Craig McLachlan
Encyclopedia
Craig McLachlan is an Australian actor and singer. He appeared in shows such as Sons and Daughters
Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
Sons and Daughters was a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired in December 1981, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period, and the official broadcast date of the final...

, Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

, Bugs and Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...

.

Biography

Craig McLachlan first appeared on television in a guest role on the soap Sons and Daughters
Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
Sons and Daughters was a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired in December 1981, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period, and the official broadcast date of the final...

in late 1986. He then became very well known in 1987 when he landed the role of Henry Ramsay, brother of Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

's character Charlene
Charlene Robinson
Charlene Edna Robinson is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours played by Kylie Minogue. She made her first on-screen appearance on 17 April 1986 when she came to join her mother Madge in Ramsay Street. Charlene was a tomboy and later worked as a Mechanic...

, in Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

. Two years later, he defected to a rival show, Home and Away
Home and Away
Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...

, playing schoolteacher Grant Mitchell.

McLachlan has also had success as a singer, capitalising on his popularity in Neighbours to score Australian and UK hit singles with pop tunes such as his remake of the Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...

 song "Mona", "Amanda", and "On My Own".

In 1993 he starred as Danny Zuko in the popular West End revival of the musical Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...

alongside Deborah Gibson
Deborah Gibson
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...

 and Sonia Evans. Also in that year he married Australian actress Rachel Friend
Rachel Friend
-Career:Friend joined the cast of the soap opera Neighbours in 1988, when she was eighteen. Friend chose to postpone her university degree to join the show as Bronwyn Davies. Friend quit Neighbours in 1990. That same year saw her win the Logie Award for "Most Popular Actress".Other roles have...

, whom he met on the set of Neighbours. They divorced in 1994. Their characters Bronwyn
Bronwyn Davies
Bronwyn Ramsay is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Rachel Friend. She made her first on-screen appearance on 7 July 1988. Bronwyn is the sister of Sharon Davies. Bronwyn fell in love with Henry Ramsay and when he left for New Zealand, she...

 and Henry had also earlier married in Neighbours.

In 1995 McLachlan appeared in the popular British television series Bugs. He played the role of a free-lance agent and electronics expert, who along with his colleagues worked covertly to combat terrorist threats. McLachlan left the show at the end of the third series due to a disagreement with the show's producers and director.

In 1995 he appeared in Catherine the Great alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...

, Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...

 and Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...

.

In 2001, McLachlan had a breakthrough with the American movie Superfire
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...

, where he played a fireman who died at the end of the movie. In 2004, he got a recurring role as Kane Morgan in the popular show McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters
McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm...

, but left the show at the fourth season.

In 2005 he starred as Jeff Kennard in the Australian film Hating Alison Ashley
Hating Alison Ashley (film)
Hating Alison Ashley is a 2005 Australian comedy film based upon the 1984 novel of the same name produced by Elizabeth Howatt-Jackman and directed by Geoff Bennett...

, with fellow Neighbours star Delta Goodrem
Delta Goodrem
Delta Lea Goodrem is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. Signed to Sony at the age of 15, Goodrem rose to prominence in 2002, starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Nina Tucker. Goodrem has achieved eight number-one singles and three number-one albums in her home...

 and McLeod's Daughters co-star Rachael Carpani
Rachael Carpani
Rachael Ann Carpani is an Australian actress.-Biography:Carpani grew up on a property near Dural, in Sydney's Hills district. She studied acting at the Australian College of Entertainment at Macquarie University and at the Drama Works Drama Company...

. In 2006, he appeared in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

 as a stand-up comedian. His career as a stand-up also included an infamous appearance on the NRL Footy Show where he was heckled by the audience.

In 2011, he took part in the UK Series Dancing On Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...

. During the second week of the show, he failed to receive sufficient public votes, and therefore left the competition prior to its official start with Bulgarian ice skater Maria Filippov
Maria Filippov
Maria Filippov is a Bulgarian ice skater.-Career:As Maria Hadjiiska, she was a member of the Bulgarian national ice dancing team from 1988 to 1992 and her country's national ice dance champion in 1990-1991...

.

From September 2011, he played the handsome gay gardener on the ABC TV Australia's "At Home With Julia" comedy series.

Theatre

He was at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

's Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
The Theatre Royal in Plymouth, Devon, England is "the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the south west", according to Arts Council England...

 and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

's Mayflower Theatre
Mayflower Theatre
The Mayflower is a Grade II listed theatre, in the city centre of Southampton, United Kingdom, with a capacity of 2,300. It features West End theatre shows when they tour the UK. The theatre opened on the 22 December 1928, as The Empire Theatre, part of the Moss Empire theatre group...

 in White Christmas
White Christmas (film)
White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas"...

, based on the 1954 film starring Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

 and Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

. He starred with Tim Flavin, Rachel Stanley, Ken Kercheval
Ken Kercheval
Ken Kercheval is an American actor, best known for his role as Cliff Barnes on the television series Dallas....

, Emma Kate Nelson and Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft
Lorna Luft is an American television, stage, and film actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and Sid Luft, and the half-sister of singer and actress Liza Minnelli.-Biography:...

. He reprised his role as Bob Wallace in 2007 at the Edinburgh Playhouse
Edinburgh Playhouse
The Edinburgh Playhouse is a former cinema in Edinburgh, Scotland which now hosts touring musicals and music concerts. Its capacity is 3,059, making it the UK's largest working theatre in terms of audience capacity....

 and the Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre
Wales Millennium Centre is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert...

 in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

.

From 22 June to 15 September 2007, he played the leading role of Caractacus Potts
Caractacus Potts
Caractacus Potts is one of the main characters in the family film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He is an eccentric inventor who lives with his twin eight-year-old children, Jeremy & Jemima, and Grandpa Potts, on the Potts' hilltop farm...

 in the musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (musical)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also known as Chitty the Musical, is a stage musical based on the 1968 film produced by Cubby Broccoli. The music and lyrics were written by Richard and Robert Sherman with book by Jeremy Sams.-Productions:...

at the Mayflower Theatre
Mayflower Theatre
The Mayflower is a Grade II listed theatre, in the city centre of Southampton, United Kingdom, with a capacity of 2,300. It features West End theatre shows when they tour the UK. The theatre opened on the 22 December 1928, as The Empire Theatre, part of the Moss Empire theatre group...

, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

.

He also starred as Prince Charming in the 2008 Christmas Musical Pantomime of Cinderella at the Mayflower Theatre
Mayflower Theatre
The Mayflower is a Grade II listed theatre, in the city centre of Southampton, United Kingdom, with a capacity of 2,300. It features West End theatre shows when they tour the UK. The theatre opened on the 22 December 1928, as The Empire Theatre, part of the Moss Empire theatre group...

, Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

.

McLachlan is currently starring as Billy Flynn in the Australian production of Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...

. He will also feature in the musical's tour of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 in April–May 2010 and Hong Kong in May–June 2010. He has returned to the UK to live and is looked after by INC Agency – Chris Manoe and Antony Read. In his spare time, he updates this page regularly.

Studio Albums

Year Title Chart positions
UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

Aus
1990
1990 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1990.-Events:*January 21 – MTV's Unplugged premieres on cable television with British band Squeeze...

Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
  • as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
  • Debut studio album
#10
#4
1992
1992 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s....

Hands Free
  • Second studio album
  • -
    -
    1996
    1996 in music
    This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...

    Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
  • as Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
  • Third studio album
  • -
    -

    Musical Albums

    Year Information Chart positions
    UK
    UK Albums Chart
    The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

    Aus
    1992
    1992 in music
    This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1992.-January–February:*January 11**Nirvana's Nevermind album goes to #1 in the US Billboard 200 chart, establishing the widespread popularity of the Grunge movement of the 1990s....

    The Rocky Horror Show
    • with Australian cast
    -
    -
    1995
    1995 in music
    This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....

    Grease
  • with Original London cast
  • -
    -

    Singles

    Year Title Chart positions Album
    UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

    Aus
    1989 "Rock the Rock"
    • as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
    - #36 Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
    1990 "Mona"
  • as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
  • #2 #3
    "Amanda"
  • as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
  • #19 #24
    "I Almost Felt Like Crying"
  • as Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2
  • #50 -
    1991 "On My Own" #59 #23 Hands Free
    1992 "One Reason Why" #29 -
    "I Hear You Knocking" - -
    "Time Warp"
  • with with Australian cast
  • - - The Rocky Horror Show
    1993 "You're The One That I Want"
  • duet with Deborah Gibson
    Deborah Gibson
    Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...

  • #13 - Grease
    "Grease" #44 -
    1995 "Hear the World Cry"
  • as Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
  • - - Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
    "If We Were Angels" / "Roxy"
  • as Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
  • - -
    "Everyday"
  • as Craig McLachlan & The Culprits
  • #65 -

    Videos

    • Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2: The Video (featured an interview and the video clips for "Mona", "Amanda", "Rock The Rock" and "I Almost Felt Like Crying") (1990)

    Films

    Year Film Role Notes
    1991 Heroes II: The Return Lt. Walter Carey TV movie
    1992 Mad Bomber in Love The Whip
    Absent Without Leave James Edwards
    1995 Catherine the Great Saltykov TV movie
    2001 Abschied in den Tod Det. Const. Steve McNamara TV movie
    Let's Get Skase
    Let's Get Skase
    Let's Get Skase is a 2001 Australian comedy starring Lachy Hulme, Alex Dimitriades, Craig McLachlan and Bill Kerr. It is based on the life of failed Australian businessman Christopher Skase, who after the collapse of his Qintex business, fled to Majorca, Spain. Skase died at around the time of the...

    Eric Carney
    My Husband My Killer Warren Elkins TV movie
    Invincible Lieutenant TV movie
    Cubbyhouse Bill
    2002 Heroes' Mountain Stuart Diver TV movie
    2004 Through My Eyes Michael Chamberlain TV movie
    2005 Hating Alison Ashley
    Hating Alison Ashley (film)
    Hating Alison Ashley is a 2005 Australian comedy film based upon the 1984 novel of the same name produced by Elizabeth Howatt-Jackman and directed by Geoff Bennett...

    Jeff Kennard
    The Great Raid
    The Great Raid
    The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan, adapted from William Breuer's book of the same name. It tells the story of the January 1945 liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp on the Philippine island of Luzon during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin...

    2nd Lt. Riley
    2009 Savages Crossing Mory
    Amar A Morir Nick

    TV

    Year Show Role Notes
    1986 Sons and Daughters
    Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
    Sons and Daughters was a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired in December 1981, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period, and the official broadcast date of the final...

    Student 1 episode
    1987-1989 Neighbours
    Neighbours
    Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

    Henry Ramsay Series regular
    1990-1991 Home and Away
    Home and Away
    Home and Away is an Australian soap opera that has been produced in Sydney since July 1987 and is airing on the Seven Network since 17 January 1988. It is the second-longest-running drama and most popular soap opera on Australian television...

    Grant Mitchell Series regular
    1995-1997 Bugs
    Bugs (TV series)
    Bugs was a British television drama series which ran for four series from April 1995 to August 1999. The programme, a mixture of action/adventure and science-fiction, involved a team of specialist independent crime-fighting technology experts, who faced a variety of threats based around computers...

    Ed Russell Series regular
    1999 Tribe Ralph Leyton
    2001-2002 Always Greener
    Always Greener
    Always Greener was an Australian television drama/comedy series that aired on the Seven Network which followed the fortunes of two families, one from the city and the other from the country, when they decide to switch homes and start a new direction in life for themselves...

    Greg Graham Recurring: 5 episodes
    2004 McLeod's Daughters
    McLeod's Daughters
    McLeod's Daughters is a Logie award-winning Australian drama series that aired on the Nine Network from 2001 to 2009. It tells the story of two sisters, Claire and Tess McLeod, who are reunited after they inherit the family farm...

    Kane Morgan Recurring: 10 episodes
    2005 Supernova Alistair Foster 1 episode: Unity
    2008 City Homicide
    City Homicide
    City Homicide was an Australian television drama series that aired on the Seven Network between 27 August 2007 – 30 March 2011. The series was set on the Homicide floor of a metropolitan police headquarters in Melbourne...

    Leon Grasby 1 episode: Golden
    2008-2009 Packed to the Rafters
    Packed to the Rafters
    Packed to the Rafters is an Australian family-orientated television series which premiered on the Seven Network on Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 8:30 pm. The drama series features a mix of lighthearted comedy woven through the plot. It revolves around the Rafter family facing work pressures and...

    Steve Wilson Recurring: 5 episodes
    2009 The Cut
    The Cut (Australian TV series)
    The Cut , written by John Misto, is an Australian drama television series which screened in 2009 on ABC1. The series contains six one-hour episodes and stars John Wood.The show was first announced in February 2008 and was filmed in June/July 2008....

    Dutch Holland 1 episode: A Falcon's Tail
    2010 Lowdown
    Lowdown
    "Lowdown" is a song written by Peter Cetera and Danny Seraphine for the rock band Chicago and recorded for their third album Chicago III . It was the second single released from this album, and peaked at #35 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100....

    Ben Hollander 1 episode: Wasp in Translation
    2011 Rescue Special Ops Hayden Bradley Recurring: 6 episodes
    At Home with Julia
    At Home With Julia
    At Home With Julia is a four-part Australian sitcom television series which debuted on 7 September 2011. It depicts a fictional representation of the relationship between the current Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard and her partner, Tim Mathieson in The Lodge.The series is a 2012...

    Steve the Gardener Recurring: 4 episodes
    NCIS: Los Angeles Clifford Bosworth 1 episode: Lone Wolf

    External links

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