Craig McLachlan

Biography

Craig McLachlan first appeared on Australian television in a guest role on The Young Doctors. He was cast as Henry Ramsay, brother of Kylie Minogue’s character Charlene, in Channel 10’s Neighbours. After appearing in more than 800 episodes and winning the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television (1990) and Silver Logie, he was contracted to Seven Network’s Home and Away playing schoolteacher Grant Mitchell.

A singer, guitarist and songwriter, McLachlan enjoyed international success in a concurrent pop music career. He had hits in Australia and the UK with a remake of the Bo Diddley song “Mona (I Need You Baby)” and with self-penned songs “Amanda”, “One Reason Why” and “On My Own”. He toured the UK and Europe with his band Check 1–2.

In 1993 McLachlan starred as Danny Zuko in the West End revival of the musical Grease alongside Deborah Gibson and Sonia Evans. In his stage musical career he starred as Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bob Wallace in White Christmas and Billy Flynn in Chicago.

In the mid-1990s McLachlan starred in three seasons of the BBC television series Bugs and appeared in Catherine the Great alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones and Omar Sharif.

Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, McLachlan appeared in around 20 film and television projects, including the American movie Superfire, as Stuart Diver in the television film Heroes’ Mountain, and Blackjack with Colin Friels. In 2004 he played Michael Chamberlain in Through My Eyes, an account of the Lindy Chamberlain story, and began work in the recurring role of Kane Morgan in McLeod's Daughters. He played Jeff Kennard in the Australian film Hating Alison Ashley, worked alongside Benjamin Bratt and James Franco in The Great Raid. and starred with John Jarratt in Savages Crossing, for which he composed score.

McLachlan appeared regularly in the Network Seven TV series Packed to the Rafters as ageing rocker Steve Wilson and was cast in the fourth season of Rescue: Special Ops as Hayden Bradley. He played the role of Steve, the handsome gay gardener, in the award-winning production At Home With Julia, and appeared in the ABC comedy Lowdown. In 2011 McLachlan had a guest-starring role in an episode of NCIS Los Angeles.

In 2011, British group Rizzle Kicks sampled McLachlan’s version of “Mona” for their single “Mama Do the Hump”, which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.

McLachlan returned to Australia in 2012 to work on a then new TV series, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, a period crime drama set in Ballarat in 1959–60. He plays the title role, Dr Lucien Blake, a medical practitioner with a knack for solving murders and annoying the police. The first two seasons originally screened on ABC Television in 2013 and 2014.

In 2013, McLachlan was again cast as Frank N. Furter in a revival of The Rocky Horror Show touring Australia in 2014. In December 2014, McLachlan revealed that he was unable to return to Neighbours for the show's 30th anniversary celebrations due to scheduling conflicts and his involvement in The Doctor Blake Mysteries. However, McLachlan agreed to take part in the documentary special Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, which aired in Australia and the UK in March 2015.

In 2016, McLachlan will appear in the sci-fi thriller Restoration, playing Andrew Majury.

Personal life

McLachlan's current partner is conductor Vanessa Scammell. He has a teenage son from his relationship with British actress and voice artist Charlotte Avery. He was previously married to Karen Williams and fellow Neighbours actress Rachel Friend.

Videos