episode 5 | ||
| 2000 | Water Rats | Ridley Winter | Season 5, Episode 25 | |
| 1998 | Wildside | Wes | Season 1, Episode 34 | |
| All Saints | Kenny Baxter | Season 1, Episode 21 | ||
| 1997 | The Tower | DJ Dan | TV Movie | |
Deborah Jane Mailman, is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman played the character Kelly Lewis on the Australian television series, The Secret Life of Us, and Cherie Butterfield in the Australian comedy/drama series Offspring. She portrayed the role of Lorraine in the Australian TV series Redfern Now, and Aunt Linda in the television program Cleverman. Mailman is currently the main character in the Australian TV series Total Control.
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Ernest Ashley Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter, comedian, teacher and promoter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia. He is a designated Australian National Living Treasure. He collaborated with Richard Walley to create the first public performance of the "Welcome to Country" ceremony in Perth in 1976.
Tom E. Lewis was an Australian actor and musician. He was an Indigenous Australian from the Murrungun people. His first major role was the title role in the 1978 Fred Schepisi film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.
Aaron Pedersen is an Australian television and film actor of Arrernte and Arabana Australian Aboriginal descent.
The Djarn Djarns is a 2005 Australian short film, written and directed by Wayne Blair.
The National Black Theatre was a theatre company run by a small group of Aboriginal people based in the Sydney suburb of Redfern and which operated from 1972 to 1977. The original concept for the theatre grew out of political struggles, especially the land rights demonstrations which at the time were being organised by the Black Moratorium Committee. The centre held workshops in modern dancing, tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate and photography, and provided a venue for new Aboriginal drama. It also ran drama classes under Brian Syron who conducted the first of a planned series of six-week full-time workshops for his students who included Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris. These people went on to become known in the Aboriginal community for their work in the Australian theatre and film industries.
Brian Syron was a human rights defender, teacher, actor, writer, stage director and Australia's first Indigenous feature film director, who has been recognised as the first First Nations feature film director.
Robert Lewis Maza, known as Bob Maza, was an Australian actor and playwright.
Ursula Yovich is an Australian actress and singer.
Gerard Lee is an Australian novelist, screenwriter, and director.
The Sapphires is a 2012 Australian musical comedy-drama film based on the 2004 stage play of the same name, which is loosely based on a true story. The film is directed by Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs, the latter of whom wrote the play.
Redfern Now is an Australian drama television series, that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. The program follows the lives of 6 Aboriginal Australian families living in the urban hub of Redfern, Sydney. The series provides insight into contemporary issues facing Aboriginal Australians, including lack of employment and mental illness, which are positioned as direct ramifications of colonialisation and the Stolen Generations. Produced by Blackfella Films as part of the ABC’s Indigenous Department, the show is the first series to be ‘commissioned, written, acted and produced by Indigenous Australians’. The series’ release contributes to widespread public debate surrounding Indigenous representation in the Australian media.
Kelton Pell is an Aboriginal Australian (Noongar) stage, TV and film actor, perhaps best known for his role as the court liaison officer, Sam Wallan in the SBS legal drama The Circuit set in north-western Australia. Pell is from Western Australia.
Shari Sebbens is an Australian Aboriginal actress and stage director, known for her debut film role in The Sapphires (2012), as well as many stage and television performances. As of 2021 she is a resident director of the Sydney Theatre Company.
Meyne Wyatt is an Australian actor. Wyatt graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2010 and appeared in several theatre productions around the country. For his performance in Silent Disco, Wyatt was named Best Newcomer at the 2011 Sydney Theatre Awards. In 2012, he played a supporting role in the musical comedy film The Sapphires and also made his debut with the Bell Shakespeare company. The following year, Wyatt appeared in The Broken Shore and The Turning. His appearance in the second season of Redfern Now earned him nominations for Most Outstanding Newcomer at the 2014 Logie Awards and Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama at the 3rd AACTA Awards. From 2014 to 2016, Wyatt played the ongoing role of Nate Kinski in Neighbours.
Miranda Tapsell is an Aboriginal Australian actress of both stage and screen, best known for her role as Cynthia in the Wayne Blair film The Sapphires and her award-winning 2015 performance as Martha Tennant in the Nine Network drama series Love Child. In 2016, she portrayed Fatima in the Stan series Wolf Creek.
Hunter Djali Yumunu Page-Lochard is an Australian actor of both Aboriginal Australian and African-American descent. Page-Lochard is best known for his roles in The Sapphires (2012), Around the Block (2013) and The Djarn Djarns (2005). As of 2016, he stars as Koen West in ABC's sci-fi drama series, Cleverman.
NSW Koori Rugby League Knockout Carnival is one of the biggest Indigenous gatherings in Australia. The very first knockout was held at Camdenville Oval, St Peters, on the October long weekend of 1971 with eight participating teams. The winning teams gains the right to hold the next knockout. Organisers created the knockout as an alternative more accessible to Indigenous players than the state rugby league.
The Dreamtime Cultural Centre is an Indigenous cultural arts and education centre in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.
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