Alice Ansara

Alice Ansara is an Australian actress and dramaturg who works in film, television and theatre.

Background

Ansara is the daughter of documentary filmmaker, Martha Ansara and Master Builder Bill Ethell. Ansara began working as an actor as a child and also traveled Australia whilst her mother made films. In her teens, she spent time in Colombia, South America, becoming fluent in Spanish. Ansara also signs Auslan (Australian Sign Language). She attended the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney and later trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

She is the mother of two children, Mavis and Esther.

Career

Ansara's first significant role was as young Cathy Ann in the award-winning Australian telemovie Breaking Through.[1] She continued to work professionally across film and television into her adolescence. Before finishing high school, Ansara landed the lead role of Lucia in the 2001 Australian movie La Spagnola,[2][3] which debuted at the Sydney Film Festival and garnered her Best Actress nominations at the 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards[4] (now AACTA Awards) and the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.[5]

After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Ansara starred in Rosebery 7470[6][7] for which she won a Best Actress Award at the 2006 Melbourne Underground Film Festival.[8] She also began working in theatre, including with leading Australian companies: Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, Monkey Baa Theatre and Bell Shakespeare. In 2009 Ansara was chosen by Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as one of nine actors in the Sydney Theatre Company's acting ensemble known as "The Residents".[9]

Ansara was part of the core cast of the TV comedy series Bogan Pride,[10] playing Rebel Wilson's best friend Nigella. She has played various characters, including Lamees, in the first two seasons of Nazeem Hussain's television sketch comedy Legally Brown.

She has been a member of Actors Equity since 1989 and has served on the Management Committee of the Actors Benevolent Fund.[11]

Ansara has directed two short documentaries in Auslan for The Deaf Society of NSW, including Jacobs Story,[12] commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission. She has also served as a member of the Society's Centenary History sub-committee in the creation of the website Deaf in New South Wales: a Community History.[13] In 2013 she received a Mike Walsh Fellowship[14] to study deaf theatre practices in Scandinavia.

Ansara is a member of the Film & Broadcast Industries Oral History Group associated with Australia's National Film and Sound Archive for whom she records oral histories of Australian actors.[15]

Filmography
Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
1993GinoGirl
1997She’s Not Very BeautifulJane(Lead) Short Film
1997The One That Got AwayMaria(Lead) Short Film
2000La SpagnolaLucia(Lead) Best Actress Nomination AFI Awards, FCCC Awards
2005Rosebery 7470Alison(Lead) Best Actress Award MUFF Awards
2006Meditations on a NameWattle(Lead) Short Film - DOP Bonnie Elliot’s directorial debut
2007Sexy, Single, BilingualZoya(Lead) Short Film
2008The Ballad of Betty & JoeBetty(Lead) Short Film
2008The Ladies LoungeLayla(Lead) Short Film won Queer Perspective Award, Sydney Queer Film Festival
2010Nude StudyAlison
2014Shock RoomLanaFeature Documentary won Best Feature Documentary Antenna Documentary Film Festival
2016Video ReportSusie(Lead)
2017Deep StorageSylvia(Lead) Short Film won Audience Award for Best Short Film at Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival
2017Beyond the BubbleDeniseShort Film
2018Judy and PunchAlice
Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
1990Breaking ThroughYoung Ann
1990Death DutiesSophie
1997The Teenage Guide to PopularityAmy
2007All SaintsDetective Grant
2008Bogan PrideNigellaBFF of Rebel Wilson’s character Jenny
2010My PlaceMrs StocktonDirectors: Michael James Rowland & Rachel Ward
2013Legally Brown – Season 1Lamees/Various
2014Legally Brown – Season 2Lamees/Various
2015MoonmanMumDirector: Clayton Jacobsen
2017Newton's LawCarlaDirector: Jennifer Leacey

Theatre
YearTitleRoleCompany
2002Three SistersOlgaWAAPA
2002A Midsummer Nights DreamTitaniaWAAPA
2003PericlesGowerWAAPA
2003The Innocent MistressMrs FlywifeWAAPA
2005Pearlie in the ParkMrs PossumMonkey Baa
2006The Merchant of VeniceJessicaBell Shakespeare
2008Arabian NightFatimaGriffin Stablemates
2009The Mysteries: GenesisLucifer/AbelThe Sydney Theatre Company
2009SeagullThe SeagullScrew Theatre Company
2010LeviathanCaroline ChisolmThe Sydney Theatre Company
2010Vs MacbethLennoxThe Sydney Theatre Company
2010The OresteiaChorusThe Sydney Theatre Company
2010The Comedy of ErrorsAdrianaThe Sydney Theatre Company
2011One for the Ugly GirlsClaire505 Theatre
2012Look the Other WayEnsembleSTC/BYDS
2013The Other WayMaraSTC/BYDS
2014Jump for JordanSophiaGriffin Theatre Company
2015I Call My BrothersAhlem/TyraMelbourne Theatre Company
2015The Naked SelfGuideAuspicious Arts Projects
2018ContestCDarebin Arts

Radio
YearTitleRoleNotes
2015Going and GoingLailaABC Radio National, Tanya Dickson
gollark: Hmm, are you making a catalogue of CGoL things with C++ for some reason?
gollark: idea: hashlife.
gollark: no.
gollark: Oh, you don't know yet?
gollark: Financial services?

References
  1. "Breaking Through" – via www.imdb.com.
  2. Stratton, David; Stratton, David (12 August 2001). "La Spagnola".
  3. "Urban Cinefile LA SPAGNOLA". www.urbancinefile.com.au.
  4. "AACTA – Past Winners – 2000–2010 – 2001". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  5. "Urban Cinefile FCCA AWARDS 2002 - NOMINATIONS". www.urbancinefile.com.au.
  6. "Rosebery 7470" – via www.imdb.com.
  7. "FilmBizarro.com - From extreme underground horror reviews to independent arthouse and beyond". www.filmbizarro.com.
  8. "Melbourne Underground Film Festival (2006)". IMDb.
  9. Schwartzkoff, Louise (13 June 2009). "New kids on block have an edgy agenda". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  10. "Bogan Pride: Meet the Cast". SBS Website. 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  11. "Actors Benevolent Fund of NSW - Home". www.actorsbenevolentfund.org.au.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Deaf in New South Wales: A Community History". Deaf in New South Wales: A Community History.
  14. "Mike Walsh O.B.E. - Official Website". www.mikewalsh.com.au.
  15. "NFSA - Error". colsearch.nfsa.gov.au.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.