
Russell Kiefel
Acting
Biography
Russell John Kiefel (1951 – 20 November 2016) was an Australian stage, film and television actor. After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Kiefel started his screen acting career with a role in the 1977 feature film The Singer and the Dancer. He followed this with roles in Breaker Morant (1980), Twelfth Night (1986), Call Me Mr. Brown (1990) and television film The Leaving of Liverpool (1992). Kiefel appeared in several television dramas, including Home and Away, Fireflies and Stingers. He starred in an episode of Twisted Tales in 1998. Among his various guest appearances were episodes of Wildside, Blue Heelers and Something in the Air. In 2008, Kiefel played Lloyd Ross in Infamous Victory: Ben Chifley's Battle for Coal. He joined the cast of Neighbours in the recurring role of Russell Brennan in 2015.
Known For

Blue Heelers was one of Australia's longest running weekly television drama series. Blue Heelers is a police drama series set in the fictional country town of Mount Thomas. Under the watchful eye of Tom Croydon (John Wood), the men and women of Mount Thomas Police Station fight crime, resolve disputes and tackle the social issues of the day. We watch their successes and their failures and learn to grow with them and their loved ones as the heart of the series develops.
Blue Heelers

Underbelly is an Australian television true crime-drama series, each series is a stand alone story based on real-life events.
Underbelly

Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001.
Water Rats

When Jack McLeod passes away, his two daughters inherit Drovers Run, a vast cattle ranch in the Australian outback. Ultimately, Tess and Claire decide to run the ranch together, with their housekeeper, Meg, her teenage daughter, Jodi, and a local girl, Becky. Their lives are hard and the obstacles many, but the rewards are every bit as grand as the wild open land they've inherited.
McLeod's Daughters

The ins and outs of the classroom lives of a group of students who attend the fictional Hartley High School in Sydney.
Heartbreak High

Police Rescue was an Australian television series The series dealt with the New South Wales Police Rescue Squad based in Sydney and their work attending to various incidents from road accidents to train crashes.
Police Rescue

Headland is an Australian drama television series produced by the Seven Network which ran from 15 November 2005 to 21 January 2006. The Seven Network filmed 52 episodes in the first series. Production on the second series had begun before any episodes were aired. Set in a university, Headland premiered in Australia on Tuesday, 15 November 2005 at 7.30pm. On 23 January 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that the series has been cancelled. The show aired on weekdays at 7.30pm in the United Kingdom on E4, re-formatted as half-hour episodes. E4 eventually dropped the show but episodes continued to be broadcast on Channel 4 at 12:30pm, this time in the original hour-long format.
headLand

The peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious “Overlords,” whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.
Childhood's End

Big Sky is an Australian television drama series produced by John Edwards that ran for two seasons on Network Ten from 1997 to 1999. The show centred on the adventures of the pilots of a small aviation company in Australia called "Big Sky Aviation" and the battles of the owner to keep the company running. Chief pilot Chris Manning is determined to look after his team, even if that conflicts with the new boss, Lauren Allen, who has inherited the company following the death of her father.
Big Sky

Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.
Son of a Gun

Warm, funny and moving, Tricky Business looks at the lengths people go to get themselves out of trouble - financial trouble, emotional trouble, growing up trouble, relationship trouble… things we all have to deal with at some time or other.
Tricky Business

Vampire Lestat awakens from his slumber and becomes a rock star. But chaos strikes when his music awakens Akasha, the vampire queen, who may not rest until she makes Lestat her new king.
Queen of the Damned

Fireflies is an Australian television show which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia and RTÉ One in Ireland. It debuted on 7 February 2004 and screened as 22 episodes. The series was set in the fictional country town of Lost River, population 487. It was centred on the lives of a group of volunteer firefighters, during the hottest, driest summer in decades. The theme song "Beautiful Feeling" was written and performed by Paul Kelly.
Fireflies

In the year 2022, a ruthless prison warden has created the ultimate solution for his most troublesome and violent inmates: Absolom, a secret jungle island where prisoners are abandoned and left to die. But Marine Captain John Robbins, convicted of murdering a commanding officer, is determined to escape the island in order to reveal the truth behind his murderous actions and clear his name.
No Escape

Stories of the bizarre and the supernatural, as introduced by Bryan Brown. Sometimes serious, often comical, but always with a twist at the end of the story.
Twisted Tales

Escape from Jupiter is a space adventure television series about a small group of children from a mining colony on Jupiter's moon, Io, who are forced to flee when a volcanic eruption destroys their world. With a few adult survivors, they seek shelter on the derelict space station KL5, floating above Io, convert it into a jerry-rigged spacecraft, and head off in a desperate attempt to reach Earth. They share many adventures and form close friendships on the dangerous journey. Escape from Jupiter concerned a small colony of humans on the moon of Io.
Escape from Jupiter

Australian television film based on alleged events surrounding the death of Caroline Byrne in June 1995. Byrne was found in the early morning of 8 June at the base of a cliff at The Gap, a notorious suicide spot in Sydney.
A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne

Anne Harriman has it all, and expects nothing less. Her brilliant work as chief pathologist of pharmaceutical giant Bauer-Ritter has secured the respect of the corporate, academic and political worlds, making her a trophy addition to any board or panel. But she's prepared to put it all on the line when her old friend Giselle McKenzie is murdered.
A Difficult Woman

Chandon Pictures was an Australian comedy television series that premiered on Movie Extra on 10 November 2007 and ended on 7 May 2009. The series featured sixteen episodes and was a spin-off from a Tropfest short film produced by Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress. It followed the misadventures of a struggling video production company called 'Chandon Pictures.' Rob Carlton, who plays the main character, is the younger cousin of Brian Carlton, The Spoonman talkback host on the Austereo Triple M network. This was revealed when The Spoonman interviewed Rob. On 10 July 2008, it was announced that the series had won a second season and it had sold format rights to its distributor Lionsgate. The first season premiered in the UK on Dave on 19 February 2009 in a 10pm slot. It was also aired in the US on the Sundance Channel.
Chandon Pictures

During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.