John Jarratt

John Jarratt
Jarratt at the Sydney premiere of Man of Steel, 24 June 2013
Born	(1952-08-05) 5 August 1952 (age 64) Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Children	6

John Jarratt (born 5 August 1952) is an Australian television and film actor, producer and director, who rose to fame through his work in the Australian New Wave. He is best known for portraying the main antagonist Mick Taylor in the Wolf Creek film series.

Jarratt was born and grew up in Wongawilli, a small rural town near Wollongong, New South Wales, and later in the Snowy Mountains area. Jarratt's father was a coal miner and later a concreter, who worked on the Snowy Mountains hydroelectric scheme. His ancestor George Jarratt, born 1833, came from Croxton in Cambridgeshire, England; his son, John, married a Mary Kelly from Ireland. While in high school, Jarratt directed and acted in a school play which was a great success and led to his school principal recommending that he pursue an acting career.

Jarratt graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 1973. His screen debut was in The Great Macarthy (1975). He also appeared in Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Summer City (1977) with Mel Gibson. Jarratt had the lead role in the mini series The Last Outlaw playing Ned Kelly in 1979. He played a major supporting role as a young Australian soldier in Vietnam war movie The Odd Angry Shot (1980). In the late 1980s, Jarratt recognised he had a problem with binge drinking and related violence and joined Alcoholics Anonymous, an organisation in which he continues to be active.

In the 1990s, Jarratt was a presenter on the lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens with then-wife Noni Hazlehurst. He had guest roles in Inspector Morse, Police Rescue, Blue Murder, Water Rats and Blue Heelers in the 1990s and 2000s. He joined the cast of McLeod's Daughters in 2001, and left the show in 2006. In 2010, Jarratt appeared in a commercial for Husqvarna.