Ian Rawlings

Rawlings was born on 9 March 1959,^[1] in Whyalla, South Australia.^{[citation needed]} He developed a keen interest in betting on horse racing after his father and grandfather took him to the races in Adelaide.^[2]

Rawlings worked as a storeman in Adelaide for a computer company, before becoming a model when he was 18.^[3] He later worked loading trucks at a large freight company,^[2] and as a tow-truck driver.^[4]

Rawlings had little acting experience when he signed for the Grundy Organisation in 1981 to play Wayne Hamilton in Sons and Daughters.^[5] He had spent two years trying to secure substantial acting work, and appeared in several amateur productions and as an extra in films produced by the South Australian Film Corporation.^[4] He was initially contracted for 15 weeks.^[5] In 1985, Rawlings also portrayed his character's look-alike Gary Evans.^[5] That same year, he won the Logie Award for Best Supporting Actor in A Series.^[5] Rawlings continued in the role of Wayne for the show's entire 1982–1987 run.^[6] Ahead of production ending in March 1987, Rawlings formed his own production company, after completing a producers course at the Australian Film and Television School.^[7]

In 1989, Rawlings appeared in the short-lived Seven Network soap opera The Power, The Passion as Ryan McAllister.^[2] After The Power, The Passion was cancelled, Rawlings took on a job as a salesman at the freight company he previously worked for prior to his acting career taking off.^[2] He said it was a "natural place to go back to" with no acting work forthcoming. He found that being well known to the public helped him with sales.^[2]

In 1992, Rawlings had a guest role as Marcus Stone in the Network Ten soap opera Neighbours.^[8] A few months later, he joined the main cast as Philip Martin, taking over the role from Christopher Milne.^[2] Rawlings played Philip until 1999.^[9] He briefly reprised this role in episodes commemorating the programme's 20th anniversary in 2005.^[10] Rawlings reprised the role for the Neighbours vs Time Travel webseries in 2017.^[11] Rawlings made a cameo appearance in the final episode of Neighbours in mid-2022,^[12] and again in late 2023, when the series was picked up once again.^[13]

Rawlings struggled to find work after leaving Neighbours, and launched his own entertainment business Trivial Fun and Games for clubs and hotels.^[14] He made guest appearances in Stingers and MDA in 2003.^[14] In 2019, Rawlings was working as a bingo caller at the Werribee Rotary Club.^[15]

Rawlings met his wife, model Lee Dowling, while he was performing at an opening ceremony for a chicken takeaway shop.^[2] He proposed after six weeks,^[2] and they married four months later in September 1984 on the Isle of Capri. Several of his Sons and Daughters co-stars were in attendance, along with his brother and Dowling's daughter from her marriage to Garry Dowling.^[16] Rawlings and Dowling also have one child together, a daughter.^[14]