Creative Types with Virginia Trioli

Award-winning broadcaster Virginia Trioli explores the essence of creativity with some of our best loved artists at the peak of their powers. Virginia's first guest is literary sensation Trent Dalton.

Rafael Bonachela, the artistic director of Sydney Dance Company says he was born to dance: but while that love took him to the top of contemporary dance, it splintered his family: now comes the dance to reconcile that.

Beloved star of stage and television, for Marta Dusseldorp place is everything and now Tasmania is both home and creative wellspring for her production company and the stories she wants to tell.

Award winning filmmaker, Kaytetye man, Warwick Thornton has three people warring inside him: director, writer, cinematographer: but one must always win. In the searing beauty of Alice Springs, we witness the struggles.

The comedian's comedian, Tom Gleeson's had no other job but standing on a stage making people laugh since his university days. What's the secret to his incredible work ethic and success?

Patricia Piccinini, the visual artist who creates strange creatures from the frontiers of science & technology, tells us of the future that is already here & why she is compelled to "create the worlds" that live in her mind.

George Miller is a genuine Australian visionary and is recognised as one of the greatest action film directors of all time. He's a philosopher, an innovator and a storyteller - and he's not done with Mad Max yet.

Kate Ceberano possesses one of the most distinctive voices in Australian music. Since age 14 she's been climbing "her ladder to the sun", but these days she's driven to express her artistry in many different forms.

Tim Minchin is a musical comedy legend who is internationally adored. Tim was clever and funny from the start, but his road to the top was never straight, and it took him many years and a lot of heart and soul to find it.

Jenny Kee is one of Australia's most original and recognisable creatives. Over four decades, her exuberant designs defined Australia's modern era. In what she says will be her last interview, she reflects on her vast legacy.

Tony Albert is one of the most exciting visual artists of his generation. He takes the everyday items that represent the most confronting aspects of colonisation to create work that is both provocative and deeply moving.

Richard Tognetti is the Artistic Director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and one of the country's finest musicians. He's a non-conformist, and is driven to connect classical music with every other aspect of art.

Jimmy Barnes jumps into the car with Virginia for a ride and a chat and to turn up the cassette player on the music that formed and informed him and that continues to drive him into a mature life of music making.

The actor's actor, Hugo Weaving, finds the humanity within the fractured and complex men he plays in movies and films, but is still a beloved icon of the Australian stage.

Classical pianist, Andrea Lam finds a new skill and prominence as star of the hit ABC show, The Piano, and a new passion as a teacher and mentor inspiring other budding young pianists.

Trail-blazing comedian Nazeem Hussain wants the "majority to feel like the minority for an hour" with sell-out comedy that breaks all the racial taboos.

An anarchic writer, Andy Griffiths has always refused to follow the rules. He shows us into his all-important music room, and his zany 'playroom' filled with the books and toys that have fired his imagination since childhood.

American Ballet Dancer, now artistic director, shows how he has taken The Australian Ballet company to a new level of power and style and shares the lessons he learned from a catastrophic foot injury.