Tom E. Lewis (traditional name: Balang Lewis; 25 August 1958 – 10 May 2018) was an Australian actor and musician. He was an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

from the Murrungun people. His first major role was the title role in the 1978

Fred Schepisi Frederic Alan Schepisi ( ; Kael, Pauline (1984). ''Taking It All In''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 55. born 26 December 1939) is an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter. His credits include ''The Chant of Jimmie B ...

film ''

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith ''The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith'' is a 1972 Booker Prize-nominated Australian novel by Thomas Keneally, and a 1978 Australian film of the same name directed by Fred Schepisi. The novel is based on the life of bushranger Jimmy Governor, the su ...

''.

Biography

Early life

He was born and grew up in

Ngukurr Ngukurr ( , ), formerly Roper River Mission (1908−1968), is a remote Aboriginal community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. A number of different clans and language groups are represented in the tow ...

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. He worked as a bricklayer and stockman before moving into theatre.

Theatre career

He spent many years working in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

theatre scene, having worked with Playbox,

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

Melbourne Workers Theatre Melbourne Workers Theatre (MWT) was an Australian theatre company based in Melbourne, Australia. The company was founded in 1987 by Patricia Cornelius, Steve Payne and Michael White. It specialised in producing work from a left-wing stance, se ...

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

and Handspan Theatres. With Handspan, he devised the internationally successful ''Lift Em Up Socks'', a semi-autobiographical multi-media work. In 2006, he played ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' in the Darwin Theatre Company's production of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

classic. In 2013, Tom played "an indigenous version of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

''" in the Darwin Theatre Company production ''The Shadow King''.

Music career

Lewis was also a musician and played the

didgeridu The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

, flute, clarinet and guitar. Musical projects include the band Circle of Breathing. In the 1990s he toured in acclaimed jazz duo, Lewis & Young through Europe, Asia and Australia. He has played with

Jane Rutter Jane Rutter (born 2 November 1958) is an Australian flautist. Her repertoire encompasses classical, jazz, and pop music. Career Rutter specializes in the French Flute School. She has lectured at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and formed ...

, Eve Duncan, Uli Klein and composer

George Dreyfus George Dreyfus AM (born 22 July 1928) is an Australian contemporary classical, film and television composer. Early life and orchestral career Dreyfus was born to a Jewish family in Elberfeld, Wuppertal, Germany. He was the younger of two sons ...

. In 2000 he was chosen to run with the

Olympic torch The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olym ...

in Melbourne. In 2005, he released the album ''Sunshine After Rain'' through label Skinnyfish music. In 2013, he released ''Beneath the Sun'', also through the Skinnyfish label.

Movie career

He played the title role in the 1978

film ''

'', after being discovered by Schepisi's wife at an airport. He co-wrote a short documentary film, ''Yellow Fella'', about his experience of coming from a mixed race heritage, for which he was awarded the 2005 Bob Maza Fellowship by the

Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...

. Directed by

Ivan Sen Ivan Sen (born 1972) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker. He is a director, screenwriter and cinematographer, as well as an editor, composer and sound designer. He is co-founder and director of Bunya Productions. Early life Ivan Sen was born ...

, it was selected to screen at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, the first Australian Indigenous documentary ever chosen for Official Selection. Lewis considered his artistic creations to be "medicine and good stories for people – like a

Corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the l ...

ground but in the modern world". He worked on ''Dust Echoes'', an Indigenous animated website of

Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal mythology, Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Ja ...

stories produced by the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. ''Dust Echoes'' is important he said, "to preserve our culture by using the whitefella technology to embrace our stories. You see the 'propaganda' is bigger than our stories in the dust and so we now are raising those stories from the dust and share it, so people can more understand our culture and bring them to our fireplace." He played one of the leading roles in the psychological thriller '' Red Hill''. One of his last major roles was in

Boori Monty Pryor Boori Monty Pryor (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian author best known as a storyteller and as the inaugural Australian Children's Laureate (20122013). Early life and family Pryor is descended from the Birri Gubba nation of the Bowen reg ...

's 4-part miniseries ''

Wrong Kind of Black ''Wrong Kind of Black'', originally titled ''Maybe Today'', is an Australian four-part comedy drama series released as a telemovie, web series, and on streaming services. It was created, written and narrated by the Aboriginal Australian author ...

''. His final movie role was in the 2020 documentary-drama ''The Skin of Others'' directed by Tom Murray, where he played the lead role of Indigenous WW1 hero

Douglas Grant Douglas Grant (1885 – 4 December 1951) was an Aboriginal Australian soldier, draughtsman, public servant, journalist, public speaker, and factory worker. During World War I, he was captured by the German army and held as a prisoner of war at ...

, while also commenting on the state of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal relations from his own personal perspective. A reviewer in ''The Guardian'' wrote that: 'one leaves the film with a powerful impression of Lewis as an artist and an intellect; as a person fascinated by stories and compelled towards the process of artistic creation'.

Personal life

Lewis had been living in Beswick, South Arnhem Land since 2001 where he has initiated a cultural foundation, the Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation, which hosts the "Walking with the Spirits" festival each year.

Death

Lewis died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on 10 May 2018 in the Northern Territory town of

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...

Filmography

Discography

* ''Recorded Messages: Violin'' * ''Sunshine After Rain'' (2005) * ''Beneath the Sun'' (2013)

Awards

Australia Council for the Arts

The

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a

Red Ochre Award The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists. Background and description The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts. It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...

. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, himself , Red Ochre Award , , - * Best actor:Canberra Short Film Festival:International Category (2017) * Bob Maza Fellowship (2005)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Tom E. 1958 births 2018 deaths Australian composers Australian male composers Australian musicians Indigenous Australian male actors Indigenous Australian musicians People from the Northern Territory