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Grant Piro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grant Piro is an Australian actor. He is best known as the host of the children's television show Couch Potato on the ABC. He also appeared as Captain Schnepel in Escape From Pretoria.

Career

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He began his career in 1983 in the Australian television soap opera Sons and Daughters.

After completing George Miller's film Bushfire Moon (Miracle Down Under) in 1987, a chance meeting with British comedy legend Ray Cooney led to a three-year stint in the UK where he appeared in several of Ray's plays: It Runs in the Family, Wife Begins at Forty, the latter alongside the great Jimmy Edwards, as well as TV programs such as Casualty and Shelley.

He returned to Australia in 1990 to become the host of the ABC children's television program Couch Potato. During the 1990s, Grant appeared in a large number of Australian television dramas that included Janus, Correlli, G.P., Halifax f.p., Blue Heelers, SeaChange, Wildside, Good Guys Bad Guys, McLeod's Daughters, The River Kings, The Territorians, Stingers, Twisted Tales, Tales of the South Seas, Witch Hunt, and more. This trend continued beyond 2000 with appearances in Blue Heelers and Stingers again, Marshall Law, Crashburn, Headland, Rain Shadow, The Librarians, The Elephant Princess, Sea Patrol, and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Grant Piro became one of Australia's most respected theatre actors, with performances in Under Milk Wood, Whose Life Is It Anyway, Moby Dick, The Merry Widow, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, The Producers, The 39 Steps, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, His Girl Friday, and Hate.

His performance in the MTC's production of Realism saw him critically acclaimed for his display of the acting technique known as biomechanics. He appeared as several characters in the Rolf de Heer cult film Bad Boy Bubby, worked with film director Scott Hicks on his films Call Me Mr. Brown and Sebastian and the Sparrow, with Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, appeared in the French feature L'Amour En Embuscade (Love in Ambush) for Carl Shultz, and the films The Outsider, Darkness Falls, The Condemned, Save Your Legs, and Crime & Punishment.

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Type
1983-84 Sons and Daughters Tony Parker TV series, 119 episodes
1987 Pals Rocky TV series, 10 episodes
1989 Casualty Glenn Buchanan TV series, 1 episode
1989 Shelley George TV series, 1 episode
1991 Couch Potato Host/Presenter TV series
1991 Finders Keepers (aka The Finder) Max TV series, 10 episodes
1991 The River Kings Spud TV miniseries, 3 episodes
1994 Janus Cassidy TV series, 2 episodes
1995 Glad Rags Warren Hamm TV series, 6 episodes
1995 Correlli Toby Miller TV miniseries, 8 episodes
1996 G.P. Will Taylor TV series, 1 episode
1996 The Bite Miles TV miniseries
1996 Twisted Tales Merrill TV series, 1 episode
1997 Good Guys Bad Guys Gavin 'The Goat' La Rousse TV series, 1 episode
1998 SeaChange Bryce Reardon TV series, 3 episodes
1998 Halifax f.p. Terry Lansdown TV series, Season 3, episode 2
1998 Tales of the South Seas TV series
1998 Driven Crazy Wobbly Gurgle TV series, 1 episode
1999 Wildside Peter Gilmour TV series, 1 episode
1998-2001 Blue Heelers Tim Ryan / Denis Katos TV series, 4 episodes
2002 MDA David Smith TV series, 1 episode
1999-2003 Stingers

Brian Dennison / Tony Tennant || TV series, 2 episodes

2002 Marshall Law Hallion TV miniseries, 4 episodes
2003 CrashBurn Adam TV series, 13 episodes
2006 Headland Doctor Baker TV series, 1 episode
2007 Rain Shadow James Campbell TV miniseries, 6 episodes
2007 The Librarians Piero Chiappi TV series, 5 episodes
2007-10 City Homicide Craig Pierce / Wayne Styles TV series, 3 episodes
2008-09 The Elephant Princess Jim Wilson TV series, 18 episodes [1]
2009 Sea Patrol Jay Fennelly TV series, 1 episode
2012 Winners & Losers Mime Evans TV series, 1 episode
2014 INXS: Never Tear Us Apart Molly Meldrum TV miniseries, 2 episodes
2015 Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Mighty Merve MacKenzie TV series, 1 episode
2016 Jack Irish Senator Mackie TV series, 5 episodes
2017 Sherazade: The Untold Stories Porter / Ali Baba (voice) TV series, 22 episodes
2017 Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story Dustin Hoffman TV miniseries, 1 episode
2017 Newton's Law Sergeant Robert Malouf TV miniseries, 5 episodes
2017 The Ex-PM Bambino TV series, 1 episode
2018 Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You Grossman TV miniseries, 1 episode
2018 Wentworth Doctor Chamberlain TV series, 1 episode
2018! True Story with Hamish & Andy Gordon TV series, 1 episode
2018 Wanted Gary TV series, 2 episodes
218 How to Stay Married Michael Fassmember TV series, 1 episode
2019 My Life is Murder Bob nNble TV series, 1 episode
2023 Utopia Patrick TV series, 1 episode

Film

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Year Title Role Type
1984 Abduction... Who's Next? Ben Short film
1986 Playing Beatie Bow Pino Feature film
1986 Push Start TV movie
1986 Call Me Mr. Brown Mt. Isa Miner Feature film
1987 The Lighthorsemen Charlie Feature film
1987 Bushfire Moon Angus Watson Feature film
1988 Sebastian and the Sparrow Feature film
1988 Captain Johnno Kevin TV movie
1988 Wife Begins at 40 Leonard Harper
1990 Second Childhood Mr Cruikshank TV movie
1993 Bad Boy Bubby Salesman Feature film
1996 McLeod's Daughters Steve Creeley TV movie
1996 The Territorians Danny Leydon TV movie
1996 The Big Maybe Husband Short film
1997 Love in Ambush (aka L'Amour En Embuscade) Jon Kincaid TV movie
1997 Amy PC Franklin Feature film
1997 Joey John O'Bannon Feature film
1996 The Devil Game Costello TV movie
1999 Witch Hunt Conlon TV movie
1999 Airtight Freddy TV movie
2000 Mr. Accident Lyndon Feature film
2001 Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles Guide Feature film
2002 The Outsider Woodrow Wharton Feature film
2003 Darkness Falls Larry Fleishman Feature film
2007 The Independent Bradley Evans Feature film
2007 The Condemned Moyer Feature film
2010 Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Creature (voice) Feature film
2010 The Adjustable Cosmos Emperor Frederick (voice) Short film
2012 Save Your Legs Punter Feature film
2014 Predestination Boxing Commentator / News Report Announcer Feature film
2014 The Mule Professor Dylan Kanarakis Feature film
2015 Sneezing Baby Panda: The Movie Voice
2015 Crime & Punishment Quincey Feature film
2016 Spirit of the Game Ken Watson Feature film
2020 Escape from Pretoria Captain Schnepel Feature film

Theatre

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Year Title Role Type
1986 Pravda Cartoonist / Bewildered Walking Man / Reporter / Photographer Playhouse Adelaide
1987 It Runs in the Family
1987 Much Ado About Nothing Boy / Messenger / Hugh Oatcake Playhouse Adelaide
1988 Wife Begins at Forty Leonard Harper Playhouse Adelaide, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1993 Taking Steps Playhouse Adelaide
1993 Under Milk Wood Playhouse Adelaide
1994 Short Blacks with Shepard Pie: Red Cross Promethean Theatre, Adelaide
1994 Whose Life is it Anyway? Price Theatre, Adelaide
1996 Station 2: Eye of Another Nick / Jed / Dominic / Frank 251 Wakefield Street, Adelaide
1999 The Merry Widow Njegus State Theatre Melbourne, Festival Theatre Adelaide, Lyric Theatre Sydney
2002 Hello, Dolly! Ambrose Kemper / Rudolph Reisenweber State Theatre, Melbourne
2002 Laughter on the 23rd Floor Playhouse Melbourne
2004–05 The Producers Carmen Ghia Princess Theatre Melbourne, Lyric Theatre Brisbane, Lyric Theatre Sydney
2007 The Madwoman of Chaillot Playhouse Melbourne
2008 Whose Life is it Anyway? Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide
2008 The 39 Steps Playhouse Melbourne, Geelong Performing Arts Centre
2008 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Gooper Playhouse Melbourne
2008 Gala Southbank Theatre
2009 Realism Southbank Theatre with Melbourne Theatre Company
2009 Master of the Revels Southbank Theatre
2009 Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Andre Thibault State Theatre Melbourne
2010 The Drowsy Chaperone Gangster Playhouse Melbourne
2010-11 Hairspray Wilbur Turnblad Princess Theatre Melbourne, Lyric Theatre Sydney
2012 His Girl Friday Playhouse Melbourne
2013 Hate Malthouse Theatre
2016 Around the World in 80 Days Detective Fix
2017 Hello, Dolly! Horace Vandergelder Playhouse Melbourne
2018 Oklahoma! Ali Hakim State Theatre, Melbourne
2022 Girl from the North Country Reverend Marlowe Theatre Royal, Sydney, Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, Civic Theatre, Auckland, Wellington Opera House, Canberra Theatre, Lyric Theatre Brisbane
2022 When the Rain Stops Falling Space 28, Southbank
Moby Dick

Personal life

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He is married to Australian soprano and musical theatre icon Marina Prior. They have 5 children in a blended family. Two of the children are biologically Piro’s from a former relationship (Jackson and Madison), while three are biologically Prior’s from a former relationship.

References

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  1. ^ "The Elephant Princess – Cast". Jonathan M. Shiff Productions. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008.
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