Jack Charles, a member of the Stolen Generations, was born on September 5, 1943, at the Cummeragunja Mission Station in New South Wales, Australia, to a Bunuronong mother and a Wiradjuri father. His great-great-grandfather was a Djadjawurrung man who resisted government policy at the Corranderrk reserve in Victoria in 1881.
As a victim of the Australian Government's forced child removal program, Jack was taken from his mother at just four months old and raised in the Salvation Army Boys' Home at Box Hill in Melbourne, where he was the only Aboriginal child and suffered sexual abuse.
Despite his difficult early life, Jack has gone on to become an actor, musician, potter, and Aboriginal elder. His screen credits include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Bedevil, Blackfellas, Tom White, and Pan, among others.
Jack started his acting career in 1970 and co-founded Nindethana, Australia's first Indigenous theatre group, in 1971. Nindethana's first hit play, Jack Charles is Up and Fighting, included music composed by Jack.
Jack was the subject of Amiel Courtin-Wilson's 2008 documentary Bastardy, which followed his life for seven years. The film was an official selection for several film festivals.
In 2010, Ilbijerri Theatre staged Jack's one-man show, Jack Charles v The Crown, at the Melbourne Festival. Jack was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play for his performance.
Jack has continued to work in the entertainment industry, performing in productions such as I am Eora, Pan, and Wolf Creek. He received a Lifetime Achievement award from Victoria's Green Room Awards in 2014 and was awarded the Red Ochre Award from the Australian Council for the Arts in 2019.
Jack's memoir, Jack Charles: Born-Again Blakfella, was written with Namila Benson and published in 2019. The book was shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards 2020 Biography Book of the Year.
