# Terry Serio

Terry Serio is an Australian actor, director, musician and singer-songwriter.

## Career
### Film and television

Serio's breakout role was as the lead, Mike in the 1982 Australian culture action film Running on Empty, alongside Max Cullen and Penne Hackforth-Jones. Early roles in the film With Prejudice (1983) and TV films High Country (1983) and Rooted (1985) followed. In 1986 he played the lead in biographical miniseries Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe (for which he received AFI nomination for Best Actor) and in 1987 he played Franco in miniseries Fields of Fire.
Numerous guest roles in television series followed, including Rafferty's Rules, The Flying Doctors, A Country Practice, Chances, Phoenix and Police Rescue. In 1995, he played the recurring role of Captain Sam Phillips in thirteen episodes of Ocean Girl, before taking on further guest roles in Heartbreak High, G.P., Flipper, Fallen Angels, Wildside, All Saints, Stingers and Blue Heelers.
Television guest appearances continued into the 2000s, with Halifax f.p., Farscape, Water Rats, The Secret Life of Us, Young Lions, McLeod's Daughters, Home and Away, Blue Water High and Stupid, Stupid Man. Later television credits have included Underbelly, Rake and The Letdown. He had recurring roles as Terry Renner in legal series Janet King and Carmine in drama series The Secret Daughter.
Serio's film roles have included 1995 thriller Back of Beyond, 1997 family adventure comedy Joey and 2001 comedy/drama He Died With a Felafel in his Hand, starring Noah Taylor. He also appeared in the TV movie Heroes' Mountain (2002) based on the true story of the Thredbo tragedy and survival of Stuart Diver, starring Craig McLachlan. The same year, he appeared in 2002 crime comedy Dirty Deeds opposite an all-star cast including Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, Sam Neill, Sam Worthington and John Goodman.
In 2005, Serio starred in Little Fish, alongside Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving and in 2009, he appeared in the TV movie A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne, based on a true story. In 2010 he was in 33 Postcards, alongside Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan. His most recent film appearance was in the 2021 LGBTQIA film We All Lie My Darling.
Since 2011, Serio has been teaching Screen Acting at The Actors Pulse.

### Theatre

Serio has also worked in theatre, both nationally and internationally, with roles in Rasputin, Hair, The Threepenny Opera, Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis, Summer Rain, Concussion, Under Ice and Way to Heaven at the Griffin Theatre. He notably played the roles of former prime ministers Bob Hawke and John Howard in the Belvoir musical Keating!, earning him the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
His radio show Stagefright on the cult radio station FBi 94.5FM has also been successful on the Sydney theatre scene.

### Music

Serio is also an accomplished musician and singer/songwriter. He was a member of 'The Elks' from 1976 to 1978. They released several albums and performed throughout Sydney and Melbourne.
In 1991, he was part of a 12 piece country band, 'The Honky Tonk Angels', with fellow actors Justine Clarke, Lo Carmen, Noah Taylor and Kym Wilson as well as Monica McMahon and musical director Peter Head (Carmen's father). Guest performers included Robyn Archer and Tex Perkins. They performed in Sydney and Melbourne and appeared live on Tonight Live with Steve Vizard, but disbanded in 1992 without recording.
More recently, Serio has played in the country band urban roots band 'Ministry of Truth', which he formed in Sydney's Surry Hills together with Jon Schofield from Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls. They performed at the Illawarra Folk Festival and Gulgong Folk Festival in 2014 and 2015, and have also recorded. The current sound and lineup was established early in 2010 and they still currently perform. He is also in Sydney band 'Oh Reach'.

## Personal life

In 2016, Serio was the subject of a portrait by Clara Adolphs entered into the Archibald Prize.

## Awards & nominations

| Year | Title | Award | Category | Result |
| 1986 | Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe | AFI Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated |
| 2007 | Keating! | Helpmann Awards | Best Supporting Actor in a Musical | Won |

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1982 | Running on Empty | Mike | Feature film |
| 1983 | With Prejudice | Paul Alister | Feature film |
| 1993 | Say a Little Prayer | Song Mimer | Feature film |
| 1993 | A Divinity of Sorts | Rock Security 1 | Short film |
| 1995 | Back of Beyond | Lucky Dave | Feature film |
| 1997 | Joey | TV Director | Feature film |
| 1998 | The Venus Factory | Angelo Dmitri | Feature film |
| 1999 | In the Red | Jack Hand | Feature film |
| 2001 | He Died with a Felafel in His Hand | Sydney Policeman #1 | Feature film |
| 2002 | Dirty Deeds | Danny | Feature film |
| 2005 | Little Fish | Busker | Feature film |
| 2007 | The Final Winter | Panel Member | Feature film |
| 2009 | Wall Boy | Pimp | Short film |
| 2009 | Polly and Me | Boyfriend | Short film |
| 2010 | 33 Postcards | Fletch | Feature film |
| 2010 | 1MC: Something of Vengeance | Ted Walker | Feature film |
| 2011 | Cocks | Gay | Short film |
| 2012 | Isolate | Dad | Feature film |
| 2012 | Great Western | Chris | Short film |
| 2012 | Leech | Mr Leech | Short film |
| 2013 | The Telling | Javier | Short film |
| 2013 | Mask | | Short film |
| 2014 | The Evil Within | Sony Manager | Short film |
| 2014 | Backwards Showgirl Variation | Peter | Short film |
| 2016 | Gangster Drag | Frank | Short film |
| 2018 | Hot Mess | Greg | Feature film |
| 2020 | Unsound | Brett | Feature film |
| 2020 | On Halloween | Whaa | Feature film |
| 2021 | We All Lie My Darling | | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1983 | High Country | Dave Baxter | TV movie |
| 1985 | Rooted | Gary | TV movie |
| 1986 | Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe | Johnny O’Keefe | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Fields of Fire | Franco | Miniseries, season 1, 2 episodes |
| 1987; 1988 | Rafferty's Rules | Bomber Clayton – Police Prosecutor | TV series, season 2, 4 episodes |
| 1989 | The Flying Doctors | The Bantam | Season 5, episode 10: "The Instrument" |
| 1989 | A Country Practice | Carl Bailey | Season 9, 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Fresh Start | Dennis | Episode 12 |
| 1991 | Chances | Bruce Parker | Season 1, episode 35 |
| 1992 | Phoenix | Barney | Season 1, episode 11: "Hair of the Dog" |
| 1993 | Police Rescue | Chicka | Season 3, episode 19: "The Last to Know" |
| 1994 | Law of the Land | Greg Rodwell | Season 3, episode 10: "A Matter of Inches" |
| 1995 | Ocean Girl | Captain Sam Phillips | Season 2, 13 episodes |
| 1995 | Heartbreak High | Tim Beckett / Jim Scully | Season 3, 3 episodes |
| 1994; 1996 | G.P. | Michael / Billy Walker | 2 episodes |
| 1995–2000 | Blue Heelers | Mick Doyle / Paul Reynolds | 9 episodes |
| 1996 | Flipper | Henchman | Season 2, episode 1: "The White Dolphin" |
| 1997 | Fallen Angels | Cosimo Mazzoni | 2 episodes |
| 1998 | Wildside | John Depusa | Season 1, episode 18 |
| 1999 | All Saints | Greg Costello | Season 2, 3 episodes |
| 1999 | Stingers | Frampton | Season 2, episode 8: "White Lies" |
| 2000 | Halifax f.p. | Detective Harry Davenport | Season 5, episode 3: “A Hate Worse than Death” |
| 2001 | Farscape | Colonel Lennok | Season 3, episode 5: "...Different Destinations" |
| 1996–2001 | Water Rats | Various roles | 5 episodes |
| 2001 | The Secret Life of Us | Producer | Season 1, episode 15: "The Gap" |
| 2002 | Heroes’ Mountain | Shane Butler | TV movie |
| 2002 | Young Lions | Detective Shane Wesson | 3 episodes |
| 2002 | Bad Cop, Bad Cop | Bruno Rocco | Miniseries, episode 7: "A Joint Venture" |
| 2003 | Grass Roots | Stevens Rantzen | Season 2, episode 3: "Garbage" |
| 2003 | Snobs | Graeme | Miniseries, episode 5 |
| 2004 | McLeod’s Daughters | Vin Riley | Season 4, episode 22: "For Love or Money" |
| 2005–2006 | Home and Away | Dudley Shepherd | 4 episodes |
| 2006 | Blue Water High | Surf Shop Owner | Season 2, episode 8 |
| 2006 | BlackJack: At the Gates | Police Investigator | TV movie |
| 2007–2008 | Stupid, Stupid Man | John Hunt | Season 2, 2 episodes |
| 2009 | A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne | Paul Jacob | TV movie |
| 2012 | Underbelly: Badness | Terry Falconer | Season 5, episode 1: "Thy Will Be Done" |
| 2014–2017 | Janet King | Terry Renner | Season 1, 8 episodes |
| 2015 | Shit Creek | Mr Motherfucker | Miniseries |
| 2016 | Rake | Rance Petrie | Season 4, episode 5 |
| 2017 | The Letdown | Counsellor | Season 1, episode 3: "Trivial Pursuits" |
| 2016–2017 | The Secret Daughter | Carmine | Seasons 1–2, 11 episodes |
| 2019–2020 | Reckoning | Rooster | Miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 2020 | Dick Slider | Don Uts | Season 2, episode 1: "Squad" |
| 2020 | Bondi Slayer | Christopher | 2 episodes |

## Theatre
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1983 | Trafford Tanzi | Dean | Seymour Centre, Sydney, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1984 | Beach Blanket Tempest | Frankie | Australian tour with New Moon Theatre Company |
| 1986 | No Worries | | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC for Sydney Festival |
| 1986 | Pearls Before Swine | Ram Bovine | Belvoir Theatre Company, Seymour Centre, Sydney, Universal Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1987 | Rasputin: The Musical Revolution | Prince Felix Yussopov | State Theatre, Sydney |
| 1989 | The Mound Builders | | Bondi Pavilion, Sydney with Underground Theatre Productions |
| 1989 | Kid Stakes | | Bondi Pavilion, Sydney with Underground Theatre Productions |
| 1990 | Favourite Son | | Comedy Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1991–1992 | Hair - The Tribal Love Rock Musical | Berger | Australian national tour with Elston, Hocking & Woods |
| 1993 | A Rare Jewel | | Newcastle Civic Theatre |
| 1994 | Villain of Flowers | | NIDA Parade Theatre, Sydney |
| 1998 | The Present | | Stables Theatre, Sydney |
| 2003 | The Threepenny Opera | Tiger Brown | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2004 | Blasted | Ian | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2004 | 4.48 Psychosis | | Stables Theatre, Sydney |
| 2005 | Bones | Reg | Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney |
| 2005 | Summer Rain | Barry Doyle | Sydney Theatre with STC |
| 2006 | 7 Blowjobs | | Seymour Centre, Sydney with B Sharp |
| 2006–08 | Keating! | Bob Hawke / John Howard | Australian national tour with Belvoir Won 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical |
| 2009 | Concussion | Caesar | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company & STC |
| 2009 | Under Ice | Paul Niemand | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2010 | Way to Heaven | Gottfried | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2010 | Fool for Love | | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2011 | The Seagull | Shamrayev | Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 2011 | Mongrel | | Newtown Theatre, Sydney for Sydney Fringe Festival |
| 2012 | Rapid Write: Hollywood Ending | Don | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Theatre503 & Griffin Independent |
| 2013 | Machinal | Adding Clerk | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC |
| 2014 | The Young Tycoons | CEO Donald Mayes | Eternity Playhouse, Sydney with Darlinghurst Theatre Company |
| 2014 | The Winter’s Tale | Antigonus / Autolycus | Bell Shakespeare |
| 2015 | Of Mice and Men | The Boss | Seymour Centre, Sydney, Canberra Theatre Centre with Sport For Jove Theatre Company |
| 2015 | A Riff on Keef: The Human Myth | Keef | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2019 | The Sentimental Bloke | Mr Capper and others | Hayes Theatre Company, Sydney with Neglected Musicals |
| 2021 | After the Afterglow | Presenter / Self (solo show) | Bakehouse Studio Theatre, Adelaide with Adelaide Fringe Festival |
| 2022 | Dubbo Championship Wrestling | Des | Hayes Theatre Company, Sydney |

### As director

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 2005 | Kiss of the Alien | Director | Newtown Theatre, Sydney for Short+Sweet |
| 2021 | The Twins | Director | Holden Street Theatres for Adelaide Fringe |