Biografía
Tony Cavanaugh, son of a car dealer and grandson of a decorated American WWII hero, began his career in film and television at 15 as an assistant runner. He worked on Crawford Productions dramas like Homicide, Matlock Police, and Division Four before joining the company full-time after graduating from Flinders University with degrees in English Literature and Art History. For three years, he was part of The Sullivans crew, primarily as a clapper loader and focus puller, before transitioning to the script department to edit and write. At Crawford Productions, Tony served as story editor and showrunner, co-creating The Flying Doctors, inspired by Terry Stapleton's original mini-series, and briefly working on the ill-fated Cluedo series.
In the mid-1980s, Tony became a freelancer, assessing projects for Australian government film funding bodies and major production companies. He also reviewed films for Cinema Papers and taught narrative storytelling. A notable achievement was his role as story and script editor on Once Were Warriors, collaborating with novelist Alan Duff and director Lee Tamahori under Ross Jennings at Comunicado.
In 1989, Tony co-wrote and co-produced Father, based on his original concept. The film starred Max von Sydow, who won an AFI Best Actor award, marking Tony's first experience working with major movie stars. This led to writing projects for Robert Vaughn and Van Johnson on Clowning Around (seasons 1 & 2). Father marked the start of his producing career and the creation of Liberty Films with his then-partner Simone North, a Film Finance Corporation budget analyst. Their first production was Fire, adapted from Ewan Burnett’s play and co-produced with Beyond. Subsequently, Liberty Films and Beyond formed a joint venture, Liberty & Beyond, with Mikael Borglund. Fire ran for two seasons, and Medivac (also known as Adrenalin Junkies), created and piloted by Tony, ran for three seasons.
Tony also produced The Day of the Roses, written by John Misto, one of Australia’s most successful dramas, which garnered multiple awards. He wrote two telemovies: The Love of Lionel's Life and Finding Hope. In 2004, Tony and Simone wrote and produced Through My Eyes, an acclaimed drama chronicling the Azaria Chamberlain case starring Miranda Otto. In 2008, Tony produced I Am You, written and directed by Simone North, featuring Guy Pearce, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, and Ruth Bradley, who won Best Actress at the 2011 Milano International Film Festival. Soon after, the long-awaited film Nine Miles Down, written by Everett de Roche and directed by Anthony Waller, was released.
Following I Am You (also known as In Her Skin), produced by Penny Wolf at Goldcrest, Tony took a break from the industry to write crime novels published by Hachette Australia, Sonatine and Points in France, and Egmont in Germany. He received three Ned Kelly Award nominations and won the 2019 Prix du Meilleur Polar for his books, which include Promise, Dead Girl Sing, The Train Rider, Kingdom of the Strong, The Soft Touch, and Blood River.
Returning to visual storytelling, Tony concentrated on Asian markets, joining ABS Motion Pictures in Bangkok and collaborating with Chinese companies such as Grand Canal and Wanda. Simultaneously, he worked as a story editor and consultant on Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (season three), SeaChange, and The Gloaming. In 2018, Tony co-founded Armarna Films with Louise Lee-Mei and later partnered with Beyond to establish the joint venture Beyond Armarna. Currently, he serves as an Executive Producer at Beyond, developing and producing a variety of visual entertainment for both niche and mass audiences. He continues to teach and mentor writers globally via Zoom, reaching students in Vietnam, Thailand, Madagascar, Rwanda, Australia, the UK, and the US.
