Jeremy Kewley

Jeremy Leo Kewley (born 16 August 1960) is an Australian actor, based in Melbourne, who made his professional acting debut at the age of 14 in the feature film "The Devil's Playground".

Biography

Early life

Born in 1960 to Melbourne lawyers Brian and Gretchen Kewley, he is the second of their three children. His older brother James is a barrister, and his younger sister Jodie is a published author.

While still attending school at Melbourne's Haileybury College, Kewley was discovered by Fred Schepisi and cast in "The Devil's Playground" and went on to teenage roles in films such as "Mad Dog Morgan", opposite Dennis Hopper, and "The Getting of Wisdom", as well as television series including "Bellbird", "The Sullivans" and "Twenty Good Years". He moved to Sydney to star in the ill-fated "Arcade" (1980), the highly publicized television series in which he played teen heartthrob Robbie Stewart. It was a critical and commercial failure but it gained Kewley a following, and led to a succession of roles both on television and on stage, particularly in comedy.

Acting career

Kewley went on to appear in numerous Australian television series including "The Henderson Kids II", "Prisoner", "The Young Doctors", "Thunderstone", "Cop Shop", "The Man From Snowy River", "SeaChange", "The Secret Life Of Us" and "Neighbours" where he played Dr Adrian Ewart during 1995.

From 1994 to 1995 he appeared in the critically acclaimed ABC-TV drama series "Janus" (1995 Logie Award Winner for Best Drama Series and Best Actor) where he played the lead role of Crown Prosecutor Vic Manoulis.

In 1997 he began playing the recurring role of local Mount Thomas journalist Tony Timms in "Blue Heelers" until the series ended in 2006.

And from 2000 to 2004 he played Detective Senior Sergeant Bryan Gray in the Nine Network's undercover police series "Stingers" (Best Drama Series - 2004 AFI Awards). In 2007 he appeared as Frank Parry QC opposite Jack Thompson and Colin Friels in the ABC-TV mini-series "Bastard Boys," and began playing the recurring role of Adam Gardiner in the Nine Network’s outback drama "McLeod's Daughters".

He has starred in motion pictures including "Amy" (1998) opposite Rachel Griffiths, "Disappearance" (2001) a mystery thriller set in Nevada, in which he starred opposite Harry Hamlin and Susan Dey, and "The X Team" (2003) a snow-bound action adventure shot in the New Zealand Alps for Touchstone Pictures and Mandalay Pictures.

Television comedy

For the Seven Network he appeared in the situation comedy series "Bligh" and "Wedlocked;" for ABC-TV he was a regular in "The Gerry Connolly Show" sketch comedy series; made a number of appearances on "Backberner;" played one of the leads in the 1996 sit-com pilot "Darling!" and guest starred in episodes of "The Adventures of Lano and Woodley", "Pig's Breakfast", and the 2006 Hamish and Andy mock-current affairs series "Real Stories."

In 2008 he had recurring roles in the ABC-TV sit-com "Very Small Business" and the Australian version of the Disney Channel's "As The Bell Rings", and starred in the eight-part comedy series "Whatever Happened To That Guy?" for "The Comedy Channel" on "Foxtel".

Audience warm-ups

One of only a handful of television ‘audience warm-up comedians’ working in Australia, Kewley has worked on dozens of classic Australian television shows from "Young Talent Time" and "Candid Camera on Australia" to "Australia's Brainiest Kid" and "National Bingo Night".

He has been the 'warm-up comedian' for the AFL version of "The Footy Show" every week since it began in 1994, and as well as the weekly studio-based shows produced out of GTV 9 in Melbourne, he has also been part of all "The Footy Show" broadcasts live from Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and Sydney; the annual "Grand Final" specials in front of 13,000 people at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena; the high-rating shows broadcast live from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London in 2001 and 2005; and "The Footy Show World Cup Spectacular", broadcast live from the classic Prinzregententheater in Munich, Germany, in 2006.

Over the years he has also been the audience warm-up comedian for shows including "The X Factor," "1 vs. 100," "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?," "Backberner," "Unreal TV," "Quiz Master," "Australia's Brainiest Celebrity Specials," "In Melbourne Tonight," "Comedy Inc," "Difference Of Opinion" and "Temptation."

He also hosted pilots for his own television game shows including "Punchlines" (Seven Network), "Pro-Am Quiz" (Nine Network) and "Run For The Money" (Network Ten).

Theatre restaurants

Every week for 23 years Kewley performed live comedy at some of Melbourne's leading theatre restaurants.

Kewley spent seven years at Nero's Fiddle Theatre Restaurant (1984-1990), five years at French Nickers Theatre Restaurant (1991-1995) and ten years at Hunchbax Theatre Restaurant (1996-2006) performing in shows which he also wrote and directed. He created numerous shows at Hunchbax, including "Good Will Humping", "Forrest Hump", "Bravehump", "Raiders Of The Lost Hump", "Dude, Where's My Hump?, "The Spy Who Humped Me", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Humpy", "The Full Humpy" and "Hump-erectomy," many of which were choreographed by Jodie Greenwood.

Producer

In 1986 he wrote and produced the short thriller "The Lake," and produced and co-directed the comedy "The Skateboard Saga" (1987) which won the 1987 Film Victoria Trophy; was named Best Short Film at the 1987 Melbourne International Film Festival; won Best Film at the 1987 Ten Best On 8 Film Festival. With his co-director and co-producer Don Percy, he took the film to Cannes and New York, and sold it to "New World Pictures" in Los Angeles.

He has produced over 200 television commercials and from 1989 to 1991 he was one of the writers and presenters and Associate Producer of Network Ten's "Candid Camera On Australia" and TVNZ's "Candid Camera On New Zealand. "

In 2003 he wrote, directed and appeared in the short comedy film "Image Is Everything," shot as part of the Celebrity Film-maker Challenge for the Newcastle Shoot Out in NSW.

In 2000 he produced "" for ABC-TV, a one hour documentary that detailed the life and times of George Wallace - Australia's great vaudeville performer and first comedy "movie star". [cite web | year = 2000 | url = http://www.abc.net.au/documentaries/programs/2000/funnybygeorge.htm | title = Funny By George - The George Wallace story | work = ABC TV documentaries | publisher = Australian Broadcasting Corporation | accessdate = 2007-11-14]

In 2001 he co-wrote and produced "Young Talent Time Tells All," which became one of the highest rating Network Ten programs of the year, and in 2003 he created and co-produced a three hour "special edition" DVD titled ' for Universal Pictures. He then researched and produced ' (Volumes 1,2 & 3) for release on DVD through Umbrella Entertainment in 2008.

References

External links

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