Despite starring in countless film, television, musical and theatre productions both in Australia and the UK, Simon Burke thinks he learnt the most about acting on Play School.
"There's no greater judge of honesty than a four year old," he said.
The 53 year old has worked on the children's program for more than 25 years, and says he still gets strangers coming up to him saying, "You taught me how to tell the time".
Burke has been appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for his contribution to the arts as singer, performer, producer and union president.
The Sydneysider began his acting career as a 13 year old in the seminal film The Devil's Playground, for which he won Best Actor at the 1976 Australian Film Institute Awards.
In 2014 Burke became the executive producer and star of the sequel to that film, a six-part miniseries set against the backdrop of a breaking clergy sex abuse scandal.
"It's come full circle for me," Burke said.
The revival won a Logie in May, with the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse giving the project currency.
"We tackled the topic not in a black and white way ... we were able to get into the heads of the abusers as much as the abused," Burke said.
Last year Burke ended a decade-long stint as Actors Equity Australia president, exactly 40 years since he became a member at age 12.
"I was made aware quite early in my career of all the things that performers had fought for," he said.
Burke, who is currently in Dublin for a conference as vice president of the International Federation of Actors, said he wanted to carry on that legacy and improve the industry as a whole.
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