Noah George Taylor was born in London in 1969 o former Melbourne journalists Maggie and Paul Taylor (in the early '80s, his father went into copywriting and his mother became a book editor). He was named not for the biblical character, but rather for a Dennis Hopper character in a western his father had seen. After living in London and New Zealand, the family returned to Australia when Noah was five, his parents divorced when was 14 and his father married theater publicist Suzie Howie. He has a younger brother, Jack, with whom he's tight and who's also a journalist for the Melbourne Herald Sun.
Noah often says that he fell into acting "by accident." This is not to say he doesn't admire the actor's craft, but rather he's "not particularly career-driven. I am finding more and more in life, the things that are important to me have very little to do with career. I am quite happy to work as an actor so I can afford not to work for six months out of the year and go exploring in the country." A talented musician and writer, Noah made his mark in the australian film Flirting 
with Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman. He broke into the mainstream with the Oscar nominated film Shine about famed pianist David Helfgott. 
His recent films indclude 'True Love and Chaos,' Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, and 'There's no Fish Food in Heaven.'