Hugh Keays-Byrne was born in 1947 in Kashmir, India. In 1973, he moved to Australia, where he began an acting career. He is a well respected theater, film and TV actor in Australia. Hugh became noticed after roles in Stone (1974), Mad Dog Morgan (1976) and The Trespassers (1976). He landed his first leading role in TV film The Death Train (1978), and year later he became internationally well-known for his role of Toecutter in highly praised apocalyptic SF film Mad Max (1979).

Hugh has continued to work on TV, usually in smaller parts, and he is known for his performance as Mr. Stubb in the mini-TV series Moby Dick (1998) and TV series "Farscape".