Ernie Dingo

Ernie Dingo
Ernie Dingo presents The Great Outdoors and see Australia
Born	Ernest Ashley Dingo (1956-07-31) 31 July 1956 (age 60) Bullardoo Station, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation	Actor, television personality, comedian, teacher, promoter
Spouse(s)	Sally Ashton-Dingo (nee Butler) (1989–)
Children	Willara, Zoe, Alyssa and Jurra

Ernest "Ernie" Ashley Dingo AM (born 31 July 1956) is an Indigenous Australian actor and television presenter, comedian, teacher and promoter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia. He is a designated Australian National Living Treasure.

Born Ernest Ashley Dingo on 31 July 1956, at Bullardoo Station, he was the second child of nine, including three brothers and five sisters. He grew up in Mullewa, Western Australia with his family. His younger brother Murray died in a car accident in August 2007. He went to Prospect Primary and then Geraldton High School.

He came to acting after moving to Perth and meeting Richard Walley, with whom he played basketball in a local team. Ernie went on to play state league first division for the East Perth Hawks.

Dingo is a distinguished actor and presenter in film and television, and promoted the Generation One "Hand Across Australia" which was a promotion for Indigenous equality.

He collaborated with Richard Walley to create a controversial "Welcome to Country" ceremony in Perth in 1976, after dancers from the Pacific islands would not perform without one.

Dingo's film career began in the early 1980s and he appeared regularly on screen through the 1990s. He appeared in Bruce Beresford's 1987 drama The Fringe Dwellers and worked on the 1988 docu-drama biopic Tudawali. He had a major supporting role in the international comedy blockbuster Crocodile Dundee II in 1988. He appeared as himself in the 1989 comedy Capuccino and had a major role in the 1991 Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World. In 1993 he starred in Blackfellas and he had a lead role in 1996's Dead Heart. In 1998 he starred in Somewhere in the Darkness. In 2010 he returned to the silver screen with a role in the Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae along with Jessica Mauboy and Geoffrey Rush.