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.
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Early life
Erik Thomson was born c. 1967 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.
(The Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor was referred to as "Best Actor" in 2016 and 2017)
