Ken Blackburn

Acting

Ken Blackburn

Born 1935-06-06 · Horfield, Bristol, England, UK

Kenneth Colster Blackburn MNZM (born 1935) is a New Zealand actor and writer. He has worked in film, television, radio and theatre in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom since 1972. In an impressively wide-ranging career spanning more than 40 years Ken has worked in film, television, radio and theatre. Ken has appeared in many of New Zealand’s most iconic TV shows including Xena: Warrior Princess, Farscape, Close To Home, Gliding On and Shortland Street. His film credits include pioneering feature Skin Deep, The Frighteners, King Kong and Rest for the Wicked. Ken’s stage credits are also extensive. In 1999 his performance as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot earned him the Best Actor award at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In 2005 he was awarded the Queen's Birthday Honours List for Services to the Performing Arts. Ken most recently performed in Circa Theatre’s 2017 production of Three Days in the Country. As well as his successful career as an actor in New Zealand, the UK and Australia, Ken has also directed stage, film, television and radio productions. His autobiographical book Blitz Kids was published by the BBC in 1995.

Acting credits

The Frighteners poster
7.0

Once an architect, Frank Bannister now passes himself off as an exorcist of evil spirits. To bolster his facade, he claims his "special" gift is the result of a car accident that killed his wife. But what he does not count on is more people dying in the small town where he lives. As he tries to piece together the supernatural mystery of these killings, he falls in love with the wife of one of the victims and deals with a crazy FBI agent.

The Frighteners

1996

Slow West poster
6.7

In the Old West, a 17-year-old Scottish boy teams up with a mysterious gunman to find the woman with whom he is infatuated.

Slow West

2015

Day Trip poster
8.0

A gang member wakes up one morning and decides he needs a day off. Inspired by a newspaper advertisement he impulsively decides to take a short ferry trip between islands. With his tattooed face, black leather clothing, and prominent gang patch, the gangster is a fish out of water when he arrives in the idyllic small port town of Picton. The experience he has there will change his outlook on life forever.

Day Trip

2010

Sunset Song poster
6.2

The daughter of a Scottish farmer comes of age in the early 1900s.

Sunset Song

2015

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Global Fan Screening poster
7.4

An edited version of the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, shown exclusively to fans in cinemas around the world in August 2022. In a time of relative peace, an ensemble cast of characters confronts the re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Global Fan Screening

2022

Antonio's Secret poster
NR

A time capsule is found under a home after the Christchurch earthquake. There is a series of predictions that turn out to be true except one. That the finder will have psychic powers. The owner is on a quest to track down the writer and finds he was a famous magician. Is the magician correct? Does the owner have psychic powers?

Antonio's Secret

2011