Holly Brisley

Holly Brisley (born 11 January 1978) is an Australian actress and television presenter. She began her career at the age of 16 on Agro's Cartoon Connection (1994–97) and more recently portrayed Amanda Vale-Baker on Home and Away (2005–09). Her most successful film roles include Garage Days (2001) and The Crop (2002).

Holly Brisley
Brisley at the I, Tonya movie premiere in Sydney.
Born	(1978-01-11) 11 January 1978 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Spouse(s)	Paul Ford (2006–present)
Children	2

Early life

Brisley was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. As Holly grew up, she excelled at speech and drama and joined the Paradise Performer's Dance Academy, where she participated in various classes such as jazz, ballet and tap dancing, and also took part in eisteddfods, winning many awards.

Career

By the age of 13 she was on the books of the Studio Search Agency on the Gold Coast, with her first roles being the Australian telemovies The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children? in 1993 and Official Denial in 1994.

It was not until Holly began her regular television career in 1994 on the Logie Award winning children's program Agro's Cartoon Connection that she began to receive recognition. She would later host The Looney Tunes Show in a more adult style, along with World's Craziest Videos and various shows for Foxtel. Holly was ranked 5th (2000) and 29th (2001) in FHM's Australia's 100 Sexiest Women.

Brisley maintained her acting career throughout this period with some of her notable roles being in Garage Days, The Crop and Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure.

After various guest appearances and hosting gigs, Holly was featured in Dancing with the Stars in 2005, and then landed the permanent role of town vixen Amanda Vale on soap opera Home and Away, where she remained for two years. In February 2008, Holly briefly returned to Home and Away, reprising her role again in July 2009 and leaving in mid August 2009. Holly has said she would love to return to Home and Away.

Over the years, Holly has worked (at one stage or another) for most networks, including Channel 10 and Foxtel, but mostly she has worked for Channel 7 and 9.

In 2008, Holly voiced the title character in the ABC children's series CJ the DJ which has screened in Australia from late 2009 to early 2010. Holly played the female lead Tara in the feature film Sinbad and the Minotaur (2011).

In November 2019, she appeared on 7mate in the reincarnation of Fat Pizza, as Pauly’s former high school crush, who works in the local pharmacy.

Personal life

Brisley's family moved from Adelaide to the Gold Coast while she was still very young.

Holly became engaged to marketing executive Paul Ford in Venice in 2005 and they married on 11 February 2006 in Manly, Sydney. They exchanged vows in the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel, in the grounds of St Patrick's Seminary overlooking the ocean.

Holly gave birth to their son, Levi Harper Ford, at the Royal North Shore Private Hospital on 16 July 2009. On 20 July 2012 Holly gave birth to the couples second child, a daughter Willow Jade Ford.[1]

Holly has Coeliac Disease, and appeared on the cover of "The Australian Coeliac" September 2005 edition.[2]

In July 2010, Holly climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa for a charity trek, whereby she raised $50,000 for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, a worthy cause that helps sick children. She had a near death experience having contracted pulmonary edema caused by the high altitude but is in good health now.

Awards and nominations

On 1 June 2005, she received a Film Award for 'Best Actress – Feature Film' at the New York Film & Video Festival for her portrayal of "Geraldine" in the Australian film The Crop. The movie also won 'Best International Feature'.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Flood: Who Will Save Our Children?	Tonya Smith
1994	Official Denial	Dos
1999	Nowhere To Land	Jenny
2001	Garage Days	Scarlet
2002	The Crop	Geraldine	New York Independent Film Festival Award for Best Actress
	Scooby-Doo	Training Video Woman
2003	The Matrix Reloaded	Woman in restaurant
	Mermaids	Young Betty
2004	Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure	Heather Locklear
2006	Me or You	Psychiatrist	Short film
2007	Devil's Gateway	Samantha Davies
2008	The Fury	Scarlet
2011	Sinbad and The Minotaur	Tara
2014	Confessions	Kara (voice)
2017	Life of the Party	Sandra
2019	Enter Sanctum	Cynthia
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994–1997	Agro's Cartoon Connection	Host / Reporter
1996–1999	TVSN	Presenter
1999–2001	Beastmaster	Haisa / Kodd	2 episodes
2000	Olympic Games Opening Ceremony	Reporter
	All Saints	Janelle	1 episode
	Introducing Hang Zhou	Presenter	BBC World
	The Wright Stuff	Guest Panellist	Five Documentary
2001	It's Your Go!	Host
2002	The Looney Tunes Show	Host
2003	White Collar Blue	Amber
	Pizza	Louise
	Big Brother: The Insider	Panelist
2004	Escape With ET	Reporter
2005	Dancing with the Stars	Contestant	Finished 3rd place
2005–2006	World's Craziest Videos	Host
2005–2009	Home and Away	Amanda Vale-Baker	05–07 on contract, 08-09 guest star
2006	Get Nicked	Host
	Good as Gold: Our Brightest Stars	Host
2009	The Spearman Experiment	Contributor
	CJ the DJ	CJ	Voice role

References

1. Holly Brisley Baby Joy! Archived 9 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine
2. Australian Coeliac Sep 2005 Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Official website
• Holly Brisley on IMDb
• Yahoo Fan Group
• Fan Tribute Page
• What A Girl Needs interview with Holly Brisley

Preceded by Justin Melvey & Kym Johnson	Dancing with the Stars (Australia) third place contestant Season 2 (Early 2005 with Mark Hodge)	Succeeded by Ian "Dicko" Dickson & Leanne Bampton