Jim Daly (actor)

Jim Daly was born in Adelaide to Vincent Daly and Aileen Dempsey. He has two sisters, Carmen and Angela. They grew up in the suburb of Forestville and he first attended Cabra Convent, then CBC Wakefield St, in Adelaide city. He started acting in 1955, appearing as Robin Hood in the play "The King's Thief" at his Speech Night where he was talent-spotted. His professional career began that year with Dame Joanna Priest at The Studio Theatre, Adelaide, in a production of Benjamin Britten's "Let's Make an Opera". Michael Crawford had debuted in the role in the premier production in England in the previous year. For three years Jim learnt ballet under Dame Joanne.[3] Two of his fellow dancers were Paul Saliba and Josephine Jason (Mutton), both of whom became members of the Australian Ballet Company. He also appeared in "Tosca" and "La Boheme" produced by The Elizabethan Theatre Company, and in the late 1950s regularly with the live-to-air children's TV show "Southern Stars". Jim engaged in a full life at school, participating in football cricket, tennis, cubs and scouts, gymnastics, rowing, and cadets. His favourite teacher was Br. Richard O'Donoghue. He completed his Matriculation year at Edmund Rice College in Bundoora.

In 1964, Daly completed a course in teaching with The State College of Victoria (Christian Brothers Training Colleges), and taught full-time in primary and then secondary schools (1965-1986) in Melbourne and South Australia, and then later again in Melbourne 1986-2010, and at La Trobe University from 2010 to the present (2020), where he teaches English to international students. Over this period he completed a BA (majoring in English Literature and French Language and Literature) beginning at Melbourne University in 1966 and completing at Adelaide University in 1970, a Diploma in Educational Administration in 1979 and a Master's in educational administration (New England University) in 1980, then a Master of Applied Linguistics (USQ), 2010. In 2012 he began a PhD by practice-research in the Theatre and Performance Department at Monash University, where his topic is "Performing the Grotesque from Hybridity and Excess: An Investigation Sited in the Katyn massacre." He will complete in 2021.[3]

He is married to Joanna (née Jankowski) and has four children: Thomas, Jeremy, Hanna and Gabriella; and seven grandchildren.

He introduced Drama as a subject to St Michael's College, Henley Beach. He acted with the Adelaide Repertory Company, La Mama, and The Stage Company in Adelaide, returning to acting in 1984, leaving teaching. becoming 'professional' again. His theatre company, MOP, consisting of St Michael's old scholars was active from 1979 to 1983. The company alternated pub shows at The Black Lion hotel in Hindmarsh and major productions. He has lived in Melbourne since 1986[3] and has been represented by BgmAgency for many years. A full CV can be seen in the link below (References). He has a long list of credits across theatre, film, television, voice-over, commercials and book narration work. His narrations include "Wednesdays with Bob", a series of interviews with Bob Hawke. Jim combined with actress Marta Kaczmarek ("Shine") in an entertaining, long-running commercial for i-Select (an online broker including medical insurance) in which as an elderly husband he is surprised to learn that his equally elderly wife is pregnant. "Better call i-Select!" she says. He is also well known for his appearance as the track engineer Mr Wilson in the "100 Metres Track" episode of "The Games" (for the Sydney Olympics 2000) with the famous actor and satirist, the deeply-respected late John Clark.

He is a Green Room Award (Vic.) winner 1996 for "The 8:16 Vodka Syndrome", "Travesties", "The Brand New Ford" and other work, and has been nominated on many occasions; an Earphones Award Winner for his narration of Morris West's "The Lovers", published by Bolinda. "Daly's portrayal of Cavanagh's Irish-Australian accent is perfect. His voice is rich, arresting, and filled with subtle nuances. He also excels at his portrayal of the wealthy American Lou Malloy, giving him a lace-curtain Irish accent--brash and with a lilt. Daly is equally adroit with Malloy's Greek friend and the aristocratic Italian accents of the Farnese family members. This is an audio experience to savor, like a good glass of wine. A great story and a great performance, rare and wonderful." He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the Maverick Movie Awards in 2009 for Don Percy's short feature "Inanimate Objects".

From 1974-75 he (uncredited) compiled research material as Research Officer for The National Right to Life Association as part of its submission to the Royal Commission into Human Relationships (terms of reference 1974). He also prepared (uncredited) in the same period a Bibliography and a Journal of Abstracts of research material held and published by the Research Committee of The Right to Life Association (South Australian Division) Inc. under the chairmanship of pathologist Dr Ted Cleary of Adelaide University.

Jim has also worked as an assessor and examiner in several language programmes, including matriculating English exams in South Australia and Victoria from the 1970s, ACER scholarship exams, and GAMSAT (medical school entry) writing tests, and writing tests conducted by Pearsons for international students. He has also worked as an interlocutor for OET (medical student) English speaking tests and is an IELTS speaking examiner.

Jim continues to work untiringly as an actor. Details can also be found in Showcase and in AusStage.

Publications include:

Daly, James Oliver (2019). ‘Antonin Artaud and The Grotesque.’ Ephemera, vol.2, no.3, December.  Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil. Retrieved from  https://orcid-org/000-0002-7972-6036  

Daly, Jim (2015).  ‘The Grotesque and The Gothic in Peter King’s John Gabriel Borkman: a Reflection from the Inside.’ Australasian Drama Studies 66. April. 109–130.  Retrieved from  https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/253471243

• Jim Daly at IMDb