Crocodile Dundee star David Ngoombujarra is found dead in a park aged just 44
- Aboriginal last starred in epic Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman
An Australian actor who shared the screen with Hollywood A-listers Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, has been found dead in a park, aged just 44.
David Ngoombujarra's body was discovered on Sunday in Fremantle, Western Australia, but police are not reporting it as suspicious.
His last role was in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, shot in his native Oz with fellow Aussies Kidman, Jackman and the director himself.
Colourful life: David was well known in his birth country and won several awards
The award-winning screen star also appeared in the third Crocodile Dundee film in 2001 alongside Golden Globe-winner Paul Hogan.
Unusually, while most actors are encouraged to change their names to something more pronounceable, David chose a trickier stage name and was in fact born David Bernard Starr.
Ngoombujarra was honoured with the prestigious Australian Film Institute prize three times; for roles in Blackfellas, Black And White, and The Circuit.
A-list elite: David poses with Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and their young co-star Brandon Walters at a press call for Australia in Sydney
Saddened: Hugh Jackman paid tribute to his co-star on Twitter, describing him as an' extraordinary man, actor and friend'
Black And White starred homegrown talent Robert Carlyle, who played a lawyer for a young aboriginal man who was sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder of a nine-year-old girl.
Great talent: David, pictured with Nicole Kidman in Australia
Jackman paid tribute to his friend on Twitter, saying: 'So saddened to hear about the passing of David Ngoombujarra Starr.
'An extraordinary man, actor and friend.
'His laugh, warmth and humanity will live on with all who knew him.'
Award-winner: David Ngoombujarra is quizzed over a murder in film Black And White
David was born in remote Western Australia in 1967 and his career spanned two decades, gaining him a reputation as one of the country's most respected Indigenous actors.
Indigenous actor and presenter Ernie Dingo, who co-starred with Ngoombujarra in an ABC television series, described his friend as a man who was 'always in touch with his culture, wherever he was'.
He added: 'Very sadly, he was lost between two cultures.'
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the continent and are known as either Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders - and make up more than 2.5 per cent of the country's population.
The results of a toxicology report are yet to be released.
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