Shane Briant
Encyclopedia
Shane Briant is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet
at the Eblana theatre. He currently resides in Sydney
, Australia.
. Briant was subsequently nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' award by the London theatre critics that year for this role. Put under contract at Elstree Film Studios in late 1973, Briant starred in four films; Straight on Till Morning
, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
and Demons of the Mind
. He also appeared in television series such as Van der Valk, The Sweeney as well as Jack Gold's The Naked Civil Servant with John Hurt. During this time Briant appeared in countless B.B.C drama series and Plays of the Month, most notably Warris Hussein's Notorious Woman
opposite Rosemary Harris, Geoerge Chakiris and Jeremy Irons. In 1974, in Hollywood, he played the name role in Glenn Jordan's The Picture of Dorian Gray a two part Movie of the Week for America's A.B.C. network. Other later film and television credits include John Huston's The Mackintosh Man with Paul Newman; guest starring in Jeffrey Bloom's Veronica Clare; playing Jack Palance's son in the film Hawk the
Slayer, starring in David Wolper's Murder is Easy with Olivia de Havilland, and Just Jaekin's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Since the early 1980s, the bulk, but not all, of Briant's acting work has been in Australian and New Zealand films and television. He has starred in 14 films in Australia and New Zealand, including Simon Wincer's The Lighthorsemen
, Shaker Run, Chamelian 3, Grievous Body Harm, Run Chrissie Run!
and Cassandra. His TV credits include: Anzacs, The Flying Doctors
, Bodysurfer, Darlings of the Gods, The Man from Snowy River
, Wildside
, Murder Call
, the European co-production Mission Top Secret
, All Saints
, False Witness
and the American sci-fi series Farscape
and Time Trax. Briant portrays the governor of Bombay in Roland Joffé
's upcoming epic
drama
Singularity
.
A new novel, Worst Nightmares was published in hardback by Vanguard Press in 2009 to universally great reviews and the mass market edition in 2010. Shane finished the sequel 3 March 2011, "The Dreamhealer."
The first short film he wrote, A Message from Fallujah won the "Best of the Fest" award at the 2005 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and was in the final mix of ten shorts for consideration for an Academy Award that year.
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
at the Eblana theatre. He currently resides in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia.
Stage and screen
A year later he played one of the leads in Children of the Wolf, with Sheelagh Cullen and Yvonne Mitchel at London's Apollo TheatreApollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
. Briant was subsequently nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' award by the London theatre critics that year for this role. Put under contract at Elstree Film Studios in late 1973, Briant starred in four films; Straight on Till Morning
Straight on Till Morning
Straight on Till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. A reserved young woman finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies...
, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell is a 1974 British horror film from Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by Terence Fisher and starred Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, and David Prowse...
, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British horror film written, produced and directed by Brian Clemens for Hammer Film Productions that was originally the pilot for a planned series. It stars Horst Janson in the title role, along with John Carson, Shane Briant and Caroline Munro...
and Demons of the Mind
Demons of the Mind
Demons of the Mind is a British period horror film, produced by the Hammer studio. It was directed by Peter Sykes and its cinematographer was Arthur Grant. The cast includes Gillian Hills , Robert Hardy, Patrick Magee, Michael Hordern, and Shane Briant...
. He also appeared in television series such as Van der Valk, The Sweeney as well as Jack Gold's The Naked Civil Servant with John Hurt. During this time Briant appeared in countless B.B.C drama series and Plays of the Month, most notably Warris Hussein's Notorious Woman
Notorious Woman
Notorious Woman was a 1974 BBC television serial based on the life of French author George Sand. It starred Rosemary Harris in the title role. The seven episodes were written by Harry W...
opposite Rosemary Harris, Geoerge Chakiris and Jeremy Irons. In 1974, in Hollywood, he played the name role in Glenn Jordan's The Picture of Dorian Gray a two part Movie of the Week for America's A.B.C. network. Other later film and television credits include John Huston's The Mackintosh Man with Paul Newman; guest starring in Jeffrey Bloom's Veronica Clare; playing Jack Palance's son in the film Hawk the
Slayer, starring in David Wolper's Murder is Easy with Olivia de Havilland, and Just Jaekin's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Since the early 1980s, the bulk, but not all, of Briant's acting work has been in Australian and New Zealand films and television. He has starred in 14 films in Australia and New Zealand, including Simon Wincer's The Lighthorsemen
The Lighthorsemen (film)
The Lighthorsemen is a 1987 Australian feature film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in the 1917 Battle of Beersheeba...
, Shaker Run, Chamelian 3, Grievous Body Harm, Run Chrissie Run!
Run Chrissie Run!
Run Chrissie Run! is a 1986 Australian film, directed by Chris Langman. Graham Hartley adapted the script from the novel When We Ran by Keith Leopold...
and Cassandra. His TV credits include: Anzacs, The Flying Doctors
The Flying Doctors
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia....
, Bodysurfer, Darlings of the Gods, The Man from Snowy River
The Man From Snowy River (TV series)
The Man from Snowy River is an Australian television series based on Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River". Released in Australia as Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River, the series was subsequently released in the United States as Snowy River: The McGregor Saga.The television...
, Wildside
Wildside (TV drama)
Wildside is an Australian police procedural television series broadcast on the ABC from 1997 to 1999.The show consisted of a one hour format that followed police interactions in inner Sydney. It starred Rachael Blake, Tony Martin, Richard Carter and Alex Dimitriades...
, Murder Call
Murder Call
Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked...
, the European co-production Mission Top Secret
Mission Top Secret
Mission Top Secret is an Australian TV series aired between 1992 and 1995. The pilot for the series was a 1991 telemovie of the same name.-Cast:* Jennifer Hardy as Victoria Wiggins * Andrew Shephard as Albert Wiggins...
, All Saints
All Saints (TV series)
All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009...
, False Witness
False Witness
False Witness is an Australian television mini-series produced by Screentime Australia for the Australian subscription television channel UK.TV...
and the American sci-fi series Farscape
Farscape
Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...
and Time Trax. Briant portrays the governor of Bombay in Roland Joffé
Roland Joffé
Roland Joffé is an English-French film director who is known for his Oscar nominated movies, The Killing Fields and The Mission. He began his career in television. His early television credits included episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada...
's upcoming epic
Epic film
An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
Singularity
Singularity (film)
Singularity is an upcoming epic romance time travel adventure film. Helmed by Roland Joffé from a story by Ajey Jhankar, the film is a sweeping tale of an impossible love set against the backdrop of the first Anglo-Maratha war across two time periods and continents and centred around four...
.
Writing and art
Briant has had five novels published in Australia; The Webber Agenda (1994), The Chasen Catalyst (1995), Hitkids (1999), Bite of the Lotus (2001) and Graphic (2005), and has had exhibitions of his art works hung in Sydney.A new novel, Worst Nightmares was published in hardback by Vanguard Press in 2009 to universally great reviews and the mass market edition in 2010. Shane finished the sequel 3 March 2011, "The Dreamhealer."
The first short film he wrote, A Message from Fallujah won the "Best of the Fest" award at the 2005 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and was in the final mix of ten shorts for consideration for an Academy Award that year.
Selected filmography
- Straight on Till MorningStraight on Till MorningStraight on Till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. A reserved young woman finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies...
(1972) - Demons of the MindDemons of the MindDemons of the Mind is a British period horror film, produced by the Hammer studio. It was directed by Peter Sykes and its cinematographer was Arthur Grant. The cast includes Gillian Hills , Robert Hardy, Patrick Magee, Michael Hordern, and Shane Briant...
(1972) - The MacKintosh ManThe Mackintosh ManThe Mackintosh Man is a 1973 British cold war spy thriller film directed by John Huston and starring Paul Newman, James Mason, Dominique Sanda and Ian Bannen. It was produced by John Foreman and William Hill as associate producer from a screenplay by Walter Hill and William Fairchild based on the...
(1973) - Frankenstein and the Monster from HellFrankenstein and the Monster from HellFrankenstein and the Monster From Hell is a 1974 British horror film from Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by Terence Fisher and starred Peter Cushing, Shane Briant, and David Prowse...
(1973) - Captain Kronos - Vampire HunterCaptain Kronos - Vampire HunterCaptain Kronos - Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British horror film written, produced and directed by Brian Clemens for Hammer Film Productions that was originally the pilot for a planned series. It stars Horst Janson in the title role, along with John Carson, Shane Briant and Caroline Munro...
(1974) - Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981)
- Tunnel VisionTunnel visionTunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.- Medical / biological causes :Tunnel vision can be caused by:...
(1995) - SingularitySingularity (film)Singularity is an upcoming epic romance time travel adventure film. Helmed by Roland Joffé from a story by Ajey Jhankar, the film is a sweeping tale of an impossible love set against the backdrop of the first Anglo-Maratha war across two time periods and continents and centred around four...
(2011)