Russell Savadier is a South African actor and writer best known for his starring roles in such television series as Heroes, The Big Time, Louis Motors, Big Okes, Fishy Feshuns, Snitch, and Isidingo.
Russel studied at the University of Cape Town Drama School, graduating in 1979. He has since worked extensively as an actor and writer in film, theatre and television.
As an actor, his many television roles include his award-winning portrayal of a mentally disabled water diviner in Thicker than Water, and leading roles in Heroes, The Big Time, Louis Motors, Big Okes, Fishy Feshuns, Snitch and Isidingo, as well as Coup for the BBC, and Jozi-H for Canadian Television.
He wrote for and had a recurring role on the popular TV sitcom Madam and Eve and was seen in Hallmark’s acclaimed miniseries The Poseidon Adventure, Life is Wild for NBC, and The Devil’s Whore for Channel 4. He had a guest-starring role as Izfan in the fourth season of the SABC1 sitcom Going Up.He also had a recurring role as Captain Rossouw on the M-Net soap opera The Wild, in 2012.
His film work includes Bravo Two Zero for BBC Films, Inside Out, Jock of the Bushveld, Danger Zone, Zulu on my Stoep, Dead Easy, Avenger for Warner Bros, and Lullabye alongside Oscar Nominee, Melissa Leo, directed by Darryl James Roodt.
He wrote and starred in the Nu Metro release Finding Lenny with Barry Hilton, which won best narrative feature at the Pan African Awards in Cannes. He can also be seen in The Bang Bang Club.
Among his many stage roles, he has been seen in Lanford Wilson’s Burn This, for which he received a Best supporting actor award; Another Country; Midsummer Night’s Dream; Boys Next Door; Lisbon Traviata; Oleanna; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Popcorn; Crashing the Night; Waiting for Godot; The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife; and David Mamet’s play Romance, for which he received a 2007 Naledi nomination as best supporting actor.
Russel has performed in countless Industrial Theatre pieces nationwide. His voice can be heard on many of the countries top radio and television commercials.
In 2013, he had a starring role as Bogdan “Bogs” Jokovic, an ex-Serbian circus clown who finds himself more than a little out of his depth at the Security Company, in the SABC3 sitcom Safe as Hauser’s.
As of 2024, the actor joined etvScandal as Dr. Renaldo, a corrupted doctor who is doing business by harvesting kids at cheap prices from desperate patients and selling the kids at a high price to other patients who are in need.The actor is loved by many viewers; he is killing the role.