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May 2010
Actor Ernie Dingo (Yamatji), with an extensive career in film and television, is best known to international audiences through his cameo roles as Charlie in Crocodile Dundee II and as the Australian detective who chases William Hurt around the globe in Until the End of the World (d. Wim Wenders). In the 1989 stage play of Bran Nue Dae, he originated the role of Uncle Tadpole, whom he portrays in the 2010 film directed by Rachel Perkins.
In 1994, Dingo was voted Aboriginal of the Year by NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) and Personality of the Year by the Australian Caption Centre. In recognition of his service to the performing arts, in 1990 he was made a member of the Order of Australia.
Dingo is a familiar and popular figure on Australian television. Since 1993, he has served as host of the series The Great Outdoors, for which he was nominated in 2004 for the Silver Logie award. That year he was also awarded the Deadly Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television. (Since 1995, Vibe Australia has hosted the Deadly Sounds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards, aka the 'Deadlys.')
Dingo has had other public roles as a national personality. He is a prominent supporter of Australian rules football and in 2005 was on the selection committee for the Indigenous Team of the Century, celebrating the sport’s 100th anniversary. He narrated the indigenous segment of the 2000 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Sydney, New South Wales. His Yamatji people come from the Murchison region of Western Australia. He currently lives with his family in the small town of Warrandyte near Melbourne.
Screened by NMAI
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Image credits:
Audience at Club Red Radio, 2000 Native American Film and Video
Festival - Photograph by Amalia Córdova, NMAI |
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Bran Nue Dae - Ernie Dingo Interview 
