Grant Piro
Australian actor 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.
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.
Television
| 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
| 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 |
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.
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