Background
Jan Sardi was born in 1953 in Melbourne, Australia to Albert and Diva Sardi.
Mac Gudgeon ("Ground Zero", "Halifax fp") Craig Pearce ("strictly Ballroom", "Romeo and Juliet") Jan Sardi ("Shine") Ian David ("Blue Murder", "Joh's Jury") Geoffrey Atherden ("Mother and Son") David Williamson ("Gallipoli", "Don's Party", "The Removalist", "Travelling North", "Emerald City" and most everything else)
2010
1313 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jan Sardi attends the special Screening of "Mao's Last Dancer" at Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center for Motion Study on December 16, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage)
2010
1313 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Kyle MacLachlan attends the special Screening of "Mao's Last Dancer" at Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center for Motion Study on December 16, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage)
2010
1313 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Writer Jan Sardi, actor Kyle MacLachlan and composer Christopher Gordon attends the special Screening of "Mao's Last Dancer" at Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center for Motion Study on December 16, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage)
2010
1313 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jan Sardi attends the special Screening of "Mao's Last Dancer" at Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center for Motion Study on December 16, 2010 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/WireImage)
Melbourne State College, Melbourne, Australia
Sardi received a Bachelor of Education degree from Melbourne State College in 1978.
533 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
Jan Sardi during 19th Santa Barbara International Film Festival - "Love's Brother" at Hotel Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California, United States. (Photo by Ray Mickshaw/WireImage)
Mac Gudgeon ("Ground Zero", "Halifax fp") Craig Pearce ("strictly Ballroom", "Romeo and Juliet") Jan Sardi ("Shine") Ian David ("Blue Murder", "Joh's Jury") Geoffrey Atherden ("Mother and Son") David Williamson ("Gallipoli", "Don's Party", "The Removalist", "Travelling North", "Emerald City" and most everything else)
Jan Sardi was born in 1953 in Melbourne, Australia to Albert and Diva Sardi.
Sardi received a Bachelor of Education degree from Melbourne State College in 1978.
Sardi won international acclaim for "Shine" (1996) but has been a rising writer Down Under since the early 1980s, recognized for his films and TV-movies. Still "Shine," the story of pianist David Helfgott's descent into mental illness and ultimate renaissance, put Jan Sardi on the list of top screenwriters internationally. His first produced screenplay, "Moving Out" (1983), a semi-autobiographical account of an Italian immigrant family coping with life in Australia. Directed by Michael Pattinson and starring Vince Colosimo, the film received mixed to positive reviews but was not released internationally. Sardi seemed to have found an alter ego in Colosimo who portrayed an outcast, rebellious teenager in Pattinson's "Street Hero" (1984), one of several films of that period that dealt with urban youth. Most local critics felt the script lacked subtlety and was too narrowly focused, but it (like "Moving Out") earned a nomination for Best Original Screenplay from both the Australian Film Institute and Australian Writers Guild (the Augie Award).
The third collaboration with Pattinson (co-directed by Bruce Myles), "Ground Zero" (1987), found Sardi developing his themes of nonconformists fighting societal (and in this case, governmental) conventions. The film explored the Australian government's investigations into deaths linked to atomic testing in areas where Aboriginal populations were residing, suggesting a cover-up. Starring Colin Friels and Jack Thompson, the feature was both a conventional thriller and a political treatise and went on to be a finalist at the Berlin Film Festival. He followed up with "Breakaway" (1990), a taut thriller about an escaped convict searching for his wife. In 1993, Sardi scripted "Secrets/One Crazy Night." Directed by Pattinson and borrowing its structure and themes from such American fare as "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978) and "The Breakfast Club" (1985), it depicted the story of teens caught together in a basement during a Beatles concert in Australia, but failed to deeply develop the characters beyond the symbolic. Again, the film's catalyst was an outsider who challenges the other teen's views.
In David Helfgott, the protagonist of "Shine," Sardi found the ultimate outcast on which to hang a story. With his mental condition, rapid-fire vocal delivery and artistic bent, Helfgott provided the perfect embodiment of the themes Sardi touched on in his previous efforts. Using the standards of conventional biopics, the writer was also able to explore familial relationships, particularly an immigrant father and his rebellious son. For his efforts, Sardi earned an Oscar nomination (one of seven total for the film).
Sardi has also worked extensively on TV. He wrote "Just Friends," which won the Chicago International Festival of Children's Films Best Film Award. He has also written for the Australian TV series "The Man From Snowy River," about a family in the late 1800s, and his work was seen in the USA on the syndicated "The New Mission Impossible," starring Phil Morris, that was distributed worldwide during the mid-80s. He is also the author of the novel "A Cast of Thousands" and wrote the novelization of his script for "Just Friends."
(Shine is the true story of David Helfgott, a brilliant pi...)
1995
Jan Sardi married Janet Sardi in 1975. They have two daughters Aleisha and Cassie.