Director, teacher and critic Kevin Jackson has died. He passed away on Wednesday 18 January after a long illness.

One of Australia’s most experienced acting teachers, Jackson taught at the National Institute of Dramatic Art for 27 years prior to his retirement in 2011. He was involved in the training of many of Australia’s leading actors including Baz Luhrmann, Richard Roxburgh, Jacqueline McKenzie, Miranda Otto, Cate Blanchett, Essie Davis, Nicholas Bishop and Sam Worthington. For more than 14 years, Jackson also taught at the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco, and more recently at the Actors Centre and The HubStudio in Sydney.

Kevin Jackson, teacher, director and critic. Photo © NIDA

Jackson began his involvement with theatre as an actor, performing at Sydney’s  Theatre in the late 1960s, in productions including The Winslow Boy, The Importance of Being Ernest and The Seagull.

He graduated from NIDA in 1971 and was a member of the Old Tote Theatre Company from 1973–1974, where he performed in several productions including The Beggar’s Opera, Women Beware Women and Peer Gynt.

After deciding that acting was “too hard”, Jackson worked as a guide at the Sydney Opera...