Richard Roxburgh

Early life and education

Richard Roxburgh was born on 23 January 1962. His parents were John, an accountant, and Mary Roxburgh. He grew up in Albury, New South Wales.

Roxburgh studied economics at the Australian National University in Canberra,

After graduating from ANU, he decided to become an actor and was admitted to the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) on his second audition attempt, graduating in 1986.

Career

Roxburgh began working with the Sydney Theatre Company as soon as he graduated from NIDA, and also worked with Belvoir St Theatre.

He came to public attention for his portrayal of New South Wales Police Force detective Roger Rogerson in the 1995 television miniseries Blue Murder. Through the 1990s, he appeared in several Australian film and stage productions including a critically acclaimed turn as Hamlet alongside Geoffrey Rush, Jacqueline McKenzie and David Wenham in the 1994 Company B production at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney. In December 2007, he played the lead character, Roland Henning, who suffered writer's block in Michael Gow's play, Toy Symphony, at the Belvoir St Theatre, winning the 2008 Helpmann Award for best male actor in a play.

In 2000, Roxburgh appeared in the first of several international blockbuster films as the main villain's henchman Hugh Stamp in the John Woo-directed Mission: Impossible 2, which was filmed in Sydney. Also filmed in Sydney was Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001), in which Roxburgh played the Duke of Monroth.

Roxburgh appeared as three iconic characters over the next three years: he played Sherlock Holmes in 2002's The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Count Dracula in 2004's Van Helsing. He is one of only two actors to have played all three of these characters, the other being Orson Welles, who played them in separate radio programs.

Roxburgh directed his first film, Romulus, My Father starring Eric Bana, released in 2007. This film won the AFI Award in December 2007 and was nominated for several more. In 2008 and 2009, he played the lead role of Art Watkins in the ABC drama series East of Everything.

In July 2010, Roxburgh played former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke in a telemovie based on Hawke's life. He reprised the role in the 2020 episode "Terra Nullius" of the Netflix series The Crown.

In November 2010, Roxburgh co-created and began starring in the critically acclaimed ABC1 television comedy-drama series Rake as the brilliant but self-destructive Sydney criminal barrister Cleaver Greene, a role for which he won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama in 2012. He stars in Matching Jack, which was released in August 2010, and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, released in September 2010.

Returning to the stage, Roxburgh played Vanya opposite Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and John Bell in Sydney Theatre Company's 2010 production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. In 2013, he again performed at the STC with Weaving as the protagonists in Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, Weaving as Vladimir and Roxburgh as Estragon. In 2014, Roxburgh played the title role in Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac at the STC. In 2015, Roxburgh appeared in Andrew Upton's adaptation of Chekhov's play Platonov, titled The Present, for the STC. It was directed by John Crowley and featured Cate Blanchett, Jacqueline McKenzie, Marshall Napier, and Toby Schmitz. That production moved in 2016/17 to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City for the Broadway debut of Roxburgh and the rest of the cast.

In 2023, he appeared in Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe as a parody of his previous role in Rake.

In 2024 Roxburgh appeared in the Stan series Prosper, a thriller set in the megachurch community.

Roxburgh played the lead role in the feature film The Correspondent, as journalist Peter Greste. The Correspondent, directed by Kriv Stenders, was screened as the opening film of the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2024, along with the animated feature Lesbian Space Princess, in which he was one of the cast of voice actors.

In June 2025, Roxburgh was announced by Stan Australia that he was playing former Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the TV documentary Joh: The Last King of Queensland.

On 29 January 2026, Roxburgh was named in the Stan co-commissioned series Careless.

Children's literature

Roxburgh wrote and illustrated the well-received, 240-page children's adventure fiction title, Artie and the Grime Wave, published by Allen & Unwin in October 2016 ().

Personal life

Roxburgh met Miranda Otto after meeting on the set of Doing Time for Patsy Cline in 1997; they were in a relationship until 2000.

He married Italian-born opera singer, actress, blogger, cookbook author, and television cookery show personality Silvia Colloca in 2004. They met on the set of Van Helsing, playing Count Dracula and his bride, respectively. They have three children.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Doherty, Shaun. (24 March 2011). "Australian actor Richard Roxburgh".
2. Harvey, Shannon. (19 May 2007). "Richard Roxburgh". [[The Sunday Times (Western Australia).
3. "Richard Roxburgh". ABC.
4. ANU Alumni. "ANU Alumni – Congratulations to alumnus Richard Roxburgh". Facebook.
5. Lehmann, Megan. (1 February 2014). "Richard Roxburgh plays Cleave Greene with conspicuous conviction". [[The Australian]].
6. (15 October 2014). "Archive: Richard Roxburgh". Sydney Theatre Company Magazine.
7. (26 August 2009). "Richard Roxburgh in ''East of Everything'', and Bob Hawke". [[Herald Sun]].
8. Idato, Michael. (15 November 2020). "Bringing the drama down under, ''The Crown'' breaks the spell of a royal moment in time". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
9. [http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/stced/2010-schools-days/uncle-vanya ''Uncle Vanya''] at the [[Sydney Theatre Company]]
10. Roxburgh, Richard. (9 November 2013). "Waiting for Tamas". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
11. [https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2014/cyrano-de-bergerac ''Cyrano de Bergerac''], performance details, Sydney Theatre Company
12. [https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2015/the-present ''The Present''], production details, Sydney Theatre Company
13. [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/broadway-season-gives-cate-blanchett-her-shot-at-a-tony/news-story/7ea9b32d71085cbbebd4458095f47671 "Broadway season gives Cate Blanchett her shot at a Tony"] by Michaela Boland, ''[[The Australian]]'', 10 December 2016
14. Buckmaster, Luke. (2023-04-11). "Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe review – sketch comedy trio scramble for laughs in new show". The Guardian.
15. Buckmaster, Luke. (17 January 2024). "Prosper review – Richard Roxburgh leads a sizzling and sharp megachurch thriller".
16. "New drama series Prosper announced for Stan".
17. (2024-03-15). "The Correspondent: Richard Roxburgh film wraps production".
18. (24 October 2024). "Opening Night Gala".
19. "Lesbian Space Princess".
20. Knox, David. (2025-06-06). "Airdate: Joh: Last King of Queensland {{!}} TV Tonight".
21. Whittock, Jesse. (2026-01-29). "Solly McLeod, Robyn Malcolm, Katie Leung & Richard Roxburgh Lead Stan & Channel 4 Thriller ‘Careless’".
22. Maddox, Gary. (19 May 2007). "Proud father". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
23. (2 December 2021). "Meet Miro Roxburgh and Raphael Roxburgh - See How Richard Roxburgh's Children Are Growing up".
24. (8 May 2025). "Forgive Us All: Richard Roxburgh on making a post-apocalyptic horror in Aotearoa". [[The Press]].
25. "Richard Roxburgh - Actor".
26. "Richard Roxburgh".
27. "Stinkers Bad Movie Awards - 2004".
28. "2010".