FILMOGRAPHY
2006] Blackjack: A Walk in the Park (TV)
2006] Blackjack: Born Again (TV)
2006] Blackjack: Ghosts (TV)
2005] The Book of Revelation
2005] Solo
2005] Blackjack: Ace Point Game (TV)
2005] Blackjack: In The Money(TV)
2005] The Illustrated Family Doctor
2004] Blackjack: Sweet Science (TV)
2004] The Mystery of Natalie Wood (TV)
2004] Missing Tom
2003] Max's Dreaming
2003] Temptation (TV)
2003] BlackJack (TV)
2002] Black and White
2001] "The Farm" (mini)
2001] My Husband My Killer (TV)
2001] The Man Who Sued God
2001] Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story (TV)
2000] Marriage Acts (TV)
1998] Dark City
1996] Mr. Reliable
1996] Cosi
1995] Back of Beyond
1995] Angel Baby
1994] Halifax f.p: Hard Corps (TV)
1994] A Good Man in Africa
1993] The Nostradamus Kid
1993] "Seven Deadly Sins" (mini)
1993] Stark (TV)
1991] Dingo
1991] Class Action
1990] Weekend with Kate
1990] Darkman
1986] Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train
1988] Grievous Bodily Harm
1987] High Tide
1987] Ground Zero
1986] Kangaroo
1986] Malcolm
1984] The Coolangatta Gold
1983] Buddies
1982] For the Term of His Natural Life (TV)
1982] Monkey Grip
1981] Hoodwink
1981] Prisoners
1980] Big Toys (TV)
LINKS
IMDB
www.geocities.com/colinfriels
Colin Friels
Born 25 September 1952 Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Married to Australian actress Judy Davis since 1984. They have 2 children jack & Charlotte.
Colin is a NIDA graduate. Fellow classmates include: his wife, Judy Davis, as well as Mel Gibson and Dennis Olsen.
Won an Australian Film Institute Best Actor Award for his role in Malcolm
Dad was a builder, Mum a French polisher - both Scottish.
Colin's an AFL fanatic - he barricks for the Sydney Swans.
Left school early on working in factories and as a brickies' labourer.
Theatre credits include: Hamlet; MacBeth; American Buffalo; The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll; Louis Nowra’s The Incorruptible.
30 October 2002 an Australian court ordered Colin to not "assault, harass, or otherwise threaten" his wife, actress Judy Davis, following a domestic disturbance.
Colin on his film career:
"I’ve never been a film actor really. I’ve been in a few (films) but I’ve never done huge parts. I’ve never done anything that I’m particularly proud of.” (1996)
Colin on doing television:
“People attach a certain stigma to doing television. I never have. Actors are actors as far as I’m concerned. I’ve seen some of the worst acting in my live on $89 million budget films, and I’ve seen some wonderful acting on a $100,000 video.”
Colin on Water Rats:
“It was regular work. Something ongoing. Something that you can build up. Look, if this was a play then you’d still be doing your best. It doesn’t make any difference.”
Colin on character acting:
“I hate character acting anyway. Saying that my character wouldn’t do this or wouldn’t do that. Basically, your job is to obey the script and make it work.”
Colin on working on tv:
“The pace of television really keeps you on your toes. The crew is fantastic, they worked so efficiently and it’s totally devoid of any egos. We’re all pretty relaxed with each other. Mind you, there’s such an enormous workload – TV wrings you out and spits you about. There’s no point in making a fuss. It’s more like working in a theatre, and I like that. Films aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. In Australia there’s just not that many, anyway. Mind you, Mr. Reliable was a lot of fun and a lovely film. But getting a gig in Australia is almost impossible, and it’s just the way life goes (as an actor)… you’ve simply got to earn a living. I don’t want to go anywhere else, so you’ve got to work where you can. I love this, it’s like working in my own backyard.”
Colin on film acting:
"I'm a terrible film actor. Robert Duval, he's a great film actor ... but I have always had a certain enormity of lack of talent when it comes to the screen. I quickly realised Hollywood wasn't for me. It suits Judy - she has a true talent for film - but I'm just more comfortable on stage. That could be because of the material, the literary matter that the stage deals with."
Colin on deciding to do acting:
"I was 20 before I first thought, yeah I wouldn't mind doing that (acting). I didn't want to do TV or film either - I'd never seen a bloody play but I thought 'I'll act in a theatre'. So I did, I auditioned for NIDA, was accepted and I loved it."
Colin on what acting gives him:
"I really don't know ... sleepless nights, pimples, rashes, anxiety. But also a deep satisfaction, somehow. It makes you feel more ... human. It's a way of making a connection, I guess."
Colin on having had cancer:
"I take nothing for granted; Sitting here looking at the wind on that water, well that's fantastic. It's the now. You realise some things you previously thought important are no longer so. If anything, it's made me more reflective, more aware of just keeping my feet on the ground. I'm so lucky. I was 45 when I got crook and my life should have been over by 46. I missed dying by a whisker. After they excised the tumour, I had the full course of chemotherapy as insurance. I was never complacent before about my health but I also didn't take particular care. I used to think, well you've got a body, abuse it, you know, knock yourself about, get into the scrum, get into the ruck, get a 'bloody nose and a cracked crown' as Shakespeare said. Now it's most important to see "the smiles on your kids' faces, to deal with the agonies they go through - they've always been treasured but maybe they're more so now. And to not get ahead of yourself or look back - after my operation, I did a special course of Qi Gong which required no drinking, no smoking, no sex, no tea, no coffee for four months. And I had a couple of lapses," he drawls, "and I went pleading excommunication to the master ... and he said, 'Ah you're human, forget it, get on with it.' That's such a good approach, it's no use beating yourself up because you don't reach standards - you just get on with it."
Colin on the future:
"I'm hopeless at planning, worse now than ever. My hope is to keep working as an actor on good things.... no matter how full everything else is in my life, I'll always have that desire to be part of the story, that need perhaps to be singing around the table..."