The Council of the Society is delighted to announce that it has elected the acclaimed actor and director, Dr John Bell AO CBE DistFRSN, as a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

John Bell, one of Australia’s most acclaimed theatre personalities, has been instrumental in shaping Australian theatre during his lifetime. He is an award-winning actor, acclaimed director, risk-taking impresario, passionate educator, inspiring leader and unforgettable speaker. John founded The Bell Shakespeare Company in 1990. His contributions to the appreciation of the works of William Shakespeare have been pervasive and invigorating, while his many interpretations of roles have become performance benchmarks in Australian theatre.

John’s list of other theatre credits includes work for the Old Tote Theatre Company, all major state theatre companies and five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Great Britain. As co-founder of the Nimrod Theatre Company in Sydney, John presented many of Australia’s premiere and landmark productions of Australian plays in the 70s and 80s, including David Williamson’s Travelling North, The Club, The Removalists, and Peter Kenna’s A Hard God.

John Bell is an Officer of the Order of Australia and the Order of the British Empire. He has Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the Universities of Sydney, New South Wales and Newcastle. In 1997 the National Trust of Australia named him as one of Australia’s Living Treasures. John is the founder and chair of The Bouddi Foundation for the Arts, based on the NSW Central Coast, dedicated to supporting young artists of all genres.

Earlier this year, John Bell delivered an inspiring presentation at the ninth Ideas@theHouse, convened jointly by Her Excellency, The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales, and the Society at Government House Sydney. A recording of this event is available on our YouTube channel.