Diane Craig

Diane Mary Craig (born 1949), sometimes credited as Di Craig, is a Northern Irish-born Australian actress best known for her performances in film and television.

Craig was born in County Down, Northern Ireland in 1949. Her family relocated to Australia in 1960. She attended Sydney's prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA).

Craig left NIDA after a year, making her debut in 1970 starring in the British Australian feature film Ned Kelly (1970), alongside Mick Jagger – replacing Marianne Faithfull in the role of Maggie Kelly.

Her subsequent film appearances included roles in drama feature The Mango Tree (1977), Double Deal (1981), war film The Highest Honor (1982) and Travelling North (1987) starring Leo McKern and based on the David Williamson play of the same name. She played the lead role of Diane Lane in the 1989 political satire A Sting in the Tale. Her most recent film was the 2009 drama In Her Skin, based on the true story of the murder of 15-year-old Rachel Barber, alongside Guy Pearce, Sam Neill and Miranda Otto.

Additionally, she has appeared in several television films, including drama Roses Bloom Twice (1977), The Newman Shame (1978) starring one-time James Bond, George Lazenby and After Marcuse (1988). She has also featured in American comedy film Traveling Man (1989) alongside John Lithgow, sport biopic Never Tell Me Never (1998) opposite Claudia Karvan and One of the Lucky Ones (2007).

Craig has also appeared on the small screen in numerous serials, miniseries and telemovies. Early television appearances included recurring roles in Snake Gully with Dad and Dave as Mabel Smith (1972), police drama Division 4 as Jenny Franklin (1973–1975) and sport drama And The Big Men Fly as Lil (1974), based on the Alan Hopgood play of the same name. She played the regular role of Majorie Faber in soap opera Certain Women (from 1975 to 1976), Alison Finlay in police drama Cop Shop and Pamela Summers in period drama The Sullivans (both, from 1978 to 1979).

She is probably best known however, for her long-running roles in the soap operas The Restless Years as Gail Lawrence (from 1978 to 1979), and E Street, replacing actress Penny Cook as main character Dr. Elly Fielding (from 1991 to 1993).

Craig appeared several times in the cult television series Prisoner and played a recurring role in medical soap opera The Young Doctors as Diane Brooke (1980–1981). She had ongoing roles in Home and Away playing Theresa Lynch (1995) and Heartbreak High playing June Dyson (1995–1996). Craig's last long-running role was as Deborah McManus in the 2008 series Out of the Blue.

She has featured in several miniseries including political drama Dead Men Running (1971), crime drama Scales of Justice (1983), historical series All The Rivers Run (1983) alongside Sigrid Thornton and based on the book of the same name, True Believers (1988), underworld crime drama Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (2009) and media drama Howzat! Kerry Packer's War (2012).

Craig has also made guest appearances on numerous television series, including The Godfathers, Matlock Police, Homicide, Boney, Ryan, Young Ramsay, Bellamy, Holiday Island, A Country Practice, Chopper Squad, Skyways, Carson's Law, Special Squad, The Henderson Kids, Willing and Abel, Mother and Son (alongside husband Garry McDonald), Rafferty's Rules, the 1980s reboot of Mission: Impossible, Acropolis Now, The Flying Doctors, Law of the Land, Medivac, Murder Call, Wildside, All Saints, Packed to the Rafters and Crownies.

Craig has acted on stage in numerous theatre productions, beginning from her time studying at Sydney's NIDA. She has appeared for Nimrod Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Belvoir Street Theatre and Old Tote Theatre Company.

She has featured alongside husband Garry McDonald in several plays, including Let's Get a Divorce (1970), Double Act (1995), Two Brothers (2005) and Don Parties On (2011), the sequel to David Williamson’s Don's Party.

Her most recent appearance was in the Williamson play Crunch Time in 2020.

Craig met Garry McDonald when they were cast as husband and wife in a 1970 production of Let’s Get a Divorce at Hobart’s Theatre Royal. They were married on 13 April 1971. They have two grown children, including actor daughter Kate, who played McDonald's character's daughter on Mother and Son. The couple live in Berry on the New South Wales south coast.

Diane Craig at IMDb