Mike Bishop (actor)
Mike Bishop, also credited as Michael Bishop, is an Australian actor, director and drama coach.
Career
Bishop's television appearances include recurring roles in cult prison series Prisoner playing Harry Grosvenor, R.F.D.S. playing Evelyn Whaley and Something in the Air as Sergeant Geoff Collins / Clive. He also featured in long-running soap opera Neighbours in 1996, in which he played the recurring guest role of Mick Anderson. He later worked as a drama coach on the series from 2005 to 2008.He portrayed Uncle Dan in the second and third miniseries of Fields of Fire, in 1988 and 1989 respectively. In 1990, he appeared in the second miniseries of All the Rivers Run, based on the 1958 Australian novel of the same name by Nancy Cato. He also appeared in the 1992 political miniseries Bastard Boys as Peter Reith. He later played English cricketer Doug Insole in the 2012 miniseries Howzat! Kerry Packer's War.
Additionally, Bishop has made guest appearances in numerous television series including Cop Shop, Carson's Law, The Henderson Kids, The Flying Doctors, Col'n Carpenter, All Together Now, Boys from the Bush, Acropolis Now, Law of the Land, Snowy, Blue Heelers, Good Guys, Bad Guys, Stingers, City Homicide, the first season of Underbelly, Killing Time, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Fat Tony & Co. and Wentworth.
Bishop's film credits include 1985 comedy Malcolm, and 1987 action thriller Ground Zero, and 1992 film A Slow Night at the Kuwaiti Cafe. For his performance in the 1988 prison drama-suspense film Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, he was nominated for the 1989 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
His other film credits include medical comedy drama The Clinic, Ozploitation film Future Schlock, thriller Dead Sleep opposite Linda Blair, comedy A Kink in the Picasso, gritty drama thriller Metal Skin alongside Ben Mendelsohn and Aden Young, and River Street opposite Bill Hunter, Essie Davis and Aden Young. He also appeared in several made-for-tv movies and short films.
Bishop has also worked extensively in theatre since 1982. He appeared in a touring production of The Hobbit puppet show as Gandalf in 1997, Dirty Dancing as Max Kellerman from 2014 to 2015, and Singin' in the Rain as R.F. Simpson in 2016. His most recent stage credit was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at Melbourne's Princess Theatre, in which he was part of the original cast from 2019 to 2022.
Bishop directed Dr. Cade at La Mama in Melbourne as part of the 2002 Melbourne Fringe Festival, before it moved to Beckett Theatre, and then Sydney's Stables Theatre in 2003. His other stage credits as director include a 1993 touring production of The Wind in the Willows with the Australian Shakespeare Company, a 1996 Melbourne production of Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood at Melbourne Concert Hall and a 2009 Melbourne production of The Show Must Go On with La Mama.