John Howard (Australian actor)

This article is about Australian actor John Howard. For the former Australian Prime Minister, see John Howard.

John Howard (born 22 October 1952^{[citation needed]}) is an Australian stage and screen actor. Howard is best known for his appearances in television series Blue Heelers, SeaChange, Always Greener, All Saints and Packed to the Rafters, as well as his portrayal of The People Eater in the Mad Max franchise.

John Howard
Born	(1952-10-22) 22 October 1952 (age 72) Corowa, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978−present

Career

Film and television

Howard was born in Corowa, New South Wales. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). His first role was in The Club. He appeared in the 1988 film Young Einstein, the 2001 film The Man Who Sued God,^[1] the 2006 film Jindabyne and had a minor supporting role in the 2012 Australian comedy Any Questions for Ben?, along with the 2015 released Australian road film Last Cab to Darwin.^[2] In 2015, he also starred in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road as The People Eater, a role he reprised in 2024 in the film's prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.

Howard is also a television actor and has appeared in a number of Australian programs. He began his career as Bob Scott in Young Ramsay (1979–1980) starred in the children's program The Girl from Tomorrow as the evil Silverthorn, and he has played Frank Reilly in Wildside (1997–1998), Bob Jelly in SeaChange (1998–2000) and John Taylor in Always Greener (2001–2003). He also played Dr. Frank Campion in the Australian medical TV drama All Saints (2004–2009). He had a role in Packed to the Rafters for a season (2010–2011) and the first series of the ABC drama Janet King.

Theatre

Howard served as the associate director of Sydney Theatre Company between 1992 and 1996. He also acted numerous roles in plays including Shrine, Rising Water, Mongrels, The Crucible, Life of Galileo, Dead White Males, and Measure for Measure.^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	My Boys are Good Boys	Grocery Store Owner (uncredited)
1980	The Club	Geoff Hayward
1981	Experiment in Romance		Short film
1983	September '51	Paul	Short film
	Gary's Story	Gary	Short film
	Bush Christmas	Sly
1984	Razorback	Danny
	Strikebound	Bashed Scab
1985	The Club	Geoff	Video (voice)
	Best Enemies	Read
	Wrong World	Extra
1986	My Country	David Silvermen
1987	With Time to Kill	Adam Sayer
1988	Young Einstein	Preston Preston
	Evil Angels	Lyle Morris	(aka A Cry in the Dark)
	Around the World in 80 Ways	Dr. Proctor
1994	The Gap	Waiter	Short film
1996	Tease	Graham	Short film
	Dating the Enemy	Davis
1997	Blackrock	Kirby
1999	In a Savage Land	Reverend Macgregor
2001	The Man Who Sued God	Edward Piggott
2003	Take Away	Burgies CEO
	Japanese Story	Richards
2004	A Man's Gotta Do	Eddy
2006	Jindabyne	Carl
2010	In Silence	Fred	Short film
2012	Any Questions for Ben?	Priest
2014	Grace Under Water	Ken	Short film
	Twisted Minds	Greg Tinley
2015	UnIndian	Mr. Saunders
	1919	The Doctor	Short film
	Last Cab to Darwin	Simmo
	Mad Max: Fury Road	The People Eater
2018	Extra Time	Bill Langham
	The Merger	Bull Barlow
2022	Talk Back		Short film
2024	Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga	The People Eater

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
19??	The Austronauts	Commander Buck Harrington	TV film
1980	Water Under the Bridge	Archie	6 episodes
	Young Ramsay	Bob Scott	2 episodes
1981	Bellamy	Priest	Episode: "Fizz"
	Cop Shop	Edward Whitelaw	2 episodes
	A Town like Alice	Donald Paget	Episode #1.1
1982	The Highest Honor	Captain R.C. Page	TV film
1982–1989	A Country Practice	Hamish Dalton / Julian Cockburn / Sandy McIntosh	6 episodes
1983	Carson's Law	Len Cartwright	2 episodes
	Silent Reach	Peter Mountford	2 episodes
1985	Heart of the High Country	Ginger	6 episodes
1986	Studio 86	Author	Episode: "Restoration Place"
1988	Richmond Hill	Bob Russell	TV series
1991	The Flying Doctors	Mike Stone	Episode: "Father & Son"
1991–1992	The Girl from Tomorrow	Silverthorn	23 episodes
1993	Joh's Jury	Hedley	TV film
1995	G.P.	John Schueler	Episode: "Still Life"
	Blue Heelers	Michael Fielding	Episode: "Out of Harm's Way"
	The Road to Mandalay	Conrad Wolf	TV film
1997–1998	Wildside	Franky Reilly	5 episodes
1998	Pacific Blue	Dwayne Farrell	Episode: "Cruz Control"
	State Coroner	Steve Coombs	Episode: "On Thin Ice"
	Children's Hospital	Len Larkin	Episode: "Home Truths"
	Never Tell Me Never	Uncle Darryl	TV film
1998–2019	SeaChange	Bob Jelly	47 episodes
1999	Water Rats	Sven Larsen	2 episodes
	Heartbreak High	Tony Moss	Episode #7.16
	Flipper	Jack Cawley	Episode: "Lost and Found"
2000	The Games	John Howard	Episode: "Land Claim"
2001	Changi	Ken	Episode: "Gordon's Will"
	Stingers	Robert Lake	Episode: "Family Values"
2001–2003	Always Greener	John Taylor	50 episodes
2001–2009	All Saints	Jonathan Healy / Dr. Frank Campion	232 episodes
2002	Tanya and Floyd	Teddy	TV film
	The Road from Coorain	Angus	TV film
2004	Jessica	Georgie Thomas	Miniseries
2008	The Real Seachange	Narrator	TV series
2010–2012	Packed to the Rafters	Tom Jennings	17 episodes
2011	City Homicide	Alan Sullivan	5 episodes
2014	Janet King	Steven Blakely	2 episodes
2016	Soul Mates	Sarge	4 episodes
2017	The Warriors	Bill Shepard	8 episodes
2019	Get Krack!n	Bill Langham	2 episodes
2021	Bump	Hippy	Episode: "Driftwood"
2024	Colin from Accounts	Brian Crapp	1 episode

Awards

Year	Awards	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1989	ARIA Music Awards	Best Classical Album	Australia Day / Child of Australia (with Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, & Joan Carden)	Nominated	[4]
1991	Sydney Critics Circle Awards	Best Stage Actor		Won	[5]
1992	Variety Club of Australia	Stage Actor Heart Award	N/A	Won	[5]
2001	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Actor in a Series	SeaChange	Won	[6]
2009	Sydney Critics Circle Awards	Best Stage Actor		Won	[5]

Howard was also the recipient of the Centenary Medal, for Service to the Arts and the Community.^[5]