Marshall Napier

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Marshall Napier
Born	James Marshall Napier (1951-10-22) 22 October 1951 (age 69) Lower Hutt, New Zealand

James Marshall Napier (born 22 October 1951) is a New Zealand-born character actor, playwright and graphic artist now living in Australia. He is known for a succession of strong supporting roles in Australasian films and television shows. He has also had a notable stage career.

Napier grew up in the city of Lower Hutt and was educated at Hutt Valley High School. He is the father of James Reuben Napier, actress Jessica Napier, and Rose Napier. He is the uncle of film director James Napier Robertson.^[1]

Before becoming an actor, Napier worked variously as a labourer, factory hand, and truck driver. He also spent a year studying graphic design at the Wellington Polytechnic. He landed his first professional acting job in 1975, at Wellington's Downstage Theatre.

In 1988, he moved with his wife and two young children to Australia, hoping to further his acting career. He soon became an established name in film, theatre and television. His play Freak Winds has been performed in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada; other plays have been broadcast on Australia's ABC radio.

Theatre[]

A partial list of his theatre credits follows.

For Sydney Theatre Company:

• (2016-2017) (Chekhov's Platonov adaptated by Andrew Upton) With: Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Toby Schmitz, Jacqueline McKenzie. The production opened in Sydney and toured to Broadway.^[2] - Ivan
• In the Next Room - Mr Daldry
• The Herbal Bed - Dr John Hall
• Simpatico - Carter

For Belvoir Theatre:

• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2013)^[3] - Big Daddy
• The Power of Yes - Various
• A View from the Bridge - Eddie Carbone
• Diving for Pearls - Den

For Melbourne Theatre Company:

• Frost/Nixon - Nixon
• The Birthday Party - Goldberg

For Old Fitzroy Theatre:

• Freak Winds - Ernest
• Angel City - Wheeler
• The Schelling Point - Kubrick

For Q Theatre:

• Waiting for Godot - Vladimir

For Darlinghurst Theatre:

• All My Sons - Joe Keller

For Griffin Theatre:

• Speaking in Tongues - Leon/Nick
• - Joe

Other:

• Marat/Sade - Jaques Roux
• The Duchess of Malfi - Ferdinand
• Twelfth Night - Sir Toby Belch
• The Dumb Waiter - Ben
• The Tooth of Crime - Hoss
• Ubu Roi - Captain MacNure
• Happy Birthday Wanda June - Colonel 'Looseleaf' Harper

His play Freak Winds was produced in 2006 in New York's upper west side.^[4]

Partial filmography[]

Movies[]

• Goodbye Pork Pie (1981) - Police Officer
• Beyond Reasonable Doubt - Gerald Wylie
• Bad Blood - Trev Bond
• Came a Hot Friday (1985) - Sel Bishop
• Pallet on the Floor (1986) - Joe Voot
• Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale (1986) - Hunk Murphy (voice)
• Starlight Hotel (1987) - Det Wallace
• The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) - Searle
• Georgia (1988) - Frank Le Mat
• The Big Steal (1990) - Desmond Clark
• Flirting (1991) - Rupert Elliot
• Shotgun Wedding (1993) - Det Dave Green
• Spider and Rose (1994) - Henderson
• Babe (1995) - Chairman of Judges
• Dead Heart (1996) Sgt Oakes
• Muggers (2000) - Prof Charles Lawrence
• Bad Eggs (2003) - Doug Gillespie
• Travelling Light (2003) - Don Ferris
• Get Rich Quick (2004) - Turf O'Keefe
• The Water Horse (2007) - Sgt Strunk
• I'm Not Harry Jenson (2009) - Tom
• Griff the Invisible (2010) - Benson
• The Clinic (2010) - Marvin
• Down Under (2016) - Graham Steather
• Little Monsters - (2018)
• Bellbird (2019) - Ross
• Earl's Town (2020) - Earl^[5]
• Northspur (2020) - Ted Summers

Television Series[]

• The Neville Purvis Show - Larry Lucas
• Adventurer - George Mason
• The Clean Machine (1988) - Keith Reid
• Always Afternoon (1988) - Bill Kennon
• Mission Impossible (1989) - Talbot
• Police Rescue (1989–92) - Sgt. Fred 'Frog' Catteau [his daughter, Jessica Napier, played his character's daughter]
• Seven Deadly Sins (1993) - Tom
• Secrets (1993-1994) - Gary O'Leary
• Blue Murder (1995) - Tony Eustace
• Halifax f.p. (1995) - episode "Lies of the Mind" - Dr. Dale Counahan
• Swimming Lessons (1995 TV movie) - Jim Sadler
• The Beast (1996) - Commander Wallingford
• Twisted Tales (1996) - Tom
• Water Rats (1996-1999) - Joe Da Silva
• Meteorites (1998) - Mayor Cass Cassidy
• Airtight (1999) - Norscrum
• The Lost World (2000) - Drakul
• All Saints - Mick Mason
• Head Start (2001) - John Allott
• Stingers (2001) - Eddie Thomas
• McLeod's Daughters (2001-2006) - Harry Ryan
• Farscape - "...Different Destinations" - General Grynes
• The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End The Girl from Tomorrow Part II: Tomorrow's End# - Draco
• City Homicide (2007-2008) - Wilton Sparkes ^[6]
• Chandon Pictures (2009) - Basil
• Panic at Rock Island (2011) - Paul Thorpe
• Jack Irish (2012) - Father Gorman
• The Moodys (2014) - Howard Benson
• Love Child (2015) - Greg Matheson

Activism[]

In 2002, he and his daughter, Jessica Napier, won $64,000 in the Australian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for a South Australian animal rights group. Both are animal rights supporters and vegetarians.

References[]

External links[]

• Marshall Napier at IMDb
• Marshall Napier at Movie Tome^{[permanent dead link]}