Richard Roxburgh | |
|---|---|
 Roxburgh in 2013 | |
| Born | (1962-01-23)23 January 1962 (age 63) Albury,New South Wales, Australia |
| Education | Australian National University (BEc) National Institute of Dramatic Art (BFA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including severalAFI and AACTA Awards,Logie Awards, andHelpmann Awards.
He began his career working with theSydney Theatre Company. He went on to appear in Australian and international productions such asBaz Luhrmann's filmsMoulin Rouge! (2001) andElvis (2022), theABC seriesRake (2010–2018), and the action filmsMission: Impossible 2 (2000),The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), andVan Helsing (2004).
Richard Roxburgh was born on 23 January 1962. His parents were John, an accountant, and Mary Roxburgh. He grew up inAlbury, New South Wales.[1]
Roxburgh studied economics at theAustralian National University inCanberra,[2][1] where he resided at Garran Hall and graduated with aB.Ec. in 1984.[3][4]
After graduating from ANU, he decided to become an actor and was admitted to theNational Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) on his second audition attempt,[5] graduating in 1986.[1]
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Roxburgh began working with theSydney Theatre Company as soon as he graduated from NIDA,[6] and also worked withBelvoir St Theatre.[1]
He came to public attention for his portrayal ofNew South Wales Police Force detectiveRoger Rogerson in the 1995 television miniseriesBlue Murder. Through the 1990s, he appeared in several Australian film and stage productions including a critically acclaimed turn asHamlet alongsideGeoffrey Rush,Jacqueline McKenzie andDavid Wenham in the 1994Company B production at theBelvoir St Theatre in Sydney. In December 2007, he played the lead character, Roland Henning, who suffered writer's block inMichael Gow's play,Toy Symphony, at the Belvoir St Theatre, winning the2008 Helpmann Award for best male actor in a play.
In 2000, Roxburgh appeared in the first of several international blockbuster films as the main villain's henchman Hugh Stamp in theJohn Woo-directedMission: Impossible 2, which was filmed in Sydney. Also filmed in Sydney wasBaz Luhrmann'sMoulin Rouge! (2001), in which Roxburgh played the Duke of Monroth.
Roxburgh appeared as three iconic characters over the next three years: he playedSherlock Holmes in 2002'sThe Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes's nemesisProfessor Moriarty in 2003'sThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen andCount Dracula in 2004'sVan Helsing. He is one of only two actors to have played all three of these characters, the other beingOrson Welles, who played them in separate radio programs.
Roxburgh directed his first film,Romulus, My Father starringEric Bana, released in 2007. This film won the AFI Award in December 2007 and was nominated for several more. In 2008 and 2009, he played the lead role of Art Watkins in theABC drama seriesEast of Everything.[7]
In July 2010, Roxburgh played former AustralianPrime MinisterBob Hawke in atelemovie based on Hawke's life.[7] He reprised the role in the 2020 episode "Terra Nullius" of the Netflix seriesThe Crown.[8]
In November 2010, Roxburgh co-created and began starring in the critically acclaimedABC1 television comedy-drama seriesRake as the brilliant but self-destructive Sydney criminal barrister Cleaver Greene, a role for which he won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama in 2012. He stars inMatching Jack, which was released in August 2010, andLegend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, released in September 2010.[citation needed]
Returning to the stage, Roxburgh played Vanya oppositeCate Blanchett,Hugo Weaving andJohn Bell in Sydney Theatre Company's 2010 production ofAnton Chekhov'sUncle Vanya.[9] In 2013, he again performed at the STC with Weaving as the protagonists inSamuel Beckett's playWaiting for Godot, Weaving as Vladimir and Roxburgh as Estragon.[10] In 2014, Roxburgh played the title role inEdmond Rostand's 1897 playCyrano de Bergerac at the STC.[11] In 2015, Roxburgh appeared inAndrew Upton's adaptation of Chekhov's playPlatonov, titledThe Present, for the STC. It was directed byJohn Crowley and featured Cate Blanchett,Jacqueline McKenzie,Marshall Napier, andToby Schmitz.[12] That production moved in 2016/17 to theEthel Barrymore Theatre in New York City for theBroadway debut of Roxburgh and the rest of the cast.[13]
In 2023, he appeared inAunty Donna's Coffee Cafe as a parody of his previous role inRake.[14]
In 2024 Roxburgh appeared in theStan seriesProsper, a thriller set in themegachurch community.[15][16]
Roxburgh played the lead role in the feature filmThe Correspondent, as journalistPeter Greste.[17]The Correspondent, directed byKriv Stenders, was screened as the opening film of theAdelaide Film Festival in October 2024,[18] along with the animated featureLesbian Space Princess, in which he was one of the cast ofvoice actors.[19]
In June 2025, Roxburgh was announced by Stan Australia that he was playing former Queensland premierJoh Bjelke-Petersen in the TV documentaryJoh: The Last King of Queensland.[20]
Roxburgh wrote and illustrated the well-received, 240-page children's adventure fiction title,Artie and the Grime Wave, published by Allen & Unwin in October 2016 (ISBN 9781760292140).
Roxburgh metMiranda Otto after meeting on the set ofDoing Time for Patsy Cline in 1997; they were in a relationship until 2000.[1]
He married Italian-born opera singer, actress, blogger, cookbook author, and television cookery show personalitySilvia Colloca in 2004. They met on the set ofVan Helsing, playingCount Dracula and his bride, respectively. They have three children.[21][22]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Riddle of the Stinson | Proud | Television film |
| 1989 | The Saint: Fear in Fun Park | Justin | |
| 1990 | The Paper Man | 'Gracie' Fields | Miniseries |
| 1992 | Tracks of Glory | Hugh Mcintosh | |
| 1993 | Seven Deadly Sins | Gluttony / Mark | |
| Crimebroker | Harrison | Television film | |
| Police Rescue | Tim Warne | 1 episode | |
| 1995 | Halifax f.p. | Sergeant Paul Santos | |
| Blue Murder | Roger Rogerson | Miniseries | |
| 1996 | Twisted Tales | Ben | 1 episode |
| 1997 | The Last of the Ryans | Ronald Ryan | Television film |
| Frontier | Superintendent William Hobbs | ||
| 2001 | Blonde | Mr. R | Television film |
| 2002 | The Road from Coorain | Bill | |
| The Hound of the Baskervilles | Sherlock Holmes | ||
| 2006 | The Silence | Richard Trealoar | |
| 2008–2009 | East of Everything | Art Watkins | |
| 2009 | False Witness | Charles Van Koors | Miniseries |
| 2010 | Hawke | Bob Hawke | Television film |
| 2010–2018 | Rake | Cleaver Greene | Also co-creator and producer |
| 2011 | Ice | Thom Archer | |
| 2015 | Australia: The Story of Us | Narrator | Voice; television docudrama |
| 2017 | Blue Murder: Killer Cop | Roger Rogerson | Miniseries |
| 2019 | The Hunting | Nick | |
| The Pool | Narrator | 1 episode | |
| Catherine the Great | Grigory Orlov | Miniseries | |
| Lovestruck | Nigel Valentine | Television film | |
| 2020 | The Crown | Bob Hawke | Episodes: "Terra Nullius" & "48:1" |
| 2021 | Fires | Duncan Simpson | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | Bali 2002 | Graham Ashton | Miniseries |
| 2023 | Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe | Rake | |
| The PM's Daughter | H.A.N.C. | 3 episodes | |
| 2024 | Prosper | Cal Quinn | 8 episodes |
| 2025 | Joh: Last King of Queensland | Joh Bjelke-Petersen | TV documentary |
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| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Death of a Salesman | Willy Loman | Albury High School |
| 1992 | The Homecoming | ||
| 1994 | That Eye, the Sky | Henry Warburton | Burning House Theatre Company, Sydney &Playhouse, Melbourne |
| Hamlet | Hamlet | Company B atBelvoir St Theatre | |
| 2007–2008 | Toy Symphony | Roland Henning | Belvoir St Theatre |
| 2010 | Uncle Vanya | Vanya | Sydney Theatre Company forBell Shakespeare |
| 2013 | Waiting for Godot | Estragon | Sydney Theatre Company |
| 2014 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | |
| 2015 | The Present | ||
| 2016–2017 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre onBroadway |
Media related toRichard Roxburgh at Wikimedia Commons
