Robyn Nevin

Robyn Anne Nevin AO (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress, director, and former head of the Sydney Theatre Company.[1] She is best known for her roles as Councillor Dillard in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003), and as Edna in the horror film Relic (2020).

Robyn Nevin

AO
Born (1942-09-25) 25 September 1942
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
  • Actress
  • director
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1975; div. 1977)
Partner(s)Nicholas Hammond (1987–present)
Children1

Early life

Robyn Nevin was born in Melbourne, to Josephine Pauline Casey and William George Nevin. She was educated at Genazzano Convent until the age of 11, when she moved with her family moved to Hobart, Tasmania, and was enrolled at the Fahan School, a non-denominational school for girls.[2] While there, she played the lead in the school's production of Snow White at the Theatre Royal. Her parents were conservative and conventional, her father the managing director of Dunlop Australia, her mother a housewife, so to enter the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the age of 16 in the very first intake in 1959 was a brave step, in which she was fully supported by her parents.[1]

Career

At the outset of her career, she had a variety of roles in radio and television, working mainly at the Australian Broadcasting Commission, including current affairs, music, chat shows and children's shows throughout the early 1960s. With the Old Tote Theatre Company she acted in The Legend of King O'Malley by Bob Ellis and Michael Boddy in 1970. She gravitated back to theatre, where she has been a constant presence for the last 40 years.

Although theatre has been her home ground she has also starred in numerous Australian films and mini-series, landing many credits for strong supporting roles. She made one foray into directing in The More Things Change... (1986).[3]

In 1996 she became Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company, a position which she held with great success, rescuing the company from bankruptcy and leaving it flourishing in 1999, when she took over the position of Artistic Director of the Sydney Theatre Company, where she was Artistic Director until the end of 2007, having created such memorable additions as The Actor's Company, the only professional repertory company in the nation, and the hugely successful Wharf Revue.[4]

Nevin has performed in a range of roles at the Sydney Theatre Company, beginning in 1979 as Miss Docker in A Cheery Soul by Patrick White (reprised in 2001); and also including as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1981; as Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov in 2005; and as Mrs Venable in Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams in 2015.[5]

Awards and honours

Nevin has won multiple Helpmann, Green Room and Sydney Theatre Awards for her theatre work. Her Helpmann Awards include Best Female Actor in a Play for Women of Troy, Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for My Fair Lady.

In 1981, she won the TV Logie award in the 'Best Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Telemovie' category for her role as Shasta in Water Under The Bridge on the Ten Network. She had already won Logies as 'Most Popular Female'[6][7] in Tasmania in 1965 and 1967 during her stint at the ABC.

On 8 June 1981, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the performing arts.[8]

In 1999 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Tasmania.[9]

On 21 January 2004 she gave the Australia Day Address.[10]

Personal life

Nevin has been married twice, most notably in her second marriage to "prison playwright" Jim McNeil (1975–1977).[11] She currently lives with her partner, US-born actor and screenwriter Nicholas Hammond. They met when they starred in Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind at the STC in 1987. From her first marriage to Barry Crook, she has a daughter Emily Russell (born 1968) who is also an actor.[12]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1973 Libido Sister Caroline Segment, "The Priest"
1976 Caddie Black Eye
The Fourth Wish Connie
1978 The Irishman Jenny Doolan
1979 Temperament Unsuited Anne
1982 Fighting Back Mary
1983 Goodbye Paradise Kate
Careful, He Might Hear You Lila
1984 The Gold and the Glory Robyn Lukas
1988 Emerald City Kate Rogers
1992 Resistance Wiley
Greenkeeping Mum
1994 Lucky Break Anne-Marie LePine
1995 Angel Baby Dr. Norberg
1997 The Castle Supreme Court Judge
2003 The Matrix Reloaded Councillor Dillard
Bad Eggs Eleanor Poulgrain
The Matrix Revolutions Councillor Dillard
2011 The Eye of the Storm Lal
2013 The Turning Carol Lang Segment, "Reunion"
2015 Ruben Guthrie Susan Guthrie
2016 Gods of Egypt Sharifa
2018 Death in Bloom Mrs. Patterson Short
2020 Relic Edna

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1962 Consider Your Verdict Judith Harper "Queen Versus Glandon"
1971 The Comedy Game Kate Sullivan "Our Man in Canberra"
1973 Our Man in the Company Miss Healey "Let Women Go Free"
President Wilson in Paris Mrs. Wilson TV film
1974 Matlock Police Sue Palmer "Dancing Class"
Ryan Susan Davis "Negative Proof"
1978 Father, Dear Father Mrs. Webster "Novel Exercise"
1980 Water Under the Bridge Shasta TV miniseries
A Toast to Melba Nellie Melba TV film
Spring & Fall Mary "The Last Card"
1982 Spring & Fall Anne "Perfect Company"
1983 The Dismissal Lady Kerr TV miniseries
1985 Hanlon Minnie Dean "In Defense of Minnie Dean"
1990 The Ham Funeral Mrs. Goosgog TV film
Shadows of the Heart Mrs. Hanlon TV film
1993 Seven Deadly Sins Sloth TV miniseries
1995–1999 Halifax f.p. Angela Halifax "The Feeding", "Cradle and All", "A Murder of Crows"
2013 Top of the Lake Jude Griffin "1.1", "1.3", "1.4", "1.5"
The Broken Shore Cecily Addison "3.5", "3.7"
2013–2016 Upper Middle Bogan Margaret Denyar Main role
2015 Stories I Wanted to Tell You in Person Anna TV film
2016 Cleverman Jane O'Grady "Containment"
2019 Doctor Doctor Dinah Season 4
gollark: If I use them at 1829471298418412Hz do I summon multiple Rob Pikes?
gollark: Ah, but if Rob Pike is summoned, I can capture him and force him to redesign Go.
gollark: (((osmarkslisp™ also has non-null-terminated strings, if only because python does)))
gollark: ((even osmarkslisp™ has this))
gollark: (with working closures, too)

References
  1. "Robyn Nevin: she who must be obeyed". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 February 2006. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  2. Suzannah Pearce, ed. (2007). "Nevin, Robyn". Who's Who in Australia Live!. North Melbourne, Vic: Crown Content Pty Ltd.
  3. The More Things Change... on IMDb
  4. "Sydney Theatre Company". Sydneytheatre.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  5. "STC Magazine Archive: Robyn Nevin". Sydney Theatre Company. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  6. "1962–1965 Logie Awards". Australian Television. 30 October 1998. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  7. "1966–1969 Logie Awards". Australian Television. 30 October 1998. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  8. "Robyn Anne Nevin – Member of the Order of Australia", honours.pmc.gov.au
  9. "Home – Events & Protocol – University of Tasmania, Australia" (PDF). Utas.edu.au. 4 May 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 September 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  10. "What's On". Australia Day. Archived from the original on 25 October 2010. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  11. Honeywill, Ross (2010). Wasted: The true story of Jim McNeil, violent criminal and brilliant playwright. Viking. ISBN 9781742531205.
  12. "Memoirs of a mother divided" Archived 18 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine by Steve Dow, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 February 2011
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