Born in Bondi and raised in Lane Cove, Ken Shadie attended North Sydney Technical Boys High, obtaining his Leaving certificate before starting work at Radio 2UE in Sydney, as an audio panel operator.

In 1954, he was called up for National Service in the Royal Australian Air Force, completing his six months training before being transferred to the RAAF Reserve for a further six years.

Married in 1957 to Manly girl Pam Jameson, they have two boys Peter and Tim. In 1980, the family moved to Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River, where he and Pam now live, and Ken continues to work on his writing projects.

Ken is heavily involved in Community Affairs in town and is currently President of the Brooklyn RSL Sub-Branch. He is also Vice President of the Northern Metropolitan District Council of the RSL and a member of the National Servicemen’s Association.

He is an avid book collector and enjoys writing about his family history centered around the Hawkesbury, where his Grandmother, for many years, ran the old kiosk at Peat’s Ferry on Kangaroo Point.

He is a foundation member of the Australian Writers Guild.  As a full voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, each year Ken views current Hollywood releases, in order to cast his votes for the Oscars.

Ken Shadie is an Australian based film and television writer. For over forty years, he has written countless scripts for top television shows and was co-writer of the highly acclaimed Australian hit movie “Crocodile Dundee”.

In the early days of Australian television, Ken was best known as Head writer/Script Editor for the entire series of the iconic “Mavis Bramston Show’ aired in the 1960’s on ATN Channel 7.

In 1973 after seventeen pioneering years at ATN, he resigned from Channel 7 to set himself up as a Freelance Script writer. His major credits during this time included writer on the highly successful Australian serial drama “Number 96”.
In 1978, he joined JP Productions as co-writer with Paul Hogan on the highly rated “Paul Hogan TV Specials featured on the Channel 9 Network.

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In 1983 on returning from the UK, after a series of Hogan Specials made at London Weekend Television, Ken and Paul Hogan co-wrote the screenplay for the first “Crocodile Dundee” movie.
In 1986, following the world-wide success of “Crocodile Dundee”, Shadie and Hogan were nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay written directly for the screen.

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Following the success of the Dundee Movie, Ken was offered writing assignments in Hollywood but preferred to remain in Australia and continue working on writing projects.

Currently he lives at the Hawkesbury River, where among his many and varied interests, he continues writing.