Tom E. Lewis

Acting

Tom E. Lewis

Born — Died

1958-08-25 — 2018-05-10

Place of birth

Ngukurr, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

Known for

Acting

Credits

31 titles

Tom E. Lewis (traditional name: Balang Lewis; 25 August 1958 – 10 May 2018) was an Australian-Aboriginal actor and musician.

Known for

The Flying Doctors poster
6.6

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

The Flying Doctors

1986

The Proposition poster
7.0

In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.

The Proposition

2005

Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers poster
7.0

The story follows a group of children and their adventures in outback Australia. The title character of the series, Li'l Elvis, is a ten-year-old boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Lil Elvis has a gift for music, a talent for trouble and a desire for only one thing - to find out who he really is and be a normal kid again. The opening sequence and music reveal that he was thrown out of a gold Cadillac in a guitar case, hinting that he is the illegitimate child of Elvis Presley. He is raised by foster parents, truck stop proprietors Grace and Len, who are fervent fans of Elvis Presley. As Li'l Elvis is musically talented, singing and playing the guitar, his foster mother is convinced he is the son of Elvis Presley.

Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers

1997

A Town Like Alice poster
7.9

Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades.

A Town Like Alice

1981

R.F.D.S. poster
NR

R.F.D.S. was created as a spinoff of the popular series The Flying Doctors and is set in the mining town of Broken Hill.

R.F.D.S.

1993

Double Trouble poster
8.0

Double Trouble is an Australian children's television series on the Nine Network. It was produced by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. Double Trouble was the remake of the 1984 American series starring former twin actresses Jean and Liz Sagal

Double Trouble

2008

Film credits

2010s · 4 titles

Goldstone poster
6.0

Indigenous Detective Jay Swan arrives in the frontier town of Goldstone on a missing persons inquiry. What seems like a simple investigation unearths an intricate web of crime, corruption, human trafficking, and coordinated exploitation of indigenous people’s land. Jay must bury his differences with young local cop Josh, so together they can bring justice to Goldstone.

Goldstone

2016

Red Hill poster
6.1

Young police officer Shane Cooper's first day on duty, after relocating to the small town of Red Hill, rapidly turns into a nightmare. News of a prison break, involving convicted murderer Jimmy Conway, sends the local law enforcement officers - led by the town's ruling presence, Old Bill - into a panic and leads to a terrifying and bloody confrontation.

Red Hill

2010

Finding Maawirrangga poster
NR

Tom E Lewis knows he must die with all of his Songs. After years of haunting silence, he returns to his Grandmothers’ country to seek the permission of the Jungayi (Lawmen) to learn Thumbul corroboree (Morning Star). With the family’s blessing through ceremony, the spirits, stars and ancestors help Tom prepare to find the mysterious Sandy Island of Maawirrangga by singing.

Finding Maawirrangga

2017

Australia: The Wild Top End poster
7.8

Narrated by Indigenous elder Balang T E Lewis, this inspiring documentary will take you on an adventure to explore the culture and wildlife of Australia’s remote wild north. Far Northern Australia is a land of extremes, from bushfires to torrential floods. Explore the wildlife and meet the people in Australia’s wild top end, from the Kimberley coast through the mysterious Arnhem Land, and deep into the world’s oldest rainforest in Cape York.

Australia: The Wild Top End

2019

2000s · 4 titles

The Proposition poster
7.0

In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback's most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.

The Proposition

2005

September poster
5.8

The friendship of two 15-year-old boys – one black, one white – begins to fall apart under the stress of a changing world.

September

2007

Crocodile Dreaming poster
NR

Crocodile Dreaming is a modern day supernatural myth about two estranged brothers, played by iconic Indigenous actors David Gulpill and Tom E. Lewis. Separated at birth, they have different fathers. One is readily accepted as a full-fledged member of the tribe and is looked on to fulfill the duties of jungaiy, an important ceremonial role which obliges him to be caretaker for his mother's dreaming, the crocodile totem. The other, whose father was white, is younger and has had to struggle to fit into the tribe who see him only as a yella fella.

Crocodile Dreaming

2006

Yellow Fella poster
7.2

In 1978, Tom Lewis appeared in the Australian feature film, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. The life of the character he played was hauntingly close to his own, a young, restless man of mixed heritage, struggling for a foothold on the edge of two cultures. Tom's mother is a traditional Indigenous woman of southern Arnhem Land, his father a Welsh stockman who he never really knew. Yellow Fella is a journey across the land and into Tom's past, as he attempts to find the resting place of his father and to finally confront the truth of his most inner feelings of love and identity.

Yellow Fella

2005

1990s · 3 titles

1980s · 6 titles

We of the Never Never poster
6.0

Based on the well-loved Australian classic by Mrs. Aeneas Gunn, this is the remarkable true story of Jeannie Gunn, a woman who fought to overcome sexual and racial prejudice amid the harsh beauties of the outback. Leaving her Melbourne existence for a new life on her husband's isolated ranch, Jeannie's feisty, good-natured attitude soon wins over the misogynistic stockmen, but she faces a much tougher challenge in trying to change their racist attitudes towards the indigenous aboriginal population.

We of the Never Never

1982

Slate, Wyn & Me poster
5.0

Meandering drama of Brothers Burke and Sacks, who rob a bank, kill a cop and kidnap Thornton, a witness to their crime.

Slate, Wyn & Me

1987

The Naked Country poster
4.5

Far North Queensland, 1955. Deep in the untamed frontier tough rancher Lance Dillon and his sensual, but bored wife, battle inhospitable nature to eke out a living from their cattle herd. When the aborigines kill the Dillon's prize bull a chase begins that will culminate in bloody tragedy with Lance pitted against Mandaru - an aborigine struggling to maintain his cultural way of life

The Naked Country

1985

Touch the Sun: Top Enders poster
10.0

Two children get stranded in the desert in Australia's Top End.

Touch the Sun: Top Enders

1988

Robbery Under Arms poster
6.5

Fourth adaptation and first made for television of the classic Australian bushranger novel "Robbery Under Arms" by Rolf Boldrewood. Made by the South Australian Film Corporation during the mini-series boom of the 1980s and lensed in the Flinders Ranges, it stars Sam Neill as the infamous Captain Starlight.

Robbery Under Arms

1985

The City's Edge poster
5.5

In an effort to come to terms with his father's death, a young man (Weaving) moves into a rooming house amidst the decaying grandeur of Bondi Beach, where he gets enmeshed in the lives of the other boarders, including a junkie, his sister, and an Aboriginal activist.

The City's Edge

1983

Series credits

The Flying Doctors poster
6.6

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

The Flying Doctors

1986

The Flying Doctors poster
6.6

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

The Flying Doctors

1986

The Flying Doctors poster
6.6

The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. It was initially a 1985 mini-series based in the fictional outback town of Cooper's Crossing starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. Tom Callaghan. The success of the mini series led to its return the following year as an on-going series with McFarlane being joined by a new doctor, Chris Randall, played by Liz Burch. McFarlane left during the first season and actor Robert Grubb came in as new doctor Geoff Standish. The series' episodes were mostly self-contained but also featured ongoing storylines, such as Dr. Standish's romance with Sister Kate Wellings. Other major characters included pilot Sam Patterson, mechanic Emma Plimpton, local policeman Sgt. Jack Carruthers and Vic and Nancy Buckley, who ran the local pub/hotel, The Majestic. Andrew McFarlane also later returned to the series, resuming his role as Dr. Callaghan. The popular series ran for nine seasons and was successfully screened internationally.

The Flying Doctors

1986

Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers poster
7.0

The story follows a group of children and their adventures in outback Australia. The title character of the series, Li'l Elvis, is a ten-year-old boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Lil Elvis has a gift for music, a talent for trouble and a desire for only one thing - to find out who he really is and be a normal kid again. The opening sequence and music reveal that he was thrown out of a gold Cadillac in a guitar case, hinting that he is the illegitimate child of Elvis Presley. He is raised by foster parents, truck stop proprietors Grace and Len, who are fervent fans of Elvis Presley. As Li'l Elvis is musically talented, singing and playing the guitar, his foster mother is convinced he is the son of Elvis Presley.

Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers

1997

A Town Like Alice poster
7.9

Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades.

A Town Like Alice

1981

R.F.D.S. poster
NR

R.F.D.S. was created as a spinoff of the popular series The Flying Doctors and is set in the mining town of Broken Hill.

R.F.D.S.

1993

R.F.D.S. poster
NR

R.F.D.S. was created as a spinoff of the popular series The Flying Doctors and is set in the mining town of Broken Hill.

R.F.D.S.

1993

Double Trouble poster
8.0

Double Trouble is an Australian children's television series on the Nine Network. It was produced by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. Double Trouble was the remake of the 1984 American series starring former twin actresses Jean and Liz Sagal

Double Trouble

2008

Kangaroo Palace poster
6.0

The story of four young Australians trying their luck in 1960's London.

Kangaroo Palace

1997

Wrong Kind of Black poster
5.2

From the crocs and cops of 1960s Queensland to the blood-splattered disco floors of 1970s Melbourne, comes the hilarious and heartbreaking story of afro bearing, flare wearing DJ Monty Pryor and his brother Paul.

Wrong Kind of Black

2018

Behind the camera