Robert John Taylor is an Australian actor who portrays Walt Longmire in the television series Longmire.
Biography[]
Robert Taylor was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. After his parents separated when he was nine, he moved to a mining town in Western Australia to live with his aunt and uncle. As a teenager, Taylor worked as a miner, a lifeguard, and a bouncer.
Taylor was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. His parents separated when he was nine, and he moved to a mining town in Western Australia to live with his aunt and uncle. He worked as a miner when he was a teenager, and later had jobs including lifeguard and bouncer. When he was twenty-one he began to work on an oil rig in the Indian Ocean. At one point, his ship collided with another and sank off the west coast of Australia. Taylor and his two crewmates escaped on a lifeboat, but he suffered a broken arm and ribs.
While recovering at the hospital, Taylor saw an ad for auditions for drama school in Perth, Australia at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). He joined after a successful audition when he was twenty-four. He graduated from the WAAPA in 1988. His first major role was in 1989 as Nicholas Walsh in the Australian television soap Home and Away. His first lead role came in 1993 when he was cast as the lead role of David Griffin in the Australian mini-series The Feds. He then appeared in various guest roles and on TV movies in Australia, such as Blue Heelers and Stingers, often cast as a police officer. In 2001, Taylor took on the main role of Father Vincent Sheehan in the sixth and final series of Ballykissangel, a British television drama set in Ireland. Further television credits include MDA (2002), Satisfaction (2010), Cops L.A.C. (2010) and Killing Time (2011).
In 1999, he appeared as Agent Jones in the blockbuster The Matrix. This role was Taylor's big break in Hollywood. In 2000, he starred alongside Chris O'Donnell in the action thriller Vertical Limit. Other film credits include The Hard Word (2002), Storm Warning (2007), Rogue (2007), Coffin Rock (2009), Kong: Skull Island (2017), The Meg (2018), Blood Vessel (2019), and Into the Ashes (2019).
In 2011, Taylor was cast for the lead role of Walt Longmire in A&E's crime drama series Longmire. After the third season, A&E announced it would not renew the series despite being the "highest-rated original drama series" on A&E. Netflix continued the series through the sixth and final season which aired in 2017.
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Phage | Calhoun | |
| 1999 | The Matrix | Agent Jones | |
| 2000 | Muggers | Detective Constable Porter | |
| 2000 | Vertical Limit | Skip Taylor | |
| 2000 | After the Rain | Jack Behring | |
| 2002 | The Hard Word | Frank Malone | |
| 2003 | Ned Kelly | Sherritt Trooper | |
| 2003 | Roundabout | Police officer 1 | Short film |
| 2007 | Storm Warning | Rob | |
| 2007 | Rogue | Everett Kennedy | |
| 2007 | The Bloody Sweet Hit | Lindsay | Short film |
| 2008 | Long Weekend | Bartender | |
| 2009 | Coffin Rock | Rob Willis | |
| 2012 | The Balibo Night | Private Benjamin Cook (voice) | Short video |
| 2014 | Healing | Vander | |
| 2014 | Turkey Shoot | Ramrod | |
| 2014 | The Menkoff Method | Clive Struthers | |
| 2015 | Focus | McEwen | |
| 2015 | Downriver | Wayne | |
| 2015 | What Lola Wants | Jed | |
| 2017 | Kong: Skull Island | Captain of the Boat | |
| 2017 | Don't Tell | Robert Brewster | |
| 2018 | The Meg | Dr. Heller | |
| 2019 | Blood Vessel | Captain Malone | |
| 2019 | Into the Ashes | Frank Parson |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Flying Doctors | Lachlan McGregor | Season 3, episode 15: "Clapped Out" |
| 1988 | Reed Down Under | King | Television movie |
| 1988 | Something Is Out There | 1st officer | |
| 1988 | The Clean Machine | Constable Ron Healy | Television movie |
| 1988 | The Rocks | Constable Gottlieb | Television movie |
| 1989 | Brotherhood of the Rose | Pollux | |
| 1989 | Home and Away | Nicholas Walsh | 20 episodes |
| 1990 | Yellowthread Street | Detective Peter Marenta | 7 episodes |
| 1990 | The Paper Man | Johnny Coates | |
| 1992 | Steel Justice | Detective Lieutenant David Nash | Television movie |
| 1993–1996 | The Feds | David Griffin | Lead role |
| 1995 | The Last Bullet | Sergeant Caldwell | Television movie |
| 1996 | Twisted Tales | Peter | Season 1, episode 12: "A Sure Thing" |
| 1996 | Flipper | Season 1, episode 11: "Fish Out of Water" | |
| 1996 | The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years | Jack Cleary | Television movie |
| 1998 | Good Guys, Bad Guys | Andrew Costello | Season 2, episode 12: "Blood is Thicker Than Walter" |
| 1999 | Wildside | Clayton Clark | Season 2, episode 8 |
| 1999 | Blue Heelers | Detective Barry Craig | Season 6, episode 10: "Dirty Money" Season 6, episode 12: "Web of Lies" |
| 1999 | Stingers | Detective Sergeant Mick Foley | Season 1, episode 20: "Proving Ground" Season 1, episode 21: "Cast Off" Season 1, episode 22: "Dead Man's Throw" Season 2, episode 8: "White Lies" |
| 1999 | First Daughter | Mason | Television movie |
| 2001 | Ballykissangel | Father Vincent Sheehan | 8 episodes |
| 2002 | MDA | Paul Bennett | 8 episodes |
| 2004 | The Mystery of Natalie Wood | Nicholas Ray | Television movie |
| 2005 | Hercules | Chiron | |
| 2008 | City Homicide | Kevin Steele | Season 2, episode 12: "Spoils of War" |
| 2010 | Satisfaction | John McCoy | 6 episodes |
| 2010 | Cops L.A.C. | Tom O'Neill | Season 1, episode 1: "The Learning Curve" |
| 2011 | Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer was Here | Deputy Commissioner Graham Sinclair | Television movie |
| 2011 | Killing Time | Tim Watson-Munro | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | Twentysomething | Trevor | Season 1, episode 6 |
| 2012–2017 | Longmire | Sheriff Walt Longmire | Lead role |
| 2013 | Mr & Mrs Murder | Alistair Travers | Season 1, episode 8: "A Flare for Murder" |
| 2016 | Wolf Creek | Roland Thorogood | Season 1, episode 1: "Billabong" |
Trivia[]
- Taylor's height is 6'2".
- In 2010, Taylor married Australian producer Ayisha Davies and they have one daughter together.
- He co-founded a farmer's market and community gardens in St Kilda, Victoria, called "Veg Out".