John Jarratt

John Jarratt
Jarratt at the Sydney premiere of Man of Steel, 24 June 2013
Born	(1952-08-05) 5 August 1952 Wongawilli, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Children	6

John Jarratt (born 5 August 1952) is an Australian television and film actor, producer and director, who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He is best known for portraying the main antagonist Mick Taylor in the Wolf Creek film series.^[1][2]

Early life

Jarratt was born and grew up in Wongawilli, a small rural town near Wollongong, New South Wales, and later in the Snowy Mountains area.^[3] Jarratt's father was a coal miner and later a concreter, who worked on the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric scheme. His ancestor George Jarratt, born 1833, came from Croxton in Cambridgeshire, England; his son, John, married a Mary Kelly from Ireland. While in high school, Jarratt directed and acted in a school play which was a great success and led to his school principal recommending that he pursue an acting career.^[3]

Career

Early work

Jarratt graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1973. His screen debut was in The Great Macarthy (1975). He also appeared in Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Summer City (1977) with Mel Gibson. Jarratt had the lead role in the mini series The Last Outlaw playing Ned Kelly in 1979. He played a major supporting role as a young Australian soldier in Vietnam war movie The Odd Angry Shot (1980). In the late 1980s, Jarratt recognised he had a problem with binge drinking and related violence and joined Alcoholics Anonymous, an organisation in which he continues to be active.^[3]

Television

In the 1990s, Jarratt was a presenter on the lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens with then-wife Noni Hazlehurst. He had guest roles in Inspector Morse, Police Rescue, Blue Murder, Water Rats and Blue Heelers in the 1990s and 2000s. He joined the cast of McLeod's Daughters in 2001, and left the show in 2006. In 2010, Jarratt appeared in a commercial for Husqvarna.

In May 2013, Jarratt filmed a guest star role in the third instalment of the ABC telemovie series, Jack Irish: Dead Point.^[4]

Return to cinema

In 2005, Jarratt had a major role in the Australian film Wolf Creek, playing the villain Mick Taylor.^[5] In 2007, he appeared in two films, Rogue and The Final Winter. Jarratt also had a small role in the 2008 film, Australia, as a soldier.

In 2008, Jarratt launched his own film production company, Winnah Films. Winnah's first feature film, Savages Crossing (originally carrying the working title Flood) went into principal photography outside Ipswich, Queensland in February. In 2009, he appears as the father of a teenage girl via phone in Telstra's "Next G" commercials.^[6]

In 2010, Jarratt starred in the ensemble exploitation extravaganza, Bad Behaviour, written and directed by Joseph Sims.^[7] In the same year, Jarratt also had a role in the supernatural horror movie Needle.

He made a cameo in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained in 2012, appearing as an employee of the Le Quint Dickie Mining Company alongside Tarantino himself, both appearing with Australian accents.

In February 2013, Jarratt reprised his role as Mick Taylor, filming the Wolf Creek sequel, Wolf Creek 2, with Matt Hearn producing and Greg McLean directing. The film was released on 20 February 2014^[8]

In January 2014, a new thriller called StalkHer began filming on the Gold Coast, Queensland.^[9] The film is co-directed with Kaarin Fairfax by Jarratt, who also stars in the production.^[1] The producer of the film is 'OZPIX', a production company partly owned by Jarratt.^[2] Filming was completed in February 2014, and screened later in the year.^[10][11]

On 1 October 2015, Jarratt released his autobiography, The Bastard from the Bush.^[12] On 19 October, a six-part television adaptation of Wolf Creek was announced, with Jarratt reprising his role as Mick Taylor. It was commissioned by streaming company Stan and was released on 12 May 2016.^[13]

Personal life

Jarratt has been married three times. With his first wife, Rosa Miano, he had two children, Zadia and Ebony. He was married to actress Noni Hazlehurst,^[14] with whom he had two more children, Charlie and William. Most recently, he married Cody Jarrett, whom he met as a producer on Better Homes and Gardens, and had a further two boys, Jackson and Riley. Cody and John separated in late 2011/early 2012.

Jarratt is now living in Doonan on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, after living in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.

Filmography

References

External links

• John Jarratt at the Internet Movie Database
• John Jarratt's Film Oz Profile