Aaron Pedersen

Pedersen, who is of Arrernte and Arabana descent, was born and grew up in Alice Springs, one of eight children. He and his seven siblings grew up in foster homes away from their alcoholic mother, Margaret, and experienced much family violence in the home. From an early age, he looked after his brother, Vinnie, who has cerebral palsy and a mild intellectual disability.

In the early 1990s, Pedersen underwent a cadetship at the ABC in Melbourne, and worked as a journalist and presenter. He was a host for the TV series Blackout.His acting career began in 1994, when he starred in the miniseries Heartland and was voted Bachelor of the Year by Cleo magazine. He came to notice in 1995 as co-host of Gladiators Australia, an Australian game show.

Pedersen's first major acting role was as lawyer Vince Cellini in Wildside in 1997. In 1999, he played Detective Senior Constable Michael Reilly in Water Rats, and took a major role in The Secret Life of Us (2005).

Since 2007, he had the leading role in SBS's drama series The Circuit, and from 2007 to 2011 he appeared in Channel Seven's drama City Homicide. He appeared as Cam Delray in ABC Television's Jack Irish series, beginning in 2012 and running for several seasons.

Pedersen took the lead role of Detective Jay Swan in Ivan Sen's Mystery Road (2013), a role he reprised in its sequel film Goldstone (2016), and its spin-off television series (2018–2020).

He played war veteran Frank Gibbs in A Place to Call Home (2017–2018) and Tom Campbell in Total Control (2019). In 2020 to 2021, he was the presenter for an ABC Television documentary series Australia Remastered. In the same year, he featured as a presenter with writer Holly Ringland in an eight-episode documentary series on ABC Television called Back to Nature.

In 2024, Pedersen would appear in the Foxtel/Binge series High Country.