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Deborah Kennedy is an Australian character actress [1] recognised for several television and film roles, especially for her appearance in the famous Australian Yellow Pages advertisement with the line "Not happy, Jan!". [2]
Kennedy began her acting career on the stage, with the Marian Street Theatre, Killara, appearing in The Trojan Woman and Macbeth . She followed this with work with several other theatrical organisations including SUDS, Repertory 200, the New Theatre, and the Pegeant Theatre. For the Nimrod theatre starting in 1975 she had several roles in plays, acting in Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III . Other theatre work includes Travelling North, House of the Deaf Man, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Desert Flambe.
Starting in the 1970s she also acted in various television roles, with appearances in Certain Women , Silent Number , Wayzgoose , Doctor Down Under , The Restless Years , Bellamy , and 1915 . Film roles of the period include Tim (1979) which starred Mel Gibson and Piper Laurie, Dawn! (1979), and Temperament Unsuited (1978). [3]
In the 1980s she played a brief guest role in soap opera Prisoner , and in 1991 was a regular cast member of serial Chances . She continued in that role several months until her character, nurse Connie Reynolds, was written out of the show as part of a cast revamp. In the 1990s continued television guest appearances included a recurring part in Police Rescue and roles in series Wildside and Good Guys Bad Guys . She continued to play supporting roles in feature films, including I Can't Get Started (1985), The Empty Beach (1985), Death in Brunswick (1991), The Sum of Us (1994), Idiot Box (1996), Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997), My Mother Frank (2000), Matter of Life (2001), and Swimming Upstream (2003). She also appeared in two children's programs, Johnson and Friends and Boffins .
Kennedy also delivered the famous (in Australia) catch-phrase "Not happy, Jan!" in the oft-quoted TV commercial for the Yellow Pages telephone directory. In the 2000s television guest roles have included appearances series MacLeod's Daughters and Welcher & Welcher . Starting 2006, Kennedy appeared in a recurring role in the soap opera Neighbours as Mishka Schneiderova, Lou Carpenter's Russian partner whom he met online. After completing a stint in the series Mishka made her on-air return in Australia in October 2006. Kennedy appeared in the comedy series The Jesters in 2009 and has had guest roles on television series Dance Academy , Rake , and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries . Since 2013 Kennedy has been a regular cast member in the Australian period drama A Place to Call Home playing the role of Inverness local gossip who means well, Doris Collins. Kennedy also had a brief role in the first series of the ABC's Janet King .
Kennedy was announced as part of the extended cast for ABC series Return to Paradise (2024 TV series) . [4]
| Year | Film | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Temperament Unsuited | Christine | Film short |
| 1979 | Tim | Dawnie Melville | Feature film |
| 1979 | Dawn! | Role unknown | Feature film |
| 1985 | The Empty Beach | Newspaper Librarian | Feature film |
| 1988 | Kadaicha | Mrs. Millhouse | Feature film |
| 1988 | Grievous Bodily Harm | Madeleine Kovitch | Feature film |
| 1990 | Death in Brunswick | June | Feature film |
| 1994 | The Sum of Us | Joyce Johnson | Feature film |
| 1994 | The Roly Poly Man | Chantal | Feature film |
| 1996 | Idiot Box | Detective Leanne | Feature film |
| 1997 | Thank God He Met Lizzie | June | Feature film |
| 1998 | Let's Wait | Alex | Film short |
| 1999 | Federation | Louisa Lawson | Feature film |
| 2000 | My Mother Frank | Receptionist | Feature film |
| 2001 | A Matter of Life | Suicidal Sue | Film short |
| 2001 | Jet Set | Herself | Film short |
| 2002 | Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home | Short | Film short |
| 2003 | Swimming Upstream | Billie | Feature film |
| 2004 | Thunderstruck | Matron of Honour | Feature film |
| 2009 | Closed for Winter | Dorothy | Feature film |
| 2009 | Charlie & Boots | Miles Waitress | Feature film |
| 2015 | Women He's Undressed | Florence Kelly | Feature film documentary |
| 2018 | Ladies in Black | Myra's Mother | Feature film |
| 2019 | Larry Time | Beryl | Film short |
| 2025 | Jimpa | Katherine | Film |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | McManus MPB | Model | TV movie | |
| 1975 | Silent Number | TV series, 1 episode | ||
| 1976 | Certain Women | TV series | ||
| 1979 | Doctor Down Under | Sister Fletcher | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1980 | The Restless Years | Dr. Helen Ashford | TV series | |
| 1981 | Bellamy | TV series, 1 episode | ||
| 1982 | 1915 | Sharon Kerley | TV miniseries, 2 episodes | |
| 1983 | Prisoner | Gerri Doogan | TV series, 2 episodes | |
| 1985; 1987 | A Country Practice | Joan Barlow / Maree Perkins | TV series, 2 episodes | |
| 1987 | Willing and Abel | TV series, 1 episode | ||
| 1988 | Home and Away | Vet | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1988 | Mike Willesee's Australians | June Ferguson | TV film series, episode 9: "Betty Cuthbert" | |
| 1988 | Rafferty's Rules | Miss Herron | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1988 | Fields of Fire II | Betty Wilson | TV miniseries, 1 episode | |
| 1990–95 | Johnson and Friends | Victoria | TV series, 32 episodes | |
| 1990 | How Wonderful! | Exercise Class Teacher | TV movie | |
| 1991 | For the Love of Mike | Isabella Rudd | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1991 | Chances | Connie Reynolds | TV series, 68 episodes | |
| 1991–92 | Police Rescue | Bronwyn Catteau | TV series, 4 episodes | |
| 1994 | Boffins | Madame Curie | TV series, 13 episodes | |
| 1996 | Naked: Stories of Men | Romono | TV film series, episode 5: "A Fallen Woman" | |
| 1998 | Good Guys Bad Guys | Bridget Costello | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 1998 | Wildside | Patricia Wilson | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2002 | McLeod's Daughters | Cathy Cronin | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2003 | Welcher & Welcher | Judge | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2004 | Stiff | Trish | TV movie | |
| 2004 | The Brush-Off | Trish | TV movie | |
| 2005 | Small Claims: White Wedding | Trudy Duffy | TV film series, 1 episode | |
| 2006 | Have a Go TV | Presenter | TV series, 13 episodes | |
| 2006 | RAN: Remote Area Nurse | Departing RAN | TV series, 3 episodes | |
| 2006 | Neighbours | Mishka Schneiderova | TV series, 23 episodes | |
| 2007 | Bastard Boys | Gwen Coombs | TV miniseries, 2 episodes | |
| 2009 | Law and Disorder: Allan Kessing - The Reluctant Whistleblower | Narrator (voice) | Film documentary | |
| 2009 | :30 Seconds | Joceyln Mann | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2009–11 | The Jesters | Di Sunnington | TV series, 16 episodes | |
| 2009 | Sea Princesses | Whale Queen (voice) | TV series, 52 episodes | |
| 2010 | A Very Short War | Gwen Carpenter | TV film documentary | |
| 2010; 2012 | Rake | Meg Makepeace QC | TV series, 2 episodes | |
| 2010–12 | Dance Academy | Miss Histead | TV series, 3 episodes | |
| 2011 | Outback Kids | Narrator | TV series, 3 episodes | |
| 2011–12 | Laid | Jan Beane / Janis Kennedy | TV series, 5 episodes | |
| 2011 | Immigration Nation: The Secret History Of Us | Narrator | TV series, 3 episodes | |
| 2012 | Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Georgina Charlesworth | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2013–18 | A Place to Call Home | Doris Collins | TV series, 59 episodes | |
| 2014 | Janet King | Dianne Vaslich | TV series, 4 episodes | |
| 2015 | The Principal | Val | TV miniseries, 4 episodes | |
| 2015 | No Activity | Count Clerk | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2016 | Deep Water | Dr. Pedersen | TV miniseries, 2 episodes | |
| 2017 | The Secret Daughter | Magistrate | TV series, 1 episode | |
| 2017 | Sisters | Butch | TV series, 2 episodes | |
| 2018 | There Goes Our Neighbourhood | Narrator | TV documentary | |
| 2020 | Origins Unknown | Agatha Dunwick | Series 2 | [5] |
| 2021 | Tara Tremendous | Ms. Fernsby / Mrs. Biddlespach | Series 3 | [6] |
| 2022 | The Strange Chores | Yellowbeard (voice) | TV series, 1 episode | |
| Fisk | Edith | TV series, 2 episodes | ||
| 2023 | Totally Completely Fine | Beatrice | 2 episodes | |
| The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart | Merle | 1 episode | ||
| 2024 | Return to Paradise | Maggie | TV series | |
| Plum | Gwynn | TV series, 1 episode |
| Year | Film | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | M.U.G.E.N. | Voice | Video game |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Blithe Spirit | Optus Playhouse | [7] | |
| 2003 | An Evening With | Susan | National Tour | [8] |
| 2004 | What The Butler Saw | Mrs Prentice | Belvoir | |
| 2006 | The Glory | Ruth | Hothouse Theatre |