John Howard

Acting

John Howard

Born 1952-10-22 · Corowa, New South Wales, Australia

Has a sister, Jan. Grew up in Warrawee, NSW Australia and went to Knox Grammar School. Dropped out of medicine and law at university. Graduated in 1978 from NIDA with Penny Cook, Robert Grubb. Played leading roles from 1981 to 2012 in various plays. Won a Critics Circle award in 1992 for "The Crucible" and "Mongrels". Twice won Variety Entertainer of the Year (1992,2006). Nominated for an AFI award for "Joh's Jury" and nine times since.Silver logie winner for "Seachange" (2001) . Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company from 1992 to 1995. Launched the Australian People's Theatre (associated with the Sydney Theatre Company). Has a daughter born in 1996 and a son from a previous marriage. He is most famous for SeaChange (1998) and All Saints (2008). Ambassador for Variety (The Children's Charity) and Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation ( AMDF ).

Acting credits

Mad Max: Fury Road poster
7.6

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order.

Mad Max: Fury Road

2015

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga poster
7.4

As the world falls, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers into the hands of a great biker horde led by the warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the wasteland, they encounter the citadel presided over by Immortan Joe. The two tyrants wage war for dominance, and Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

2024

Evil Angels poster
6.8

Based on the true story of Lindy Chamberlain who, during a family camping trip to Ayers Rock in central Australia, claimed she witnessed a dingo take her baby daughter, Azaria, from their tent. Azaria's body was never found and, after investigations and two public inquests, she is charged with murder.

Evil Angels

1988

Jindabyne poster
5.4

Outside the Australian town of Jindabyne, local man Stuart Kane is on a fishing trip with friends when they discover the body of a murdered girl.

Jindabyne

2006

Capone poster
5.9

Young Al Capone catches the eye of Johnny Torrio, a criminal visiting New York from Chicago. Torrio invites Capone to move to Illinois to help run his Prohibition-era alcohol sales operation. Capone rises through the ranks of Torrio's gang and eventually takes over. On top, he works to consolidate his power by eliminating his enemies, fixing elections to his advantage and getting rich. In his spare time, Capone courts the principled Iris Crawford.

Capone

1975

Young Einstein poster
5.2

Albert Einstein is the son of a Tasmanian apple farmer, who discovers the secret of splitting the beer atom to put the bubbles back into beer. When Albert travels to Sydney to patent his invention he meets beatuiful French scientist Marie Curie, as well as several unscrupulous types who try to take advantage of the naive genius and his invention.

Young Einstein

1988

Razorback poster
5.9

In the Australian outback a vicious wild boar kills and causes havoc to a small community.

Razorback

1984

Japanese Story poster
6.3

Sandy, a geologist, finds herself stuck on a field trip to the Pilbara desert with a Japanese man she finds inscrutable, annoying and decidedly arrogant. Hiromitsu's view of her is not much better. Things go from bad to worse when they become stranded in one of the most remote regions on Earth.

Japanese Story

2003

Dating the Enemy poster
6.3

Television show host Brett and his laid-back science journalist girlfriend Tash despair that they will ever truly understand each other. On their first anniversary, under a full moon, a frustrated Tash declares her wish that they could swap lives. The next morning, Brett and Tash awaken to find Tash's wish has come true. Forced to confront the unfamiliar sensations of their "new" bodies, both must navigate strange new experiences with friends and co-workers.

Dating the Enemy

1996

unINDIAN poster
5.7

Single mum Meera is an Australian of Indian origin. Smart and independent, she has carved out a successful life for herself and her daughter...despite family pressure to find a 'nice Indian match'. Then Meera meets Will, a blonde, blue-eyed Aussie charmer. But falling in love with an Australian is not only scandalous - it's unIndian! Does she do what her family wishes, or follow her heart?

unINDIAN

2015

Wolfram poster
4.3

1930s Australia, the colonial frontier: two swaggering outlaws roll into a mining town and unleash a wave of cruelty, leading three kids to break free from their white masters and set off across the 'sweet country' of central Australia in search of a safe home.

Wolfram

2026

Riley poster
5.6

The life of a disciplined high school athlete begins to unravel when his queer identity competes against the idea of who he was supposed to be.

Riley

2025

Bush Christmas poster
6.0

In the Australian outback a family struggles to keep its farm from foreclosure. Their only hope is that their horse, Prince, will win money in a New Year's race. But when Prince is stolen the children embark on a dangerous and exciting adventure to get him back.

Bush Christmas

1983

The Highest Honour poster
6.6

After a highly successful raid on Singapore Harbour, soldiers of Z Special Unit lead a new expedition in Singapore, with disastrous results.

The Highest Honour

1982

Last Cab to Darwin poster
6.8

Rex is a loner, and when he's told he doesn't have long to live, he embarks on an epic drive through the Australian outback from Broken Hill to Darwin to die on his own terms; but his journey reveals to him that before you can end your life, you have to live it, and to live it, you've got to share it.

Last Cab to Darwin

2015

The Club poster
6.0

The club buys a talented young player, Geoff, for a record sum of money. The team members do not like their new star and friction develops immediately. Game after game is lost until Geoff begins to realize that there is more at stake than just his own career.

The Club

1980

Blackrock poster
5.5

In New South Wales, Jared surfs with his mates and has a first girl. He hosts a beach party for his older pal, Ricko, and witnesses four of his mates gang-rape a 15 year old. He does nothing, and the next day, she's found murdered. At school, the boys and the girls react: the girls with anger at the perpetrators, the boys with jeering at the dead girl's morality. The students' parents have their own responses. Jared retreats into angry silence, disgusted that he did nothing to help the dead girl. Meanwhile, his mother wants to talk to him about her impending cancer surgery, the police want to know what he saw, and his friend Ricko wants an alibi. Jared's cracking under the pressure.

Blackrock

1997

The Man Who Sued God poster
6.3

A lawyer becomes a fisherman from frustration. When his one piece of property, his boat, is struck by lightning and destroyed he is denied insurance money because it was “an act of God”. He re-registers as a lawyer and sues the insurance company and, as God’s representative, The Church.

The Man Who Sued God

2001

Frontier poster
5.0

Texas, 1848. Families are being forced off their land by the settlers who come to colonize this unpopulated state. A battle for the land and oil ensues.

Frontier

2018

Joh's Jury poster
7.0

Dramatisation of the 1991 perjury trial of former Queensland state Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.

Joh's Jury

1993

The Road from Coorain poster
8.0

A young girl comes of age in the Australian bush amid natural disaster and family tragedy.

The Road from Coorain

2002

Take Away poster
4.5

Tony Stilano and Trev Spackneys both own, live over and work in adjoining take-away fish shops in Melbourne. Although they have fallen into a habitual rivalry based on a cause long forgotten, the pair unite when the multinational fast-food outlet "Burgies" unveils a new store directly opposite the twin fish & chips shops.

Take Away

2003

The Merger poster
5.7

A country football coach who has a plan to rebuild the local football team by recruiting recently settled asylum seekers.

The Merger

2018

In a Savage Land poster
4.8

Two anthropologists married to each other go to an island off of Papua New Guinea for field research in pre-World War II. Eventually the war breaks out and many lives are disrupted and complicated.

In a Savage Land

1999