Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson is an Australian director, producer and actor best known for his comedic turns in the Australian television series' Double the Fist, Review with Myles Barlow, Laid, and award-winning short films Life in a Datsun, Demon Datsun, and Life in a Volkswagen. He directed the horror feature film Red Christmas.

Anderson is a physical media enthusiast and has a VHS collection with over 8500 tapes.

Early life

Anderson grew up in St Clair, New South Wales, a suburb of Western Sydney.

Anderson has a First Class Honors in Performance and Theory from the University of Western Sydney.

Career

Anderson first gained success as a filmmaker in 1999, when he collaborated with university friend Brian Moses to create the short film Life in a Datsun. The short was screened at the Tropfest and St Kilda Film Festival to great acclaim. In 2000, they followed it up with Life in a Volkswagen.

The success of Anderson's short films with Moses lead to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation commissioning their late night TV series Double the Fist. The show is a satire of lifestyle television and features the characters pursuing the "most extreme lifestyle choices they can make". Anderson was frustrated with representation on Australian television and wanted the show to be "lower-class people having cool fantasies and action adventures". In a shock upset, the series beat Kath & Kim to win the 2004 Australian Film Institute award for best comedy series. The series returned for a second season in 2008.

In 2008, Anderson also featured in three episodes of the ABC TV show Review With Myles Barlow. Anderson served as associate producer and first assistant director on the series

In 2013, Anderson was the subject of a six-part Observational Documentary series Next Stop Hollywood, which followed him around Hollywood during pilot season. In 2014, he shared directing duties on Australia's first Indigenous sketch Comedy series Black Comedy. Anderson and fellow director Bec Cole won the AACTA award for Best Direction in TV Light Entertainment or Reality Series for the series.

Between directing television projects, in 2016, Anderson directed his first feature film, Red Christmas. The film was inspired by Tony Kaye's exploration of abortion in Lake of Fire. Gary Doust's documentary Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare depicts Anderson's journey creating the film.

In 2023, Anderson started an analytical film podcast called Film Versus Film with Bruce and Herschel Isaacs from The University of Sydney. The hosts compare two wildly different films each episode, in an effort to understand cinematic trends and what defines iconic films. The first season also features a series of reflections on what media influenced them growing up in Western Sydney working-class families during the late 80s and early 90s.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Type 1999 Life in a Datsun Craig Short film 2000 Life in a Volkswagen Short film 2000 Bootmen Huey's Mate Feature film 2010 Miscast Slacker Director 2 Short film 2012 Sparkle Short film 2012 Sparkle Short film 2013 The Tenant The Tenant Short film 2015 Damsel John Film 2016 The Tail Job Trevor Feature film 2016 Tay Man Paul Tropfest short film 2016 Baby Planet Juice Short film 2016 Hitnan Pervert Hitnan Short film 2017 Horror Movie: A Low Budget Nightmare Documentary film (the making of Red Christmas) 2017 Spell Short film 2018 Huff to Huff Short film

Television Year Title Role Type 2000 Video Dare TV series 2004–08 Double the Fist Steve Foxx TV series, 16 episodes 2008 Downtown Rumble Master TV series 2008–10 Review with Myles Barlow Graham / Customer / Clown TV series, 5 episodes 2010 Charity Hurts Cop Video 2011 Laid Russ TV series, 1 episode 2011 Bernie Web series 2011 Late Night Angel Weenie Baby Web series 2011 Dating Emergency 101 Greg Web series 2012 Office Correctness Greg Video 2012 A Moody Christmas Counsellor TV miniseries, 1 episode 2013 Next Stop Hollywood Himself Documentary TV series 2013 The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting Various characters TV miniseries, 6 episodes 2014 The Moodys Dean TV miniseries, 1 episode 2014 Black Comedy Guest cast TV series, 2 episodes 2015 Alt Tab Voice Video 2015 Dirty Bird Cop TV series, 1 episode 2015 Maximum Choppage Policeman Phil TV series, 1 episode 2015 Miso Hungry Documentary 2017 The Lost Tapes Baba TV miniseries 2017 Jays of Our Lives Security Guard TV series, 1 episode 2017 Tiger Cops Superintendent Anderson TV series, 1 episode 2018 Sando Another Vic TV miniseries, 1 episode 2018 Nippers of Dead Bird Bay Turtle Poacher TV series, 2 episodes 2018 Fresh Blood: Pilot Season Lou TV series, 1 episode 2021 The Moth Effect Bartender / Miffed Bekchman / Fan / Benchman TV miniseries, 3 episodes 2025 Westerners Sleeping Uncle TV series, 1 episode

As director

Film Year Title Type 1999 Life in a Datsun Short film 2000 Life in a Volkswagen Short film 2016 Red Christmas Feature film

Television Year Title Type 2004–08 Double the Fist TV series 2014 Black Comedy TV series 2015 How Not to Behave TV series 2021 The Moth Effect TV miniseries 2021 History Bites Back Documentary TV series 2023 We Interrupt This Broadcast TV series