Alice Ansara

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

Contents

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 in 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
2000 La Spagnola Lucia (lead)Feature film
Best Actress Nomination at AFI Awards, FCCC Awards
2005Rosebery 7470Alison (lead)Won Best Actress Award at MUFF Awards
2006Meditations on a NameWattle (lead)Short film
2007Sexy, Single, BilingualZoya (lead)Short film
2008The Ballad of Betty & JoeBetty (lead)Short film
2008The Ladies LoungeLayla (lead)Short film
Won Queer Perspective Award at Sydney Queer Film Festival
2010Nude StudyAlison
2014Shock RoomLanaDocumentary film
Won Best Feature Documentary at Antenna Documentary Film Festival
2016Video ReportSusie (lead)
2017Deep StorageSylvia (lead)Short film
Won Audience Award for Best Short Film at Bentonville Film Festival
2017Beyond the BubbleDeniseShort film
2018 Judy and Punch AliceFeature film

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1990Breaking ThroughYoung Ann
1990Death DutiesSophie
1997The Teenage Guide to PopularityAmy
2007 All Saints Detective GrantTV series
2008 Bogan Pride NigellaTV series
2010 My Place Mrs StocktonTV series
2013–14 Legally Brown Lamees / variousTV series, season 1–2
2015MoonmanMum
2017 Newton's Law CarlaTV series

Theatre

YearTitleRoleCompany
2002 Three Sisters OlgaWAAPA
2002 A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania WAAPA
2003 Pericles Gower WAAPA
2003 The Innocent Mistress Mrs Flywife WAAPA
2005Pearlie in the ParkMrs PossumMonkey Baa
2006 The Merchant of Venice Jessica Bell Shakespeare
2008Arabian NightsFatima Griffin Stablemates
2009The Mysteries: GenesisLucifer / Abel Sydney Theatre Company
2009 The Seagull The SeagullScrew Theatre Company
2010LeviathanCaroline Chisolm Sydney Theatre Company
2010Vs MacbethLennox Sydney Theatre Company
2010 The Oresteia Chorus Sydney Theatre Company
2010 The Comedy of Errors Adriana Sydney Theatre Company
2011One for the Ugly GirlsClaire505 Theatre
2012Look the Other WayEnsemble Sydney Theatre Company / BYDS
2013The Other WayMara Sydney Theatre Company / BYDS
2014Jump for JordanSophia Griffin Theatre Company
2015I Call My BrothersAhlem / Tyra Melbourne Theatre Company
2015The Naked SelfGuideAuspicious Arts Projects
2018ContestCDarebin Arts

Radio

YearTitleRoleNotes
2015Going and GoingLaila ABC Radio National

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References

  1. ↑ "Breaking Through" – via www.imdb.com.
  2. ↑ 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. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  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. ↑ "Twenty Years: Twenty Stories: Jacob's Story". Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  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.
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