James Hagan/Bio

James Hagan began his career at the Perth Playhouse in 1975. After spending seven years touring Britain and Europe with the acclaimed Australian theatre company, Triad Stage Alliance, he worked with the English speaking theatres of Frankfurt (Germany) and Florence (Italy). After returning to Australia in 1985, James worked constantly in theatre, film and radio, performing in over forty theatre productions in Australia alone.

James was the recipient of the New York Radio Festival Silver (1st) prize 1987 and the New York Bronze (2nd) prize 1989 for narration in radio advertisements. He was a well known voice over artist in Australia, New Zealand and Britain for his anti-smoking commercials with the voice-overs for Quit Smoking Australia that warn 'every cigarette is doing you damage' (despite the fact that he was a heavy smoker to the end of his life).

James's numerous stage credits included seasons with Hole In The Wall, Black Swan, Cross Roads, The Sydney Theatre Company, The Ensemble, Hunter Valley Theatre Company, and the Marian Street Theatre. For Parramatta Theatre Company: Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and Claudius in Hamlet. For the New Theatre: Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. For Shakespeare By The Sea he played Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, The Duke in Measure For Measure, Lear in King Lear, Baptista in Taming Of The Shrew, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Jacques in As You Like It and Autolycus in The Winter's Tale. Later stage work was with the Bell Theatre Company playing Baptista in Taming of the Shrew and the professor in Oleana at the Tap Gallery.

James received great reviews for his stage work including: Baylor in Lie of the Mind, Perth Playhouse: 'James Hagan as Beth's father almost but not quite overwhelms the rest of the cast.' Ron Banks, West Australian, 1987. And as John in Oleana, Tap Gallery: 'As the professor, James Hagan is superb.' Colin Rose, Sun Herald, 2002. James won the award of Best Actor from the Equity Guild of WA for his performance in Red. The Award was presented 23 January 2013 at the Perth Cultural Centre.

He worked extensively for ABC Radio, recording works as diverse as book readings, straight plays, scientific programs and poetry. His voice was used in countless television commercials and radio voice-overs.

As well as being a respected theatre practitioner, James also appeared in numerous film and television productions such as Intransit, Mary MacKillop, Wind, Rondella, The Diary of Watkin Tench, Headstart, Artful Dodger, Backburner, Stark, GP, Police Rescue II, Maths Break, and Fat Cat and the Time Bandits. Film roles included: a mystery man in Needle (2010), the lead male role as the husband in Little Sparrows (2010), the police superintendent in The Great Mint Swindle (Geoff Bennett, 2011), and the exorcist Father Bernard in Foreshadow (Carmelo Musca, 2013).

James was always in great demand as a voice and drama teacher to actors, announcers and business people. He was a speech and drama coach for NIDA Outreach, Department of Education Performing Arts Sydney, John Curtin Performing Arts and various Screen Acting Workshops in both Sydney and Perth.

He was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the Equity Guild Awards for two roles: the comically sleazy 'adult' film director in Boy Gets Girl; and the incredibly plummy 1930s radio announcer in The Fremantle Candidate. The following year he was nominated for his role as a hard-as-nails radio presenter in the world premiere of Hobo at the Blue Room Theatre. He was also very well received playing the mentally deranted grandfather in the short film Poppy.

He taught many acting students at home and at the Perth Film School - some of them in the process of succeeding in the US and Australian film industries.

Gallery

Click on any image for a larger version.

[[img/oklahoma.jpg|]]Oklahoma (Rogers & Hammerstein) Patch Theatre, Perth, 1971 (Judd)

[[img/peterpan.jpg|]]Peter Pan, Patch Theatre, Perth, 1974 (Mr Darling)

[[img/tba.jpg|]]A Toast to Melba (Jack Hibberd), Hole in the Wall Theatre (Subiaco) 1975 (George Bernard Shaw, with Mary Haire)

[[img/aladdin.jpg|]]Aladdin, Düsseldorf Stadtstheater, 1979 (The Dueller)

[[img/dirtydicks.jpg|]]Dirty Dick's, Dirty Dick's Theatre Restaurant, Stirling St Perth, 1986 (Robin Hood)

[[img/essingtonlewis.jpg|]]Essington Lewis - I Am Work, Playhouse, Perth, 1986 (with Geoff Gibbs)

[[img/oneatatime.jpg|]]One at a Time, The Winter Theatre, Perth, 1986 (with Maggie Anketell)

[[img/lieofthemind1.jpg|]]Lie of the Mind (Sam Shepard), Playhouse, Perth, 1987 (Baylor)

[[img/lieofthemind2.jpg|]]Lie of the Mind, Playhouse, Perth, 1987 (with Jenny Davis)

[[img/1984.jpg|]]1984, English-Speaking Theatre of Frankfurt, 1984 (Winston Smith)

[[img/ragged.jpg|]]The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist (Stephen Lowe), Playhouse, 1987 (Bob Crass)

[[img/sweeneytodd.jpg|]]Sweeney Todd, Subiaco Theatre Centre, 1988 (Sweeney Todd—with Michael Loney)

[[img/churchillsfollies.jpg|]]Churchill's Follies, The Churchill Tavern, Concert Hall, Perth, 1988 (Mme La Boheme)

[[img/porter.jpg|]]Macbeth, 1999, Hunter Valley Theatre Company (The Porter)

[[img/duncan.jpg|]]Macbeth, 1999, Hunter Valley Theatre Company (Duncan)

[[img/jacques.jpg|]]As You Like It, Shakespeare by the Sea, Balmoral Beach, 2002 (Jacques)

[[img/bighorn.jpg|]]Big Horn (Paul Rogers) Belvoir St Downstairs, 1999

[[img/loversatversailles.jpg|]]Lovers at Versailles (Bernard Farrell) Sydney Opera House, 2003; GLUG Award for Best Actor 2003

[[img/sparrows.jpg|]]Little Sparrows (film, Camille Chen, 2009, James)

[[img/haunting1.jpg|]] The Haunting of Daniel Gantrell (Reg Cribb) Subiaco Theatre Central, 2010

[[img/haunting2.jpg|]]The Haunting of Daniel Gantrell (Reg Cribb) Subiaco Theatre Central, 2010

IMDb entry

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally hosted at freotopia.org/people/jameshagan/bio.html, and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.