Lewis Fitz-Gerald

Fitz-Gerald studied acting at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art.^[1]

He furthered his education in 2009, when he obtained a Master of Arts (Comms), and again in 2016, when he completed a Doctorate of Philosophy, both at University of New England (UNE).^[1]

Fitz-Gerald had an early recurring guest role in Skyways from 1979–1980, playing Leslie Foy. Guest roles in The Sullivans, Cop Shop and Young Ramsay followed,^[1] before scoring his first film role in Bruce Beresford’s 1980 biographical war drama Breaker Morant, opposite Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson, in which he played Lt. George Witton, a junior officer, who'd quickly become disillusioned.^[4]

He appeared in several miniseries' including The Last Outlaw (1980), Outbreak of Love and I Can Jump Puddles (both 1981),^[1] followed by the 1982 drama film We of the Never Never (based on the 1908 autobiographical novel of the same name) alongside John Jarratt and Angela Punch McGregor.^[5] Other film credits of the 1980s included Fighting Back (1982), The Boy Who Had Everything (1985), The More Things Change (1986) and Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train (1987), as well as TV films The Dean Case (1983), Time's Raging (1985), Ivanhoe (1986) and Police State (1989).^[1]

Fitz-Gerald secured a 26-episode role as pilot David Gibson in medical drama series The Flying Doctors in 1986,^[6] and starred as Tony in the acclaimed 1987 TV movie The Shiralee, opposite Bryan Brown.^[1]

In 1988, he appeared alongside Meryl Streep and Sam Neill in the Fred Schepisi biopic Evil Angels (aka A Cry in the Dark),^[5] which portrayed the true story of the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain and the ensuing legal case and media storm.^[7] The same year, he starred in Rikky and Pete.^[1] Television guest credits in the late 1980s included western drama series Five Mile Creek, the American Mission: Impossible reboot (filmed in Australia), and the sports miniseries The Four Minute Mile.^[1]

The 1990s brought further guest roles in series' including EARTH Force, A Country Practice, G.P., Time Trax, The Damnation of Harvey McHugh, Snowy River: The Mcgregor Saga, Cody: Bad Love, Big Sky, Murder Call, Wildside, Good Guys, Bad Guys, Stingers.^[1][8]

Fitz-Gerald earned an AFI Award nomination for his 1993 directorial docudrama film The Last Man Hanged,^[9] in which he also starred as journalist, Keith Willey, who followed the events leading up to the hanging of Ronald Ryan in Pentridge Prison in 1967.^[10]

He played the recurring role of Dr. Sebert Blitho in medical drama series RFDS^[11] from 1993 to 1994, and had a part in 1994 buddy movie Spider and Rose opposite Ruth Cracknell.^[12] He next portrayed Les in 1996 mystery thriller film Dead Heart,^[9] and the same year, appeared in anthology series, Twisted Tales.^[8]

At the turn of the century, Fitz-Gerald starred in the Hollywood sci-fi film Pitch Black alongside Vin Diesel and Radha Mitchell.^[13] Television guest roles of the era included Ponderosa, Farscape, Out There and Blue Heelers^[1] and appearances in miniseries' and TV movies included The Three Stooges (2000), Border Patrol (2001), The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) and Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure (2005).^[1] In 2009, he appeared in drama film The Boys are Back, alongside British actor Clive Owen, the TV movie A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne and crime series Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.^[1] The following year he scored a recurring guest role as Snr Detective Gordon Eaves in long-running soap opera Home and Away.^[14]

In 2011, Fitz-Gerald had a lead role in ABC legal drama series Crownies, as David Sinclair, King's boss and the director of public prosecutions.^[15] That same year, he appeared as racehorse owner Sir Michael Smurfit in The Cup, the true story of the 2002 Melbourne Cup,^[16] which he followed with romantic comedy Not Suitable for Children (2012) opposite Ryan Kwanten and Hollywood superhero blockbuster The Wolverine (2013)^[1] starring Hugh Jackman.

Fitz-Gerald played Alan Reid in 2013 political drama miniseries Power Games: The Packer–Murdoch War^[1] and resumed his role as David Sinclair in Crownies spin-off, Janet King.^[17] In 2016, he had an ongoing part in US drama series Hunters, as Truss Jackson.^[18]

Later guest roles have been in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Winter, Rake, Blue Murder: Killer Cop, Reef Break and The Wilds,^[1] while more recent film credits include Dance Academy: The Movie (2017) and Harmony (2018).^[1] In 2018, Fitz-Gerald was also named for six-part ABC / Netflix political thriller series Pine Gap,^[19] in which he played Rudi Fox, the Chief of Intelligence at Pine Gap, a Defence Facility in remote Central Australia.^[20]

Fitz-Gerald appeared in both seasons of psychological thriller series The Secrets She Keeps, beginning in 2020.^[21] In 2022, he played the recurring role of Henry in political comedy series The PM's Daughter.^[22] His most recent television role has been as Richard Rankin in NCIS: Sydney from 2023 to 2025.^[1][23]

Fitz-Gerald helped found Belvoir St Theatre Company and has also acted extensively for the stage, since the 1970s.^[1] He has lectured in Screen and Media Studies at Australia's University of New England School of the Arts since 2017.^[24]

Television (as actor)

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1979–1980	Skyways	Leslie Foy	6 episodes	[1]
1980	Young Ramsay	Maurice Morpeth	1 episode	[1]
	Cop Shop	Daryn	2 episodes	[1]
	The Sullivans	Dirk	2 episodes	[1]
	The Last Outlaw	Tom Lloyd	Miniseries, 4 episodes	[1]
1981	Outbreak of Love	Captain John Wickham	Miniseries	[1]
	I Can Jump Puddles	Alan Marshall / Narrator	Miniseries, 9 episodes	[1]
1983	The Dean Case	George Dean	TV movie	[1]
1984	Five Mile Creek	Nigel	1 episode	[1]
1985	Time's Raging	David	TV movie	[1]
1986	Ivanhoe	Ivanhoe	Animated TV movie	[1]
	The Flying Doctors	David 'Gibbo' Gibson	24 episodes	[6]
1987	The Shiralee	Tony	Miniseries, 2 episodes	[1]
1988	The Four Minute Mile	Denis Johansson	Miniseries	[1]
1989	Mission: Impossible	Matthew Rhine	1 episode	[1]
	Police State	Gary Crooke	TV movie	[1]
1990	EARTH Force	Halloran	1 episode	[1]
1991	A Country Practice	Tony Harvey	2 episodes	[1]
1993	Time Trax	Charlie Burke	2 episodes	[1]
	G.P.	Geoff Hardy	2 episodes	[1]
1993–1994	RFDS	Dr. Sebert Blitho	13 episodes	[11]
1994	The Damnation of Harvey McHugh	Trevor Martin	1 episode	[1]
	Cody: Bad Love	Martin Campbell	TV movie	[1]
1996	Snowy River: The Mcgregor Saga	Henry Faulkner	1 episode	[1]
	Naked: Stories of Men	Stanky	Anthology series, episode: "Coral Island"	[25]
1997	Big Sky	Tom	1 episode	[1]
	The Adventures of Sam	Billy Branscombe	Animated series, 2 episodes	[26]
1998	Good Guys, Bad Guys	Marshall Dobbs	1 episode	[1]
	Wildside	Bryant	2 episodes	[1]
	Murder Call	Lionel McKenzie	1 episode	[1]
1999	Stingers	Det. Snr. Sgt. Vic Slater	1 episode	[1]
2000	The Three Stooges	Jules White	TV movie	[1]
2001	Ponderosa	Henry Stewart	1 episode	[1]
	Border Patrol	Roderick Helms	TV movie	[1]
2002	Farscape	Kor Toska	1 episode	[1]
2004	The Mystery of Natalie Wood	Dr Thayer	Miniseries	[1]
	Blue Heelers	Jim Morgan	1 episode	[1]
	Out There		1 episode	[1]
2005	Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure	Winston Fletcher	TV movie	[1]
2009	Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities	John Aston	3 episodes	[1]
	A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne	Gary Jubelin	TV movie	[1]
2010	Home and Away	Snr. Det. Gordon Eaves	4 episodes	[14]
2011	Crownies	David Sinclair QC	22 episodes	[15]
2013	Power Games: The Packer–Murdoch War	Alan Reid	Miniseries, 2 episodes	[1]
	Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries	Professor Bradbury	1 episode	[1]
2014	Janet King	David Sinclair QC	4 episodes	[27]
2015	Winter	Bjorn Johannson	2 episodes	[28]
2016	Rake	Mandel	1 episode	[1]
	Hunters	Truss Jackson	13 episodes	[29]
2017	Blue Murder: Killer Cop	Commissioner	Miniseries, 1 episode	[1]
2018	Pine Gap	Rudi Fox	6 episodes	[30][19][20]
2019	Reef Break	Sonny Turner/ Bob Clark	2 episodes	[1]
2020	The Wilds	Ted Wolchak	1 episode	[1]
2020; 2022	The Secrets She Keeps	Reg	9 episodes	[21]
2022	The PM's Daughter	Henry	10 episodes	[31][22]
2023	Queen of Oz	Peter Walsh	1 episode	[1]
2023; 2025	NCIS: Sydney	Colonel Richard Rankin	6 episodes	[23]

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Film (as actor)

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1980	Breaker Morant	George		[32]
1982	We of the Never Never	Jack		[5]
	Fighting Back	John Embling		[1]
1985	The Boy Who Had Everything	Vandervelt		[1]
1986	The More Things Change	Barry		[1]
1987	Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train	Brian		[1]
1988	Rikky and Pete	Adam		[1]
	A Cry in the Dark (aka Evil Angels)	Tipple		[5][7]
1989	Life in the Balance		Short film
1993	The Last Man Hanged	Keith Willey		[33][10]
1994	Spider and Rose	Robert Dougherty		[12]
	Change	PT	Short film
1996	Dead Heart	Les / Teacher		[9]
1998	War Story	Father	Short film
2000	Pitch Black	Paris P. Ogilvie		[13]
2006	Loveproof		Short film
2009	The Boys are Back	Tim Walker		[1]
2011	Lachlan Macquarie: The Father of Australia	Commissioner Bigge
	The Cup	Sir Michael Smurfit		[16]
Phone Call	Stanley	Short film
2012	Not Suitable For Children	Dr McKenzie		[1]
2013	The Wolverine	Attorney #1		[1]
2015	Truth	Louis Boccardi
2017	Dance Academy: The Movie	ICU Dr Kelly		[1]
2018	Pimped	Michael Hanson		[34]
	Harmony	Mr Lenox		[1]
2022	Thirteen Lives	Vern Unsworth		[35]
2023	What About Sal	Geoff		[36]
2025	Spit	Ian Hamblin KC		[37]

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Writer / director

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1993	The Last Man Hanged	Writer / director	TV docudrama film	[33][9]
1994	The Gadfly	Writer / director	TV documentary film	[38]
1995	Race Against Prime Time	Director	Documentary
1997	Big Sky	Storyliner
1998	Twisted Tales	Director	1 episode
1999–2000	Stingers	Director	4 episodes
2000	Aria and Pasta	Director	Documentary series, 7 episodes	[39]
2001	Water Rats	Director / Second Unit Director	2 episodes / 5 episodes
2001–2002	Ponderosa	Director	4 episodes
2002	McLeod's Daughters	Director	2 episodes
2003	Sex and Drugs and Rock’N’Roll	Writer
2003–2006	Home and Away	Director	59 episodes
2008	Neighbours	Director	5 episodes
	Out of the Blue	Director	15 episodes
2016	39,000 Doors Create	Writer / Director / Producer	Feature documentary

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^[1]

• List of University of New England (Australia) people