Wayne Blair

Born in Taree, Australia, Wayne Blair was raised on sports, and only came to the arts after attending college in Brisbane to study business and marketing. After getting his marketing degree, Blair completed a three-year acting program at Queensland University of Technology. As an actor, Blair appeared in a number of Australian productions in both film and television, although the projects rarely received attention outside of his native land. His first onscreen appearance was in "The Tower" (1997), a TV movie, then appearances in "Wildside" (ABC, 1997-99) and "All Saints" (The Seven Network, 1998-2009), both Australian TV series. In 1998 Blair began to explore directing, when he was among the first filmmakers to be mentored under the Metro Screen Indigenous Mentor Scheme. After writing and directing a few short films, Blair got his first professional directing experience with two Australian children's series "Lockie Leonard" (Nine Network, 2007-2010) and "Double Trouble" (Nine Network, 2008). 2012 was an extremely busy and productive year for Blair. He appeared in the Australian feature "Wish You Were Here" (2012) which received a US and international release, as did Blair's first feature film, "The Sapphires" (2012) based on a play which included Blair in its original cast. The film, about an indigenous musical group who entertained troops in Vietnam, premiered at Cannes and was enthusiastically received. In 2012, Blair also began writing, directing, and acting on the show "Redfern Now" (ABC, 2012-2015), a drama that takes place in the largely indigenous Sydney suburb of Redfern. Blair's second film "Septembers of Shiraz" premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival.