William McInnes is an Australian actor and author best known for playing Senior Constable Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers and Max Connors in SeaChange, and more recently for roles in The Newsreader and NCIS: Sydney. Born on 10 September 1963 in Redcliffe, Queensland, he’s built a career spanning television, film, theatre and published writing across nearly four decades.

If you’ve recognised him from any of these shows and want the fuller picture, here’s what’s documented about William McInnes: his career, his family, and the personal story that’s shaped much of his own writing over the years.

Who Is William McInnes?

William McInnes, born Darrell William McInnes, grew up in Redcliffe, Queensland, and trained in drama at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, graduating in 1988. He also holds a degree in law and economics from Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, which later awarded him an honorary doctorate, and he was made a fellow of the Academy of Performing Arts in 2010.

Most sources agree on his birth year as 1963, though a small number of older listings, including some IMDb records, give 1961 instead. Given how consistently the later date appears across more recent, better maintained sources, 1963 is the more reliable figure.

Australian Actor William McInnes: Career Highlights

McInnes started with a recurring role on A Country Practice in 1990, followed by appearances in Bligh, Ocean Girl, Good Vibrations and Snowy, before landing the role that made him a household name in Australia.

Blue Heelers and SeaChange

He played Senior Constable, later Sergeant, Nick Schultz on Blue Heelers from 1993 to 1998, a role that earned him a run of Logie Awards for Most Outstanding Actor, four in total across his career. He followed that with Max Connors in SeaChange, winning a Logie in 2000 for the role, and the two shows together cemented him as one of Australian television’s most recognisable faces through the 1990s.

Film Work

His film career includes My Brother Jack (2001), Dirty Deeds (2002), and Look Both Ways (2005), the last of which he starred in under the direction of his wife, Sarah Watt. He went on to appear in Irresistible (2006) alongside Susan Sarandon, Kokoda, and the lead role in Unfinished Sky (2007), for which he won Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 50th Australian Film Institute Awards in 2008. He also appeared in Prime Mover (2009) and Sarah Watt’s follow-up film, My Year Without Sex, the same year.

Recent Roles: The Newsreader and NCIS: Sydney

More recently, McInnes has taken on television boss Lindsay Cunningham in the acclaimed ABC series The Newsreader, earning a Silver Logie nomination for Most Outstanding Actor and winning the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for the first series, with a further nomination for the second. Since 2023, he’s played AFP Forensic Pathologist Dr Roy Penrose in NCIS: Sydney, a Network 10 and Paramount+ series now in production on its fourth season.

William McInnes the Author

Alongside acting, McInnes has built a genuinely substantial writing career, publishing fourteen books to date. His first, A Man’s Got to Have a Hobby, came out in 2005 and won a 2006 Australian Book Industry Award. Later titles include Cricket Kings (2006), That’d Be Right (2008), The Making of Modern Australia (2010, accompanied by an ABC documentary series of the same name), Holidays (2014), Full Bore (2016) and Fatherhood: Stories about Being a Dad (2018).

In 2012, he co-authored Worse Things Happen at Sea with his wife, Sarah Watt, a project that took on considerably more weight given the timing of her death the previous year. His writing regularly draws on his own family life, which is part of why so much of what’s publicly known about his children comes from his own books rather than tabloid coverage.

William McInnes’s Family: Sarah Watt

McInnes was married to Sarah Watt, an award-winning Australian film director, writer and animator best known for directing Look Both Ways, from 1993 until her death in 2011. Watt was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and, later, secondary bone cancer in 2009, after continuing to work through much of her illness, including directing My Year Without Sex in 2009. She died on 4 November 2011, at the age of 53.

The couple’s first child, a son named Cosmo, was stillborn, a loss that both McInnes and Watt later wrote and spoke about as part of their broader family story. McInnes has continued to speak about Sarah with warmth in interviews and through his books in the years since her death.

Clem McInnes and Stella McInnes: William’s Children

William McInnes and Sarah Watt had two children together: a son, Clem, born in 1993, and a daughter, Stella, born in 1998. Clem was 18 and Stella was 13 when their mother died in 2011, and both were among the family who said their final goodbyes to Sarah that year.

Beyond their birth years and their presence in some of McInnes’s writing, including Sarah Watt’s own picture book Clem Always Could, detailed information about Clem and Stella’s adult lives hasn’t been widely published, which fits the family’s general approach of keeping their children’s day-to-day lives largely private even as William’s own career has stayed in the public eye.

Common Misspellings: William McInnis and William McGinnis

You’ll sometimes see his name searched as “William McInnis” or “William McGinnis”. Both are misspellings. His surname is McInnes, and that’s the spelling used consistently across Wikipedia, IMDb and his own publisher listings.

How Tall Is William McInnes?

There’s no officially confirmed height for William McInnes published by a reliable source. A handful of fan and biography sites list an estimate, but none cite where the figure comes from, so this article won’t repeat a specific number as fact.

William McInnes Today

As of the most recent reporting, McInnes remains active on screen, continuing his role as Dr Roy Penrose in NCIS: Sydney, and he’s represented professionally by the Australian talent agency RGM. He’s also continued writing, with Christmas Tales and Cricket Was the Winner among his more recent titles, keeping both strands of his career, acting and writing, running in parallel much as he has throughout his working life.

[Image: William McInnes in a recent television role such as NCIS: Sydney or The Newsreader]

FAQ

Who is William McInnes?

William McInnes is an Australian actor and author, best known for playing Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers, Max Connors in SeaChange, and more recently Dr Roy Penrose in NCIS: Sydney. He’s also published fourteen books.

How old is William McInnes?

He was born on 10 September 1963, making him 62 years old as of July 2026, though a small number of older listings give a slightly different birth year.

Was William McInnes married to Sarah Watt?

Yes. He was married to film director and animator Sarah Watt from 1993 until her death from cancer in 2011. They had two children together, Clem and Stella.

Who are William McInnes’s children?

His children are Clem, born in 1993, and Stella, born in 1998, both from his marriage to Sarah Watt. Their earlier son, Cosmo, was stillborn.

What is William McInnes best known for?

He’s best known for his television roles as Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers and Max Connors in SeaChange, along with his more recent role in NCIS: Sydney and his AACTA-winning performance in The Newsreader.

Is William McInnes an author as well as an actor?

Yes. He’s published fourteen books, starting with A Man’s Got to Have a Hobby in 2005, and often writes about his own family life, including a book co-authored with his late wife, Sarah Watt.

How tall is William McInnes?

There’s no officially confirmed height published by a reliable source, so any specific figure you see quoted elsewhere should be treated as an estimate rather than a fact.

Is “William McInnis” the correct spelling?

No, that’s a common misspelling. His surname is McInnes, spelled consistently across Wikipedia, IMDb and official casting and agency listings.