Ernest Ashley Dingo AM (born 31 July 1956) is an Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia.
[citation needed] Dingo got his first big break in acting after moving to Perth and meeting Richard Walley, with whom he played basketball in a local team.
He starred in the title role in the 1987 docu-drama biopic Tudawali and appeared in Bruce Beresford's 1987 drama The Fringe Dwellers.
In 2010 he returned to the silver screen with a role in the Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae along with Jessica Mauboy and Geoffrey Rush.
[9] Dingo's first minor big break in television was in 1989 in the first season of Channel 7 sketch comedy TV show Fast Forward (1989–1992).
As an actor, he has also appeared in many Australian television series such as Blue Heelers, The Flying Doctors, Heartbreak High and Rafferty's Rules.
[12] He appears in an episode of Serangoon Road, an Australian-Singaporean television drama series which premiered on 22 September 2013 on the ABC and HBO Asia.
Also in 2013, Dingo plays a Vietnam veteran, a retired Army drill sergeant facing his demons in episode six of the second series of Redfern Now ("Dogs of War").
[16] The couple struggled to conceive their own children via IVF in the early 90's and later adopted a daughter, Wilara, and also took care of one of Ernie's grandchildren.
In 2020, Dingo toured regional Western Australia to speak to Indigenous groups, which had the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in WA.
[22] He received the AFI Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Tele feature for A Waltz Through the Hills in 1988, after being nominated the previous year for Tudawali.