Early life

Born John Hadley Pain in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, Thompson was 4 years old when his mother died, leaving his father, a merchant seaman, unable to care for him and his brother, David. He was then sent to an orphanage by his aunt and was subsequently adopted by John and Pat Thompson and changed his surname. The film reviewer Peter Thompson is his adopted brother. Thompson was educated at Sydney Boys High School. He left school at 14, and became a jackaroo in the Northern Territory, as well as taking labouring jobs in New South Wales.

Career

After working in an agricultural lab, Thompson joined the army in 1960 so that he could earn a science degree. He enrolled at the University of Queensland in 1963 and transferred to an arts degree, performing in theatre at night, including the Twelfth Night Theatre and UQ Dramatic Society in Brisbane.

His TV career began with the soap opera Motel (1968), and guest appearances on Homicide and Matlock Police. He then took the lead role in spy drama series Spyforce (1971-1972), playing the role of Erskine. He eventually moved into feature film lead roles, and is best known primarily for his performance in Breaker Morant. He has also acted in television miniseries and appeared as the host of the Channel 7 factual series Find My Family.

Thompson was the first nude male centrefold in Cleo magazine in 1972. He has also appeared in television commercials, including as the face of the Bank of Melbourne for a decade, and for Claytons. Thompson is featured in a series of recordings of Australian poetry, reciting poems by Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson, C. J. Dennis, Patrick Joseph Hartigan (aka John O'Brien) and John O'Grady. (see Discography below). Interviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald he explains his love of poetry, noting that 'Poetry is sometimes seen as too arty and perhaps not a suitable interest for blokes.'

Personal life

Thompson married Beverley Hackett in 1963 and the five-year marriage produced his son Patrick Thompson. He then entered into a 15-year polyamorous relationship in the 1970s and 1980s with both Leona King and her sister Bunkie. He stayed with Leona following the birth of his second son, Billy.

Thompson featured in the first episode of the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are?, which was televised on 13 January 2008 on SBS, with Thompson discovering that his great-grandfather was Captain Thomas Pain, and his great-great uncle was Alfred Lee, a prominent figure in Sydney society, who donated the journal of Joseph Banks, from Captain Cook's navigation to Australia in the 1770s, to the Mitchell Library in Sydney. Thompson used to own Hotel Gearin in Katoomba, Blue Mountains. He sold the hotel in June 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Personnel, or People?
1971	Wake in Fright	Dick
1973	Libido	Ken	Segment: "The Family Man"
1974	Marijuana: Possession and the Law
1974	'Jock' Petersen	Tony Petersen
1975	Sunday Too Far Away	Foley
1975	Scobie Malone	Scobie Malone
1975	That Lady from Peking	Flunky
1976	Caddie	Ted
1976	Mad Dog Morgan	Detective Manwaring
1976	Jeremy and Teapot	Narrator	Short film
1978	The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith	Reverend Neville
1979	The Journalist	Simon Morris
1980	Breaker Morant	Major J.F. Thomas
1980	The Earthling	Ross Daley
1980	The Club	Laurie Holden
1982	The Man from Snowy River	Clancy
1982	Bad Blood	Stan Graham
1983	It's a Living	Passenger
1983	Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence	Group Capt. Hicksley
1985	Flesh and Blood	Hawkwood
1985	Burke & Wills	Robert O'Hara Burke
1986	Short Circuit	Party Guest
1987	Ground Zero	Trebilcock
1992	Turtle Beach	Ralph
1992	Wind	Jack Neville
1993	A Far Off Place	John Ricketts
1993	Ruby Cairo	Ed
1994	The Sum of Us	Harry Mitchell
1994	Resistance	Mr. Wilson
1995	Der Flug des Albatros	Mike
1996	Broken Arrow	Chairman, Joint Chief of Staff
1996	Last Dance	The Governor
1997	Excess Baggage	Alexander
1997	Under the Lighthouse Dancing	Harry
1997	Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil	Sonny Seiler
1999	Feeling Sexy	Magazine Vendor (uncredited)
2000	The Magic Pudding	Buncle (voice)
2001	Yolngu Boy	Policeman
2001	Original Sin	Alan Jordan
2002	Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones	Cliegg Lars
2004	The Assassination of Richard Nixon	Jack Jones
2004	Oyster Farmer	Skippy
2005	Man-Thing	Frederic Schist
2005	Feed	Richard
2006	Tryst Cosmos	Storyteller	Short film
2006	The Good German	Congressman Breimer
2007	The Manual	Professor Grey	Short film
2007	December Boys	Bandy
2008	Ten Empty	Bobby Thompson
2008	Leatherheads	Harvey
2008	Australia	Kipling Flynn
2009	Mao's Last Dancer	Judge Woodrow Seals
2010	Don't Be Afraid of the Dark	Harris
2011	Oakie's Outback Adventures	Orpheus
2011	The Telegram Man	Bill Williams	Short film
2011	The Forgotten Men	Publican	Short film
2013	Around the Block	Mr. O'Donnell
2013	Mystery Road	Charley Murray
2013	Blinder	Coach Chang
2013	The Great Gatsby	Nick Carraway's Doctor, Walter Perkins
2016	Blue World Order	Harris
2016	The Light Between Oceans	Ralph Addicott
2017	Don't Tell	Bob Myers
TBA	Flammable Children

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Motel	Bill Burke	Episode: "1.132" Episode: "1.134"
1969	Riptide	Wally Ted	Episode: "Hagan's Kingdom" Episode: "Flight of the Curlew"
1970	Woobinda, Animal Doctor	Lenny	Episode: "Lenny"
1970	Skippy	Stefan Imard	Episode: "High Fashion"
1970	The Rovers	Kenneth Baker Bill	Episode: "Wright's Peak" Episode: "A Place of My Own"
1970	Homicide	Jack Skinner Kevin Ford	Episode: "The Doll" Episode: "All Correct"
1970	Division 4	Charlie Penn	Episode: "A Trip to the City"
1971-1973	Spyforce	Erskine	42 episodes
1972	Over There	Corporal Harry Logan	Episode: "The Lord Sends the Food and the Devil Sends the Cook"
1972	Behind the Legend	Charles Kingsford-Smith (1972)	TV series
1972	Matlock Police	Ron Cook	Episode: "Cook's Endeavor"
1973	Matlock Police	Robbo	Episode: "Squaring Off"
1973	Linehaul	Dave Morgan	TV movie
1973	Boney	Jack Red Kelly	Episode: "Boney and the Strangler" Episode: "Boney and the Kelly Gang"
1973	Ryan	John Mitchell Brian Duncan	Episode: "But When She Was Bad" Episode: "Where Thunder Sleeps"
1973	Elephant Boy	Chuck Ryder	Episode: "Conservation Man"
1973	Homicide	Ray Enright	Episode: "Mother Superior"
1973	The Evil Touch	Hammer Evan	Episode "George" Episode: "Scared to Death"
1974	The Evil Touch	Stockman	Episode: "Kadaitcha Country"
1974	Human Target	Anderson	TV movie
1974	Homicide	Det. Sgt Jack Beck	Episode: "Time and Tide"
1975	Armchair Cinema	Vic Parkes	Episode: "Tully"
1978	Because He's My Friend	Geoff	TV movie
1982	A Shifting Dreaming		TV movie
1982	A Woman Called Golda	Ariel	TV movie
1982	The Letter	Robert Crosbie	TV movie
1984	Waterfront	Maxey Woodbury	TV miniseries
1986	The Last Frontier	Nick Stenning	TV movie
1987	The Riddle of the Stinson	Bernard O'Reilly	TV movie
1987	Kojak: The Price of Justice	Aubrey Dubose	TV movie
1988	Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun	Tom Campbell Black	TV movie
1989	The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy	Irvine	TV movie
1989	Trouble in Paradise	Jake	TV movie
1990	After the Shock	Fireman	TV movie
1994	The Dwelling Place	Richard	TV miniseries
1994	Girl	Victor Martin	TV movie
1995	A Woman of Independent Means	Sam Garner	TV miniseries
1996	The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years	The Judge	TV movie
1996	McLeod's Daughters	Jack McLeod	TV movie
2001	My Brother Jack	Bernard Brewster	TV movie
2001	South Pacific	Capt. George Brackett	TV movie
2007	Bastard Boys	Tony Tully	TV movie
2009	The Karenskys	Max Karensky	TV movie
2012	Rake	Mr Justice Beesdon	Episode: "R vs. Fenton"
2013	Camp	Jack Jessup	Episode: "Harvest Moon"
2014	Devil's Playground	Cardinal Constantine Neville	TV miniseries

Awards

• 1975 AFI Award: Best Actor, for Sunday Too Far Away and Petersen
• 1980 AFI Award: Best Actor in a Lead Role, for Breaker Morant
• 1980 Cannes Film Festival: Best Supporting Actor, for Breaker Morant
• 1986 Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the Australian film industry
• 1994 AFI Award: Raymond Longford Award
• 1998 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards: Special Achievement Award
• 2005 Inside Film Awards: Living Legend IF Award
• 2011 Australian Film Festival: Inductee into the Australian Film Walk of Fame

Thompson also served as an UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

Discography

• Jack Thompson: The Bush Poems of A.B. (Banjo) Paterson (Audio recording)|The Bush Poems of A.B. (Banjo) Paterson (2008)
• Jack Thompson: The Campfire Yarns of Henry Lawson (2009)
• Jack Thompson: The Sentimental Bloke, The Poems of C.J. Dennis (2009)
• Jack Thompson: The Battlefield Poems of A.B (Banjo) Paterson (2010)
• Jack Thompson: Favourite Australian Poems (2010)
• Jack Thompson: The Poems of Henry Lawson (2011)
• Jack Thompson: Live at the Gearin Hotel (DVD & CD) (2011)
• Jack Thompson: The Poems of Lewis Carroll (2011)
• Jack Thompson: Live at the Lighthouse CD (2011)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]