Education
Oakley studied languages in his native New Zealand, before going to England and appearing on the stage.
Oakley studied languages in his native New Zealand, before going to England and appearing on the stage.
He is also active as a theatre performer and voice-over, and has been a professional working actor for nearly 50 years. Arriving in Australia in 1978, Oakley joined the cast of The Sullivans as Major Barrington. He also appeared in The John Sullivan Story, a feature film spin-off from The Sullivans.
He has appeared in numerous mini-series and television movies.
Oakley is also well known to Australian audiences as the controversial politician Doug Rutherford in the American Broadcasting Company drama Something in the Air. Other television credits include: Prisoner, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Good Guys Bad Guys, Blue Heelers, The Young Doctors and Neighbours.
As of 2015, he remains active in the theatre industry. He featured in the stage production of My Fair Lady.
His most recent theatre productions were The NightWatchman, Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, and The Golden Dragon by contemporary German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig.
He also appeared in the series Underbelly and Winners and Losers.
He is best known as an original cast member of Home and Away, playing foster father Tom Fletcher from 1988 to 1990 and returning briefly in 2008.
