Luke Ford is a Canadian born-Australian actor, known for his roles in ' (2008), The Black Balloon (2008) and Animal Kingdom (2010).
Ford was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, while his father was studying at university. Shortly thereafter, the family travelled to the UK before relocating to Australia, when he was one and a half. He was raised in Sydney, where he grew up in the suburb of Castle Hill and attended Parramatta Marist High School in Westmead, graduating in 1999. He once worked at the Winston Hills Hotel, and did a short stint at Universal Magazines in North Ryde.
Ford studied acting at The Actor's Pulse in Sydney, becoming one of the school's earliest graduates. He later returned to teach the Meisner technique when he was between film roles. He has since, also taught at Sydney Acting Studio.
Ford began acting professionally with a string of performances on Australian television, starting with a guest-starring role on Water Rats, followed by a recurring role on McLeod's Daughters, for which he was shortlisted for a 'Best New Talent' Logie Award for his recurring role of Craig Woodland.
Guest roles followed in Home and Away, Stingers, Breakers and All Saints. He appeared in 2002 TV movie The Junction Boys alongside Tom Berenger and Ryan Kwanten, as Iphicles in the NBC miniseries Hercules, and had a role in the short-lived Australian series HeadLand, playing Seth Baxter.
Ford's film career began with the release of the Australian film Kokoda in 2006, delivering a performance as Burke, a slain soldier on the Kokoda Trail.
Next came 2008 drama film The Black Balloon opposite Toni Collette, for which his performance won him an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor that same year. In the film, Ford plays Charlie, a teenager with autism. Ford spent six months researching the role, including taking to the streets of Sydney in character to determine the effectiveness of his characterisation. The Black Balloon premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Crystal Bear award.
Immediately following The Black Balloon, Ford signed on to star in the third instalment of the Mummy film series, ' opposite Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello. In the film, Ford plays Alex O'Connell, son of Fraser's Rick O'Connell and Bello's Evelyn O'Connell. The film was released in the US on 1 August 2008 and grossed $403 million worldwide.
In 2009, Ford had roles in TV film 3 Acts of Murder playing Snowy Rowles and British sci-fi film Ghost Machine, playing Vic, opposite Rachael Taylor.
The following year, he appeared in the critically-acclaimed David Michôd film Animal Kingdom, alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and Guy Pearce, in which he played Darren, the youngest of three brothers in a Melbourne crime family being hunted by the police.
In 2011, Ford had roles in several Australian films, including the award-winning Kriv Stenders family film Red Dog and Michael Rymer's drama film Face to Face (an adaptation of the David Williamson play of the same name), playing opposite Vince Colosimo, Sigrid Thornton and Matthew Newton as explosive character Wayne. For the latter, he won the 2011 Best Actor Award at Le Festival Des Antipodes and was nominated for Best Actor (ensemble cast) at the 2011 Inside Film Awards. The same year, Ford appeared on stage in a production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll for Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre, playing the role of Johnnie Dowd.
Ford next had a lead role in Rolf De Heer's 2012 feature The King Is Dead! opposite Dan Wylie and Bojana Novakovic and the following year starred opposite David Gulpilil in Charlie's Country, which was written especially for him by De Heer. In 2014, he appeared in TV movie Parer's War, sci-fi feature Infini and filmed a lead role in The Body in the Yard.
That same year, Ford won an AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama for his turn as Kerry Packer in 2013 miniseries '. He then appeared opposite Sam Worthington in 2015 war miniseries Deadline Gallipoli.
Ford's further television credits include the TV movie Blood in the Sand, 2012 miniseries ' (playing Snow, a Comanchero member) and 2013 miniseries '. He starred opposite Elizabeth Perkins in the TV movie Hercules and had a role in 2015 miniseries Catching Milat. He also appeared in romantic comedy What if it Works? as Adrian, a character who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and 2016 sci-fi film ', alongside Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Temuera Morrison and Rachel Griffiths.
In 2017, Ford appeared in the second season of Cleverman.
Ford played the role of Ash in 2022 action thriller feature Avarice. His most recent film credits include horror The Moogai and martial arts film Life After Fighting, both in 2024.