Screenwriters Famous Screenwriters from Australia

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List of notable or famous screenwriters from Australia, with bios and photos, including the top screenwriters born in Australia and even some popular screenwriters who immigrated to Australia. If you're trying to find out the names of famous Australian screenwriters then this list is the perfect resource for you. These screenwriters are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known screenwriter from Australia is included when available.

A list made up of people like Mel Gibson and Kylie Minogue.

This historic screenwriters from Australia list can help answer the questions "Who are some Australian screenwriters of note?" and "Who are the most famous screenwriters from Australia?" These prominent screenwriters of Australia may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected Australian screenwriters.

Use this list of renowned Australian screenwriters to discover some new screenwriters that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. (279 items)

1
Mel Gibson is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 62 Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson AO is an American actor and filmmaker. He is most well known as an action hero, for roles such as Martin Riggs in the Lethal Weapon buddy cop film series and Max ...more

2
Kylie Minogue is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 49 Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE, often known simply as Kylie, is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. She achieved recognition by starring in the Australia TV soap opera Neighbours, where she ...more

3
Rebel Wilson is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 38 Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson is an Australian actress, writer, entrepreneur, and stand-up comedian. She began appearing as Toula in the SBS comedy series Pizza and the sketch comedy series The ...more

4
Eric Bana is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 47 Eric Bana is an Australian actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biographical crime film Chopper. After a ...more

5
Barry Humphries is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 84 Barry Humphries was the nominee from 1981 British Academy Television Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance.

6
Rachel Ward is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 58 Rachel Claire Ward, AM is an English actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.

7
Joel Edgerton is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 41 Joel Edgerton is an Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his roles in films such as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars Episode III: ...more

8
Germaine Greer is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 79 Germaine Greer is an Australian theorist, academic and journalist, who is regarded as having been a major feminist voice of the mid-20th century. She resides in the United Kingdom, where she is ...more

9
Adam Elliot is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 46 Adam Elliot is an independent Australian stop-motion animation writer, director and producer based in Melbourne, Australia. His five films have collectively participated in over seven-hundred ...more

10
Aunty Jack is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 74 Grahame John Bond AM is an Australian actor, writer, director, musician and composer, known primarily for his role as Aunty Jack.

11
A.J. Carter is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 37 A. J. Carter is an Australian film director, screenwriter and producer. In his recent emerging career as a film director, his debut narrative short film Ronan's Escape awarded him and his ...more

12
Nick Enright is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 53 (1950-2003) Nicholas Paul "Nick" Enright AM was an Australian dramatist and playwright.

13
Nick Cave is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 60 Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor. He is best known as the frontman of Nick Cave and the Bad ...more

14
Stephan Elliott is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 53 Stephan Elliott is an Australian film director and screenwriter. His best-known film internationally is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

15
Andrew Denton is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 57 Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television ...more

16
Robert Hughes is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 74 (1938-2012) Robert Studley Forrest Hughes AO was an Australian-born art critic, writer, and producer of television documentaries. His best seller The Fatal Shore is a study of the British penal colonies and ...more

17
John Farrow is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 59 (1904-1963) John Villiers Farrow, CBE KGCHS was an Australian-born American film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957, he won the Academy Award for Best Writing/Best Screenplay for Around the World ...more

18
James Morrison is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 55 James Lloyd Morrison AM is a multi-instrumental Australian jazz musician. Widely known for his trumpet playing – he has also performed on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, clarinet, ...more

19
Phillip Noyce is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 67 Phillip Noyce is an Australian film director.

20
Andrew Hansen is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 43 Andrew John Hansen is an Australian comedian and musician, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, Hansen's television work includes co-writing and ...more

21
Alec Coppel is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 65 (1907-1972) Alec Coppel was an Australian-born screenwriter, novelist and playwright. He spent the majority of his career in London and Hollywood, specialising in light thrillers, mysteries and sex ...more

22
Dorothy Hewett is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 79 (1923-2002) Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright. She was also a member of the Communist Party of Australia, though she clashed on many occasions with the party's ...more

23
Angela Webber is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 53 (1954-2007) Angela Webber was an Australian author, TV writer, producer and comedian.

24
Shane Brennan is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 61 Shane Brennan is an Australian-born U.S.-based television writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of the American CBS drama NCIS, as well as the creator of the NCIS spin-off ...more

25
Paul McDermott is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 55 Paul McDermott is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, director, singer, artist and television host. As a comedian, he is best known both for Good News Week and for his role as a member of the ...more

26
Jo Kennedy is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 55 Jo Kennedy is an actress and film director.

27
Colin Higgins is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 47 (1941-1988) Colin Higgins was an Australian-American screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. He was best known for writing the screenplay for the 1971 film Harold and Maude, and for directing the films ...more

28
Leigh Whannell is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 41 Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He is best known for writing films directed by his friend James Wan, including Saw, Dead Silence, Death Sentence, ...more

29
Hamish Blake is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 36 Hamish Donald Blake is an Australian Gold Logie Award winning comedian, actor, and author from Melbourne. Since 2003, he has worked with Andy Lee as part of the comedy duo Hamish and Andy. The ...more

30
Posie Graeme-Evans is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 66 Posie Graeme-Evans is an Australian novelist, television and film producer, editor, screenwriter and director, best known for her children's programs and adult dramas. She has created many ...more

31
Catherine Deveny is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 50 Catherine Deveny is an Australian comedy writer and stand-up comedian who was a regular columnist in The Age newspaper between 2001 and 2010. She has performed on Australian television networks, ...more

32
Bruce Beresford is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 77 Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career. Notable films he has directed include Breaker Morant, Tender Mercies, Crimes of the ...more

33
Paulette McDonagh is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Paulette McDonagh Died at 77 (1901-1978) Paulette de Vere McDonagh, was an Australian film director, who often worked in collaboration with her sisters Phyllis and Isabella. In 1933 it was claimed she was one of only five female film ...more

34
Apostolos Doxiadis is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 64 Apostolos K. Doxiadis is a Greek writer. He is best known for his international bestsellers Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture and Logicomix.

35
Patrick White is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 78 (1912-1990) Patrick Victor Martindale White was an English-born Australian writer who is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language novelists of the 20th century. From 1935 until his ...more

36
Adam Zwar is listed (or ranked) 36 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 46 Adam Zwar is a multi award-winning Australian actor, voice artist, and writer. He is best known for co-creating the Australian comedy series Lowdown, Wilfred and creating the popular factual ...more

37
Bob Ellis is listed (or ranked) 37 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 73 Robert "Bob" Ellis is an Australian writer, journalist, filmmaker and political commentator. He was a student at the University of Sydney at the same time as other notable Australians ...more

38
Magda Szubanski is listed (or ranked) 38 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 54 Magdalene M. "Magda" Szubanski is an English-born Australian actress, comedian, television presenter, radio host and author. Szubanski's career began while she was studying at ...more

39
Baz Luhrmann is listed (or ranked) 39 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 55 Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, comprising his romantic comedy film Strictly Ballroom, the ...more

40
George Miller is listed (or ranked) 40 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 73 George Miller AO is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, but has been involved in a wide range of projects. ...more

41
Alex Proyas is listed (or ranked) 41 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 54 Alexander "Alex" Proyas is an Egyptian-born Greek-Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer. Proyas is best known for directing the films The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot, and ...more

42
Jonathan Hardy is listed (or ranked) 42 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 72 (1940-2012) Jonathan Hardy was a New Zealand-born Australian actor, writer and director.

43
David Williamson is listed (or ranked) 43 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 76 David Keith Williamson, AO is one of Australia's best-known dramatists and playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.

44
Rachel Perkins is listed (or ranked) 44 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 48 Rachel Perkins is a film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She is known for her films Bran Nue Dae, Radiance and One Night the Moon. Perkins is an Arrernte woman from Central ...more

45
Johanna Pigott is listed (or ranked) 45 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 63 Johanna Paton Pigott is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and screenwriter. Her best known hit songs are Dragon's "Rain" which peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music ...more

46
Joanna Murray-Smith is listed (or ranked) 46 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 55 Joanna Murray-Smith is a Melbourne based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist.

47
Richard Roxburgh is listed (or ranked) 47 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 53 Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and television series and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as

48
J. P. McGowan is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
Died at 72 (1880-1952) John Paterson McGowan was a pioneering Hollywood actor and director and occasionally a screenwriter and producer. J. P. McGowan, as he was usually known, remains the only Australian to have been ...more

49
Rove McManus is listed (or ranked) 49 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 44 John Henry Michael "Rove" McManus is an triple award winning Australian Gold Logie award winning television presenter, producer, comedian and media personality. He is the host of the ...more

50
Peter Weir is listed (or ranked) 50 on the list Famous Screenwriters from Australia
age 73 Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. He played a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as the mystery drama Picnic at Hanging Rock, the mystery ...more