Erik Thomson is a Scottish-New Zealand-Australian actor. He played Hades in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena Warrior Princess, and Young Hercules, Dr. Mitch Stevens in All Saints and Dave Rafter in Packed to the Rafters.
Thomson has been nominated for many awards, and won a few, including an Australian Film Institute Award for his performance in the Australian feature film Somersault in 2004.
Early life Erik Thomson was born in Inverness, Scotland. His grandmother was from the Shetland Islands, and he would stay there every summer, often accompanying his fishermen grandfather and uncles on their fishing boats. He sometimes ate whale that was brought by Norwegian and Russian whalers in exchange for mutton prepared by his grandmother. His family emigrated to New Zealand when he was seven, settling first in Tauranga.
The family moved to Upper Hutt, near Wellington. While at high school, he played rugby, and also played in a band with Tim Balme, performing songs by The Clash and various artists on the NZ Flying Nun label.
He first studied English literature and drama at Victoria University of Wellington, but did not graduate before switching to study performing arts at the New Zealand Drama School, from which he graduated in 1990. He has said "All my memories of my childhood and my early adult life are in New Zealand", and he regards the country as his "spiritual home".
Thomson holds triple British, New Zealand and Australian citizenship.
Career Thomson had a number of television roles in New Zealand, starting with Marlin Bay, a drama set in a casino and resort. He won a wider fan following for his occasional appearances as the god Hades in the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules, all three series of which were filmed in New Zealand.
In 1995, Thomson moved to Australia and landed regular roles in Pacific Drive, medical series All Saints (1999–2003) and The Alice (2005). He has had guest roles on such series as Wildside and Always Greener. From 2008 to 2013, Thomson played Dave Rafter on the Seven Network dramedy series Packed to the Rafters. From 2015 to 2018 he had the lead role in 800 Words.
Thomson's work in theatre includes roles in Complete Works of Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Twelve Angry Men, and Angels in America.
Thomson's film credits include the role of soldier Simon Mollison in the 2008 film The Black Balloon with Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette and Gemma Ward. He appeared in Somersault with Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington, which scored him an AFI Award. He also featured in Accidents Happen with Geena Davis, Storm Boy with Geoffrey Rush, and Finn Little, and Blueback with Mia Wasikowska and Radha Mitchell.
In 2023, Thomson appeared in channel 7 series The Claremont Murders.
In 2024 Thomson was named in the cast for Kangaroo Island. On 21 October 2024, Thomson was announced to play Scrooge for the 2024 theatre season of A Christmas Carol.
Awards
Thomson won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Somersault, and was nominated for his work in The Black Balloon. For television, he has been nominated for a Logie Award five times and has won two Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor.
Organizations Year Category Work Result Logie Awards 2002 Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor 2003 2004 2009 2010 2016 2017 2018 AFI Awards 2004 AFI Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role 2008
(The Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor was referred to as "Best Actor" in 2016 and 2017)
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 1998 13 Gantry Row Kieron TV movie 2004 Somersault Richard Feature film 2006 BlackJack: Dead Memory Rob TV movie 2007 We're Here to Help Dave Henderson Feature film 2008 The Black Balloon Simon Mollison Feature film 2009 The Boys Are Back Digby Feature film Beautiful Frank Feature film Accidents Happen Bob Feature film 2013 The Broken Shore Steve Villani TV movie 2015 Now Add Honey Richard Morgan Feature film 2018 Storm Boy Malcom Downer Feature film 2019 Awoken Robert Feature film 2021 Coming Home in the Dark Hoaggie Feature film 2022 Blueback Costello Feature film Monolith VoiceFeature film2024Kangaroo IslandRory Wells
Television Year Title Role Notes 1992-94 Marlin Bay TV series 1992 The Ray Bradbury Theater Young Man TV series 1995 Plainclothes PC James Rose TV series 1995 The Enid Blyton Adventure Series Joe TV series 1995-99 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Hades TV series 1995–98 Xena: Warrior Princess Hades TV series 1996-97 Pacific Drive Brett Barrett TV series 1998-99 Young Hercules Hades TV series 1997-99 Wildside Guest role TV series 2001-03 Always Greener Guest role TV series 1999-03 All Saints Dr. Mitchell Stevens TV series 2001 Justin Brown Justin Brown 2004 Through My Eyes Professor James Cameron TV miniseries 2005 MDA David Simpson TV series 2005–06 The Alice Jack Jaffers TV series 2008–13 Packed to the Rafters Dave Rafter TV series 2014 The Code Niko Gaelle TV series 2015–18 800 Words George Turner TV series 2020 The Luminaries Dick Mannering TV miniseries 2021-22 Aftertaste Easton West TV series, 12 episodes 2021 Back to the Rafters Dave Rafter TV series, 6 episodes 2022 Black Snow Steve Walcott TV series, 6 episodes 2023 The Claremont Murders Don Spiers TV miniseries, 2 episodesC*A*U*G*H*TColonel Bishop6 episodes2024My Life Is MurderLawrence1 episodeCritical IncidentTrevor Latt6 episodes 2026 My Brilliant Career Theodore Hardwicke TV series
References
External links