Biografie

Although Ian Smith is now the longest serving actor on the Australian TV show "Neighbours", he has not played the character of Harold Bishop continuously. Ian originally played the character from 1987-1991, then left the show for 5 years before returning to play the character again in 1996.

Found out, at the age of 54, that he was adopted.

Reg Watson offered Ian the chance to work on Nachbarn (1985) on the day that Smith and his colleagues taped the final edition of Prisoner (1979) - Watson being the creator of both series. 30 years to the day of the Wentworth drama's first edition, Ian's final Ramsay Street appearance was transmitted by Network Ten.

Was in the audience watching a performance of Little Britain live when they toured Australia. During the show Vicki Pollard (played by Matt Lucas, who much like David Walliams had no idea Ian was in the audience) said she went to Ramsey Street and got fingered by Ian Smith's character, Harold Bishop.

Was the script supervisor for many episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H. Smith would later join the cast as a character, and later returned to his duties on set.

Back in the days of Bellbird (1967) it was a great school for young actors. It was a school for experienced stage actors as well. These days if a kid looks OK they get the job. We find out if they can act later. Learning how to teach the kids is very important.

Playing against the character was always good for Harold [Bishop]. I've always said use what you've got. If you've got a face that wobbles around a bit, use it get a laugh. People are always trying to be what they're not, but if I'm fat and a bit funny to look at when I do things like that, OK let's get a laugh, let's make it work.

I love the silly old fart but as an actor, I would like to stretch myself beyond that because you're in danger of becoming the character you play, especially for so many years, so I want to get away from that.

It's like the young kids come up to me and say, 'You're like my granddad', or, 'You're just like my father'. If I can grab that and turn it into something where I can say, 'Go and hug your father' - I never hugged my father, I only kissed him for the first time 10 minutes after he died.

One day, I realised I didn't want to do it anymore and I always promised myself that if that day happened, I wouldn't be fair to Harold if I did keep doing it because it would become false.