Nico Lathouris is an Australian-born actor and writer of Greek descent.

Life and career

Lathouris has worked on the television series Police Rescue. He appeared in George Miller's film Mad Max (1979) as a car mechanic. He also ran film and drama workshops for the Australian Film Commission.

Lathouris is best known for the role of George Poulos in Heartbreak High, as well as being the series drama coach responsible for developing the skills of the younger actors and actresses who starred in the series. He helped to develop realistic characters from a whole variety of ethnic backgrounds. The series marked a big shift in the way that life in Australia is represented in TV drama. In the past, many shows had not reflected all the different cultures which exist side-by-side in Australia's big cities, and Heartbreak High broke the mould by acknowledging and celebrating the country's cultural mix.

Lathouris is co-screenwriter (alongside George Miller) of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024).

Selected filmography

• Journey Among Women (1977) - Soldier
• Mad Max (1979) - Grease Rat
• Desolation Angels (1982) - Nightman
• Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) - Arnold
• The Young Wife (1984, TV Movie) - Yannis
• Wrong World (1985) - Rangott
• Rikky and Pete (1988) - Con Ionides
• Georgia (1988) - Bystander #2
• Belinda (1988) - Benny Rose
• Against the Innocent (1989) - Tim McKenzie
• Father (1990) - Amos
• Death in Brunswick (1990) - Mustafa
• Heaven Tonight (1990) - Hot dog man
• Jigsaw (1990) - Ed Minter
• The Heartbreak Kid (1993) - George
• Gino (1994) - Rocco Petri
• What I Have Written (1996) - Claude Murnane
• Serenades (2001) - Mullah Jalal-Shah
• Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, Writer)
• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024, Writer)