Paul Hogan (born October 8, 1939 in Lightning Ridge, Australia) is an Australian actor and comedian.

Formerly a rigger working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Hogan rose to fame in the early 1970s in the comedy series A Current Affair. Hogan followed this with his own comedy sketch programme, The Paul Hogan Show, which he produced, co-wrote, and in which he played a panoply of comedic characters. The series, which ran for 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, proved to be popular both in his native country and in the UK, and showcased his trademark lighthearted but laddish "Aussie" humour.

During the 1980s Hogan appeared on British television in a long-running series of advertisements for Foster's Lager, in which he played an earthy Australian abroad in London. The character's most notable line (spoken incredulously at a ballet performance) "strewth, mate, there's a bloke down there with no strides on!" followed Hogan for years, and the popularity of its "fish out of water" humour was repeated with his next endeavour.

Hogan's first film, featuring a similarly down-to-earth hunter travelling from the Australian Outback to New York City, was privately funded by Hogan and a group of private investors including much of its cast, entrepreneur Kerry Packer, and cricketers Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, and Rodney Marsh. 1986's Crocodile Dundee proved to be the most successful Australian film ever, and launched Hogan's international film career.

Hogan married his Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski in 1990 after divorcing his first wife Noeline. He has five children to his first marriage, and one to his second.

External links

• Biography of Paul Hogan's film career