Tom Burlinson

Tom Burlinson
Born	(1956-02-14) 14 February 1956 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Education	National Institute of Dramatic Art (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Mandy Carnie (1996–present)
Children	3
Website	Official website

Tom Burlinson (born 14 February 1956) is a Canadian-born Australian actor and singer.

Early life

Tom Burlinson was born in Toronto, Canada, the son of Antony T. Burlinson (born 1923, in Greenwich, Middlesex) and Angela Schofield (born 1926, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk), who had migrated to Canada after World War II. The family moved to New Jersey, United States, in 1958. In 1962 the family returned to Britain because of Antony's job. In 1965, the family moved again, this time to Australia. After six months his parents divorced and his mother and two younger sisters returned to Britain, leaving Burlinson with his father and his older sister, Susan.

Burlinson's first public appearance as an actor was as Colonel Pickering in Mosman Primary School's production of My Fair Lady. Moving to Bayview, he attended Pittwater High School on Sydney's Northern Beaches and was the school captain in his final year.

Burlinson's father wanted him to become a lawyer, but because a friend was accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), he decided to audition and to his surprise he was accepted into the 1974 class, graduating in 1976.

Career

After working for the Queensland Theatre Company and Twelfth Night Theatre in Brisbane in 1977, he started appearing on Australian TV. By the beginning of 1979, he began playing Mickey Pratt in the teen-oriented Australian soap opera The Restless Years, a role which lasted 16 months. In 1978, he appeared as Charlie in the Old Tote Theatre Company production of Da and as Jud Templeton in the play Tribute in 1979. In 1980, he played Hughie in the Anzac Day play The One Day of the Year. He also featured in the TV police drama Cop Shop in 1980–81 and in Skyways.

In 1981, Burlinson had his career break when he was given the main role in the biggest Australian film production ever, which was to be shot the next year, The Man from Snowy River, as Jim Craig ("The Man"). He had only a few short weeks to learn how to ride a horse and discovered he had somewhat of a natural ability and affinity with horses. Snowy River was filmed and released in Australia in 1982, quickly becoming the highest-grossing Australian film ever at that time, bringing Burlinson to stardom.

In his next film, Burlinson portrayed horse trainer Tommy Woodcock in Phar Lap: Heart of a Nation. This film was another hit and confirmed Burlinson as a major star in the Australian film industry.

In 1985, Burlinson was cast by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven for a role in his first English-speaking film, the cult film Flesh and Blood.

In 1986, Burlinson played the main role as yuppy windsurfer in the main modern day comedy romance Windrider alongside teen actress Nicole Kidman in her first adult role. The film was a modest hit in Australia.

In 1987, Burlinson was given his first role in a science fiction movie, The Time Guardian, in which he played the main role, Ballard, a visitor from another world, opposite Hollywood stars Dean Stockwell and Carrie Fisher. In 1988 he starred in the long-waited sequel to The Man from Snowy River II, which has the United States' title of Return to Snowy River and the UK title of The Untamed.

From then onwards, Burlinson focused on historical productions, including the highly acclaimed 1988 LWT mini-series Piece of Cake, set in England in 1939 and based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Derek Robinson and the Canadian Western drama film The Legend of Kootenai Brown retitled Showdown at Williams Creek in the United States, set in pioneer North America.

He also does stage work, musicals and concerts as well as assisting charities.

Apart from his acting career, he is also a singer. A life-long love of the music of Frank Sinatra led Burlinson to compose an ode to the singer. He appeared on TV in 1990 on Ray Martin's Midday Show to nervously debut his singing voice to the Australian public with the song he had written, "The Man in the Hat".

The following year Tina Sinatra cast Burlinson as the voice of the young Sinatra in a miniseries she produced on her father's life, the Golden Globe Award-winning Sinatra. With new doors now open to him, Burlinson auditioned for several musicals.

Burlinson, 1993

Burlinson returned to the stage in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 1992. He starred with some of Australia's most notable stage performers, Noel Ferrier, June Bronhill and Jackie Love. In 1996 he had stage roles with the Sydney Theatre Company, starring as Franklin in Merrily We Roll Along and as Ricky in Miracle City.

In 1998, Burlinson created Frank – The Sinatra Story in Song which opened at the Seymour Centre in Sydney before going to other major cities. Sinatra himself died just two weeks before the opening night. From 1998 to 2003 Burlinson toured Australia regularly and also took the show to corporate events. In 2001 the show's name was changed to Frank – A Life in Song. In 2002 he took the show to his native Toronto, Canada.

Burlinson's versatility has also been featured in appearances on TV's Carols by Candlelight in 1999 and 2002. He had also had a role on the ABC doctor drama G.P. and hosted a season of the Nine Network TV show Animal Hospital.

Burlinson provided Sinatra's singing voice in the 2003 Australian movie The Night We Called It a Day.

Burlinson returned to the world of theatre in April 2004 in the lead role of Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' musical The Producers. He co-starred with Reg Livermore, Bert Newton and Chloe Dallimore.

For three years Burlinson was a judge on Australia's Got Talent alongside Red Symons and Dannii Minogue.

In 2010, he played a featured role in the movie The Cup, directed by Simon Wincer, who had directed Phar Lap.

Burlinson has continued to produce and star in his own musical shows celebrating the music of Frank Sinatra and other vocal stars including Now We're Swinging! which toured around Australia. He also co-starred in the concert performances of "Young at Heart" (2017) and "Swing That Music" (2018) at major venues around Australia.

In 2019, Burlinson played the role of lawyer Billy Flynn in the stage musical 'Chicago' in Sydney and Brisbane.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
1981	Revenge		Short film
1982	The Man from Snowy River	Jim Craig	Feature film
1983	Phar Lap: Heart of a Nation	Tommy Woodcock	Feature film
1985	Flesh and Blood	Steven	Feature film
1985	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Ned Land (voice)	Animated TV movie
1986	Windrider	Stewart 'P.C.' Simpson	Feature film
1986	The Hunchback of Notre-Dame	Quasimodo (voice)	Animated TV movie
1986	King Solomon's Mines	Sir Henry Curtis (voice)	Animated TV movie
1986	Kidnapped	Alan Breck (voice)	Animated TV movie
1987	The Time Guardian	Ballard	Feature film
1988	The Man from Snowy River II	Jim Craig	Feature film
1991	The Legend of Kootenai Brown	Kootenai Brown	Feature film
1992	Landslide	Howard Matterson
1995	The Way to Dusty Death	Ike Jethou	TV movie
2003	The Night We Called It a Day	Frank Sinatra (singing voice)	Feature film
2011	The Cup	Dave Phillips	Feature film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
1977	Kirby's Company		TV series
1978	Cop Shop	Ken	TV series, 1 episode
1978–1979	The Restless Years	Mickey Pratt	TV series, 56 episodes
1978	Glenview High	Robbie's Dream Man	TV series, episode: "After the Loving"
1978	Yes, What?
1979	Skyways	Jim Backwell	TV series, episode: "Deborah Loves Jim"
1985	Fragments of Terror	John	Segment: "Revenge"
1988	Piece of Cake	'Fanny' Barton	TV miniseries, 5 episodes
1992	Sinatra	Frank Sinatra (singing voice)	TV miniseries, 2 episodes
1995	G.P.	Andy Drake	TV series, episode: "Rhythm & Blues"

Games

Year	Title	Role	Type
2000	Oz: The Magical Adventure	Scarecrow / Oz	PC game

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Type
1975	Three Sisters	Prozorov	NIDA Theatre
1976	A Midsummer Night's Dream		Newcastle, NIDA Theatre
1977	For Years I Couldn't Wear My Black	Reginald	SGIO Theatre
1977	Tom Sawyer	Tom Sawyer	Twelfth Night Theatre
1977	Dangerous Corner	Gordon Whitehouse	Twelfth Night Theatre
1977	The Merchant of Venice	Solanio	SGIO Theatre
1978	Da	Charlie (then)	UNSW Parade Theatre with Old Tote Theatre Company
1979	Tribute	Jud Templeton	Theatre Royal, Sydney, Newcastle Civic Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Brisbane
1980	Duck Variations	Ermil Varec	Stables Theatre
1980	The One Day of the Year	Hughie Cook	Playhouse, Adelaide
1980	Winter in America		Stables Theatre
1993	How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying	J. Pierrepont Finch	University of Sydney, Lyric Theatre Sydney, His Majesty's Theatre, Perth
1994	The Bard on Broadway		The Regent Hotel, Kingsford
1996	Miracle City		Wharf Theatre
1996	Merrily We Roll Along		University of Sydney
1998	Frank: The Sinatra Story in Song		Seymour Centre, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane, Star City Sydney
1999, 2002	Carols by Candlelight	Singer	Sidney Myer Music Bowl
2003	The Spirit of Christmas	Singer	Concert Hall, Brisbane
2004-05	The Producers	Leo Bloom	Princess Theatre, Melbourne, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane, Lyric Theatre, Sydney
2008	Frank - A Life in Song	Singer	Sydney Opera House
2011	Swing Time	Singer	Palm Beach Golf Club
2013	Now We're Swingin'	Singer	Dunstan Playhouse
2013	Frank - A Life in Song	Singer	Lismore City Hall
2016	Sinatra at the Sands	Singer	Festival Theatre, Adelaide
2016	The Last Galah	Singer	Festival Theatre, Adelaide
2017	Young at Heart	Singer	Sydney Opera House
2019	Chicago	Billy Flynn	Capitol Theatre Sydney, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane
2020	Swingin' the Great Standards	Singer	Dunstan Playhouse

As crew

Year	Title	Role	Type
1998	Frank: The Sinatra Story in Song	Devisor / producer	Seymour Centre, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Lyric Theatre, Brisbane, Star City Sydney

External links

• Media related to Tom Burlinson at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Tom Burlinson at IMDb