Gary Sweet (born 22 May 1957)^[1] is an Australian film and television actor known for his roles in Alexandra's Project (as Steve), Police Rescue (as Sergeant "Mickey" McClintock), Cody (as Cody), Big Sky (as Chris Manning), Bodyline (as Donald Bradman), Stingers (as DI Luke Harris) and House Husbands (as Lewis Crabb).

Adopted by a young couple and named after his neighbour's son, Sweet grew up in Warradale, South Australia. He attended Brighton High School in Adelaide. He later obtained a teaching degree and took up drama while at Sturt Teachers' College.^[2]

Sweet's first role was in low-budget horror film Nightmares. In the early 1980s, he became recognisable through the ongoing role of Leslie "Magpie" Maddern in the TV series The Sullivans.

In 1984, Sweet had his first major role as Donald Bradman in the miniseries Bodyline, the story of the 1932–33 Test cricket series between England and Australia.

Early films included a lead role in the 1985 film An Indecent Obsession, as well as a role in 1987's The Lighthorsemen.

From 1990 to 1996, Sweet starred in a leading role in the TV drama series Police Rescue as Sgt. Steve "Mickey" McClintock. This role led him to win several major television awards, including an AFI Award for Best Lead Actor in a TV Drama^[3] (in 1991 and 1992), the Variety Club Heart Award for TV Actor of the Year (1993), and a TV Week Silver Logie Award for Most Popular Actor and Most Outstanding Actor (1994).^[4][5]

Sweet starred in Big Sky, and Dog's Head Bay. He took a continuing role in the police drama series Stingers until the show's conclusion in 2004. Other prominent television roles have included The Circuit, Rain Shadow and police drama Cops L.A.C.. In 2008, he narrated the documentary series Sudden Impact. From 2012 to 2017 Sweet had a leading role in the drama/comedy House Husbands.

Notable film roles have included The Tracker, Alexandra's Project and Gettin' Square. He appeared in the acclaimed independent drama film 2:37, as well as in a modern-day imagining of Macbeth, alongside Sam Worthington.

Internationally, Sweet appeared in American studio film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as Lord Drinian. He also featured in the miniseries The Pacific.

Sweet was a contestant on Season 5 of Dancing with the Stars and made it to the final seven. His partner was dancer Eliza Campagna.

Sweet has also appeared in several stage productions, including The Club, and Tony McNamara's play The Recruit. He has appeared in the Frankie Valli-tribute musical Oh, What a Night,^[5] and in Trevor Ashley's musical comedy Little Orphan trAshley with Rhonda Burchmore.^[6]

Sweet dabbled in the Australian music scene with limited success in the early 1990s. Sweet released a cover of Billy Thorpe's "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)" in 1994 through Polygram Records Australia. The single peaked at number 52 on the ARIA Charts, and spent seven weeks in the top 100.^[9]

Sweet has won several awards in his acting career, including two Logie Awards – one in 1982 for The Sullivans (Most Popular New Talent) and one in 1994 for Police Rescue (Most Popular Actor).

In 2011, Sweet was initiated into the Australian Film Walk of Fame on 13 March, as part of the closing night celebrations of the Australian Film Festival.^[11]

In 2004, Sweet become the public face of "The Performance Pack Initiative", an information campaign for men with impotence problems from Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline and Impotence Australia.^[12] Bans against direct advertising prescription medicines meant that Sweet was unable to directly mention the drug, Levitra, but this code was broken when Sweet mentioned Levitra on an Adelaide radio programme. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Media Watch reported that Sweet was being investigated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for possible breach of advertising codes.^[13][14]

Sweet is divorced from his third wife, television presenter and former Commonwealth Games swimmer, Johanna Griggs. They have two sons. Sweet has two children from his second marriage, to Jill Miller.^[2] Following in his father's footsteps, Frank Sweet is also an actor. Sweet's first marriage was to actress Lenore Smith.

Gary Sweet is an ambassador and ex player for the Glenelg Tigers, an Australian rules football club who play in the South Australian National Football League.^[15] He is also a supporter of the Manly Sea Eagles rugby league club who play in the National Rugby League.