Writer with a penchant for flawed characters

Thomas Keneally, author of the book on which Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List was based, once asked the famed director for a minor role in the movie, but was turned down.

The good-humored, plump and bald writer is an amateur actor who has done bit roles in movies.

"I was never the good-looking guy, so I only played small roles," he said at the recently concluded Shanghai International Literary Festival. Keneally wanted to play one of the prisoners in the concentration camp, but Spielberg said he wanted a "real actor" for the role.