Ian Bliss

Ian Bliss (born 30 June 1966) is an Australian film, television, and stage character actor. With a career that has spanned 30 years, he has appeared in numerous Australian television dramas including Heartbreak High, Wentworth, Underbelly and more.

Bliss graduated from Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art.^[1] He also attained a Bachelor of Education while studying his acting degree at NIDA.^[2]

Bliss starred in an episode of Halifax f.p. in 1996. Bliss is best known for his role as Bane and Agent Smith in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), for which he was chosen by the Wachowskis because of his accurate impersonation of Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith's program form), and also his partial resemblance to Weaving.

After the Matrix sequels, Bliss took minor roles in the feature films Stealth and Superman Returns. He also played the Peacekeeper scientist Drillic in the Farscape episode "Losing Time". Bliss also appeared on episode 8 of the 2010 HBO miniseries The Pacific as Capt. Le Francois and surf series The Reef. He has also appeared in several Australian television drama series including Heartbreak High,^[3] Underbelly, Blue Murder and Canal Road. Stage performances include the lead role in War Horse, in Sydney's Lyric Theatre.^[4]

Bliss is also a sought-after voice-over artist ^[5] and has provided his voice to many animated series such as Big Words, Small Stories, Kuu Kuu Harajuku, Get Ace and SheZow.^[6][7] Bliss has also given his voice to the Bowel Cancer Australia campaigns that went to air every year from 2018. Bliss also provided his voice for numerous audiobooks including Dinner with the Schnabels and Final Act.^[8][9]

Bliss appeared in Underbelly adaptation Informer 3838 as Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, Overland in the gangland war would announce numerous task forces including Task Force Purana and Task Force Petra, the later used to investigate the murders of Christine and Terence Hodson with the reward money of $1 million on any information during the height of the gang war still active to this day.. Informer 3838 was Bliss's third appearance in the Underbelly universe, having also appeared in the original Underbelly as "Mr L" and in Fat Tony & Co as Bernie Edwards.^[10][11]

In 2018 Bliss also appeared in season 6 of Wentworth, playing Senior Detective Collins; he reprised the role in the final series of Wentworth, appearing in a total of 6 episodes.^[12]

Bliss in 2022 joined the cast for SBS drama Safe Home where he played Detective O'Connor.^[13]

Bliss in 2023 appeared in horror movie Late Night With the Devil in the role of Carmichael Haig.^[14][15][16] Bliss had revealed later in an interview that he originally was hired as a reader for the movie's audition process and that he was set to play a different role in the film but 4 days prior filming was about to begin he was called in to take over the role of Haig.^[17] In the same interview, Bliss confirmed that he would appear in upcoming Netflix series The Survivors.

In 2023 Bliss appeared in theatre play My Sister Jill.^[18][19]

Bliss has been married to fellow actress Jacquie Brennan since 2001. They met on the set of the theatre play Silhouette. Bliss and Brennan have two children together.^[20]

• Ian Bliss at IMDb
• Ian Bliss at LMCM
• Ian Bliss on Instagram^[1]
• Ian Bliss at Scout Management (voice)