Ian Gilmour (actor)

Ian Gilmour
Born
EducationAustralian Film, Television and Radio School
OccupationsActor and director
Known forClose to Home
Prisoner

Ian Gilmour is a New Zealand-born actor and director who has worked mostly in Australia.

Career

Acting

Gilmour has acted in several Australian television series, most notably as Kevin Burns in Prisoner in 1980. Other credits include The Box, Chopper Squad, Kingswood Country, Waterloo Station, A Country Practice and The Flying Doctors.[1][2]

Gilmour's early film credits include Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), John Duigan’s Mouth to Mouth (1978) and The Odd Angry Shot (1979). His film work continued in the 1980s with Silver City (1984), The Coca-Cola Kid (1985) alongside American actor Eric Roberts and Malpractice (1989). He also appeared in the 1988 Fred Schepisi drama Evil Angels (aka A Cry in the Dark),[2] which documented the true story of Lindy Chamberlain and the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain, opposite Meryl Streep and Sam Neill.[3]

Directing

Gilmour subsequently moved away from acting to become a director. He was selected from over a thousand applicants to study at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School specialising in Screen Direction. After completing his diploma, he went into pre-production on the 1985 TV movie Double Sculls,[2] starring Chris Haywood.

In 1992, Gilmour was the set up director on Black Beauty, which received the International TV Programmers' Award at the 1994 New York Festival.[2] He next directed the 1993 pilot for the series Newlyweds. His subsequent work included Tales of the South Seas, TV movie Code Red (2001) and fantasy series BeastMaster (1999) and The Lost World (1999). He directed the 2002 award-winning miniseries Bootleg, three episodes of multi-award winning children's series Mortified and two 'Movies of the Week' for the Sci Fi Network.[2] He also created and directed the 2006 film Magma: Volcanic Disaster, about a volcanic disaster.[4]

Other directorial credits in television include: The Flying Doctors, Heartbreak High, Water Rats, McLeod's Daughters, Flipper, Phoenix and Home and Away, as well as the miniseries Snowy and Bordertown.[2]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1978 The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Eddie Feature film
Mouth to Mouth Tim Feature film
1979 The Odd Angry Shot Scott Feature film
Now and Then Garry Film
Just Out of Reach Steve Feature film
1982 Going Down Shadow Feature film
A Dangerous Summer Steve Adams Feature film
1983 Undercover Simmo Feature film
1984 One Night Stand Sharon's Ex-boyfriend Feature film
Silver City Barman Feature film
1985 The Coca-Cola Kid Marjorie Feature film
The Boy Who Had Everything Pollock Feature film
1988 The First Kangaroos Steamship Official Feature film
Evil Angels (aka A Cry in the Dark) John Buckland Feature film
1989 Malpractice Dr Frank Harrison Feature film
2012 Careless Love Detective Feature film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1975 Close to Home Alan Hearte 782 episodes
1977 The Sullivans Young German 4 episodes
1978 Chopper Squad Jeff 1 episode
1979 Ride on Stranger Freddy Miniseries, 1 episode
A Place in the World Miniseries
1979–1980 Cop Shop Brett Summers / Russell Hewitt / David Griffin 6 episodes
1980 Lawson's Mates Jim 1 episode
Spring & Fall Phil O'Donohue 1 episode
Prisoner Kevin Burns 22 episodes
1982 Kingswood Country Troy Bridges 1 episode
1983 Waterloo Station
1982–1987 A Country Practice Commercial Director / Donald Cook / Spike 6 episodes
1987 Room to Move Second Policeman TV movie
The Flying Doctors Colin Neilson 1 episode
1989 E Street Terry O'Brien 1 episode

Personal life

Gilmour lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and son.

References

  1. ^ Albert Moran and Chris Keating The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television, p. 345, at Google Books
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Ian Gilmour". Amazon. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  3. ^ "Evil Angels". Screen Australia. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  4. ^ "Magma: Volcanic Disaster". www.classification.gov.au. Retrieved 5 October 2025.