australian television information archive

Ben Browder as Commander John Crichton

Ben Browder is best known to television audiences for his role as Sam, Neve Campbell's boyfriend in the Fox series, Party of Five. In addition, he appeared in several TV movies that include Paper Mansions: The Dottie West Story, Danielle Steel's Secrets starring Christopher Plummer and Josie Bissett, Innocent Victims with Rick Schroeder, and A Wing and A Prayer with Patty Duke. His serial TV credits include guest starring roles in Melrose Place, Grace Under Fire, Murder She Wrote and Boys of Twilight.

Browder made his feature film debut in Memphis Belle. He also appeared in Nevada with Gabrielle Anwar and Kirstie Alley, A Kiss Before Dying with Matt Dillon, and the independent feature Boogie Boy, directed by Craig Hamann.

Born in Memphis, Tennesee, and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, where his family owns and operates a NASCAR Busch series race car, Browder is a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. He received his acting training at Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Claudia Black as Officer Aeryn Sun

Black has appeared in many of Australia's popular TV series and movies. She is well-known to Australian audiences from her starring role in A Country Practice and her portrayal of Angela Kostapas in City Life. In addition to her more well known guest roles in the syndicated action series Hercules, Claudia Black has also appeared in the Australian series GP, Police Rescue, Water Rats, Good Guys Bad Guys, Seven Deadly Sins, and most recenty, BeastMaster. Her film appearances include roles in The Queen of the Damned, Amazon High, and Pitch Black.

A finalist in the 1990 Globe Shakespeare competition, Black's theatre credits include Portia in the European tour of The Merchant of Venice, Jo in Little Women, The World Knot for the Bicentennial Opera, Spotlight on Women, Portrait of Dorian Gray, Loose Ends, and Pick Ups for the Belvoir Street Theatre. Black's talents include professional singing with a concentration in jazz and classical music.

Anthony Simcoe as General Ka D'Argo

Simcoe is best known for his role as Steve Kerrigan in the popular Australian comedy feature from Working Dog Productions The Castle. He also appeared in the Australian feature film Mr. Reliable.

His television credits include guest roles in the series, A Country Practice, Home and Away, Water Rats and English at Work.

Simcoe has extensive theatre credits which include Footloose Theatre Company's World Games, Sydney Street Theatre Space's Craving in which he wrote and performed, Stables Theatre's Three Winters Green, Q.T.C.'s Peter Pan, Griffin Theatre's Complaints and The Murray River Performing Group's production of Double Deception at the Hothouse Theatre.

A 1992 graduate of the internationally renowned National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney, Simcoe holds an MFA in Drama specializing in actor training and degrees from universities and acting schools in Australia and Europe, in addition to lecturing for NIDA.

Virginia Hey as Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan

Virginia Hey, has appeared in the American series Roar, Flipper, Mission Impossible, and Dolphin Cove; Flesh and Blood for Channel 4 in the UK; the popular series E Street for Westside Productions; and Pacific Drive in Australia.

Virginia made her film debut as the Warrior Woman in George Miller's Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior starring Mel Gibson. She also starred in the James Bond film The Living Daylights; Castaway, directed by Nicholas Roeg; Mussolini; The Return of Captain Invincible; Norman Loves Rose; and most recently Signal One.

Her television movie roles include Crazy Like A Fox for USA Network; Big Deal for BBC television; Timeslip for HBO; Vietnam directed by John Duigan; Home and Away; and Neighbours and Prisoner for Grundy Television.

Gigi Edgley as Chiana

A relative newcomer to television, Gigi Edgley is perhaps best known to Australian television audiences from her guest role as Penny in the popular series Water Rats and in the role of Erica Watson in the award winning miniseries Day Of The Roses.

Edgley's numerous theatre credits include Kakos, Kill Everything You Love, The Rover, Boy's Life, The Land Of The Real Girls, Romeo And Juliet, The Caged Birds, Blue People, Princess And The Pea for the Brisbane Arts Theatre, Road, Picnic At Hanging Rock for the Twelfth Night Theatre and Les Miserables for the Gold Coast Arts Theatre.

From 1994 to 1995, Edgley trained at various workshops at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. She then moved to Queensland and in 1998 received a BA in Drama from Queensland University of Technology Academy of the Arts.

Jonathan Hardy as Rygel (voice)

Jonathan Hardy has appeared in numerous films over the last 30 years including Mr. Reliable, Mad Max, Down Rusty Down, Tunnel Vision, Bloodmoon, and most recently Moulin Rouge.

His television appearances include regular roles in The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years and Family and Friends, along with notable guest appearances in such popular Australian drama series as Fire, Medivac, and All Saints.

Besides his apearances infront of the camera, Jonathan Hardy has both writting and directing credits to his name (including the multiple AFI award winning feature Breaker Morant) and has appeared in numerous theatrical productions.

Lani John Tupu as Bialar Crais & Pilot (voice)

Lani John Tupu starred in the TV movie Tanker Incident and in the TV series Flipper. His film credits include New World Pictures' The Punisher and Energy Source International's Send A Gorilla. For over a decade, he has guest starred in many television programs in his native New Zealand, Australia, and in the U.S., including Grass Roots, The Lost World, Mission Impossible, The Feds, Police Rescue, House Gang, and Time Trax.

[Note: Lani John Tupu was not in Water Rats, that was his father.]

Tupu was educated at Rongotal College in Wellington, New Zealand and Wellington Teachers Training College. He was trained at the New Zealand Drama School. He currently resides in Sydney, Australia.

Wayne Pygram as Scorpius

Althought perhaps best known previously for his lead role in the Australian drama series Fire, Wayne Pygram's television credits also include roles in Tales of the South Seas, Roar, Time Trax, Medivac, and the award winning miniseries The Day of the Roses.

His films credits include The Flood, The First Kangaroos, The Custodian, Hammers Over The Anvil, Farewell To The King, Return To The Blue Lagoon and Doing Time For Patsy Cline.

Apart from his work on camera, Wayne also has an extensive background in theatre, working with numerous theater companies, including the Sydney Theatre Company where he was involved with productions such as Solitary Animals, Coriolanus, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra and The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus.

Paul Goddard as Stark

Paul Goddard got the part of Stark after originally auditioning for Scorpius. Since then he's turned in a masterfully unhinged performance as the erratic Banik, based on actors from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest and Twelve Monkeys.

It obviously appealed to Farscape's producers, as Stark became a semi-regular instead of the two-episode character he was first meant to be.

An experienced actor in film and theatre, Paul Goddard has appeared in blockbusters such as The Matrix, as Agent Brown, Babe, Holy Smoke and The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. He's also done a lot of TV work, including a stint in '95-'96 on Coronation Street as "Stephen".

Tammy Macintosh as Jool

Tammy has appeared in the Australian TV series Wildside, Grass Roots, Police Rescue, The Feds, The Flying Doctors, and is currently starring in the popular hospital drama All Saints.

Her movie roles include appearances in River Street, Whipping Boy, and Police Rescue.

Raelee Hill as Sikozu

Raelee Hill originally auditioned for the very different role of Utu-Noranti Pralatong. When that went to Melissa Jaffer, Farscape's producers decided to create a role especially for her because she'd impressed them so much.

Born in Brisbane in 1972, this Australian actress has had a swift rise to fame, with a number of recurring parts on Australia's top programmes, including playing Serendipity Gottlieb in Neighbours, and Constable Tayler Johnson in Water Rats. She also appeared in a Baywatch spoof, Shark Bay, and lists Audrey Hepburn as one of her favourite actresses. Raelee has appeared in the feature films Hotel de Love and Black Sun while her theatre credits include the role of Wendy in Pan for the Jim Henson Company, and Tasting Sugar Lake for Budinskis Theatre.

Melissa Jaffer as Noranti

A veteran of stage and screen, Melissa Jaffer has had an extensive and varied career in television, film and theatre. Her television credits include roles on The Lost World, All Saints, Flipper, G.P., Matlock and Homicide. In feature films, Jaffer's credits include Gillian Armstrong's Star Struck, Weekend of Shadows, Caddie, Disney's Ride a Wild Pony and Peter Weir's cult horror flick The Cars That Ate Paris.

On the stage, Jaffer has appeared in Life After George, Into the Woods, Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya and Hedda Gabler for the Sydney Theatre Company, The Glass Menagerie and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the State Theatre Company of South Australia, and numerous other productions.

Rebecca Riggs as Commandant Grayza

Rebecca Riggs' television credits include All Saints, Backberner, Day of the Roses, Fire, Medivac, Paradise Beach, Space: Above and Beyond, Wombat and the telefilms Hypersleep and Official Denial.

Her extensive theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet for the Bell Shakespeare Company, Bedroom Farce for Twelfth Night Theatre, and The Blood and Thunder Adventure on Hurricane Peak, Summer Rain, Christmas at Turkey Beach, The Last Yankee and Fuente Ovejuna for the Queensland Theatre Company. Riggs also has appeared in Dust Off Vietnam and Twelfth Night for the Darwin Theatre Company.