Elaine Crombie

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Elaine Crombie
Born
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)Actress, singer, writer
Years active1999–present
Children2
Parent(s) Lillian Crombie and Sam Backo

Elaine Crombie is an Aboriginal Australian actress, known for her work on stage and television. She is also a singer, songwriter, comedian, writer and producer.

Contents

Early life and education

Crombie is a Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara woman from South Australia. [1] She and her brother were brought up by her mother's foster parents in Port Pirie, the Turners, after being given up at the age of six weeks by her mother, actor Lillian Crombie, who went to Sydney "to follow her dreams" in the performing arts. Lillian, along with her brother, had been one of the Stolen Generations. [2]

During her teens Elaine (in her own words) "fell off the rails", and she left high school at the age of 16 to go to Adelaide University to attend the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music. She lived in Adelaide for two years before going to Brisbane, where she was met by her father, rugby league great Sam Backo, for the first time. [2] [3]

In Brisbane Crombie studied at the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts for 18 months. [2]

Crombie delivered the second annual lecture at National Institute of Dramatic Art for NAIDOC week 2021. [4]

Career

Crombie's first break was when she auditioned successfully for Wesley Enoch's The Sunshine Club with the Queensland Theatre Company. The play toured regional Queensland, including Cairns, and did a season at the Playhouse in Brisbane in November 1999 followed by a run at the Sydney Opera House [2] in January 2000. In 2003 she joined the tour to England to perform in the first Aboriginal-written play, The Cherry Pickers by Kevin Gilbert, with the Sydney Theatre Company. [5]

After spending a few years performing in Sydney and Brisbane, Crombie met and fell in love with the man who would be father to her two sons. After the birth of her second child she found herself feeling very depressed, and soon afterwards the couple split up during a family holiday, and Crombie returned to South Australia with her boys. They lived there for some years but spent periods in Sydney for performances. As of 2016 they had been living in the Wollongong area for two years. [2]

One of Crombie's earliest roles on television was in 8MMM Aboriginal Radio , a comedy series about an Aboriginal radio station located in Alice Springs which screened on ABC Television in 2015. [6] [7] She played Kitty in Nakkiah Lui's 2017 comedy television series, Kiki and Kitty , made for ABC iview [8] and also screened on ABC Comedy. [9] She also appeared in many episodes of Black Comedy and played Bev in the drama series Top of the Lake . [10] [11]

She appeared in the feature film Top End Wedding (2019). [11]

In 2019, Crombie premiered her own show, Janet's Vagrant Love in the Spiegeltent at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, and two years later brought a pared-back version of the show to the Adelaide Fringe. A combination of personal songs and stories, she described the show as "Love, loss, childhood trauma & raising blak men".[ citation needed ]

She co-hosted the National Indigenous Music Awards 2020 in Darwin. [12]

Crombie starred in a touring production of Wesley Enoch's The 7 Stages of Grieving , directed by Shari Sebbens for the Sydney Theatre Company. The staging was originally scheduled for 2020, [13] but, interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, was postponed until mid-2021. [14] It was staged in Sydney, Adelaide, and Canberra, [15] with a new epilogue that introduces a note of activism, with Crombie, Sebbens and assistant director Ian Michael calling for the audience to engage in "seven actions of healing". [16]

Her first performance in 2022 was in the Bangarra Dance Theatre's production, Wudjang: Not the Past, which premiered at the Sydney Festival in January before touring to Hobart and Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Festival. [3] Also in 2022, Crombie directed Bungambrawartha, a stage production in Albury-Wodonga presented by Hot House Theatre Company. [17]

Awards

Crombie won the Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical in 2019 for her role in Barbara and the Camp Dogs , [18] in a reprise of the role at the Belvoir St Theatre that she had also undertaken in 2017. [11]

She won the Dreamtime Award in 2020 for Actor of the Year. [19]

Other roles

Crombie is a First Nations Organiser for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). [11]

She is a member of the South Australian Film Corporation's First Nations Advisory Committee, launched in November 2020 as part of their First Nations Screen Strategy 2020-2025, [20] in partnership with Channel 44. [21]

Documentary

A 2019 short documentary film in a series called Deadly Family Portraits, called Crombie Crew, focused on Elaine and her mother Lillian. [1] [22] The series of three films included one about Zaachariaha Fielding and his father, artist Robert Fielding, and another about dancers Taree and Caleena Sansbury. [23]

Filmography

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2017 Kiki and Kitty KittySeries 1, Episode 1: "Kiki Comes To Town"

Episode 2: "A Blessing in Disguise"

Episode 3: "Live Fast, Die Young"

Episode 4: "Big Trouble in Little 'Gina"

Episode 5: "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Moist"

Episode 6: "Ice, Ice Baby"

2016–2018 Black Comedy GuestEpisodes 1-6
2018 How To Stay Married CarolSeries 1, Episode 2
2018 Nowhere Boys BriannaSeries 4 "Battle for Negative Space", Episode 1: "We Are Not Alone Anymore"

Episode 2: "Secrets, Lies and Parasites"

Episode 3: "Lost in Negative Space"

Episode 4: "The Cool Guy"

Episode 5: "Stranger Danger"

2018The HousemateGloriaSeries 1, Episode 6: "Hometown Housemate"
2018 Grace Beside Me Miss LongSeries 1, Episode 2: "Black Hat's Treasure"

Episode 3: "Yarn for Yar" Episode 4: "Sorry" Episode 7: "Grace" Episode 8: "The Sweetest Gift" Episode 9: "Blackbird" Episode 11: "Love Me, Love Me Not"

2018 Rosehaven Series 2, Episode 1
2019 Top End Wedding Dana
2017-2019 Get Krack!n Eloise Kroombe BusinesswomanSeries 1, Episode 2

Series 2, Episode 8

2019 Ties That Bind Marlene Short
2019 Sammy J CopSeries 2, Episode 38: "Constitutional Cops"
2020ThaluBits and BobsSeries 1, Episode 1: "Escape"
2020 Drunk History: Australia Mary's Mother, OfficerSeries 1, Episode 5: "Abe Saffron aka Mr Sin/The Female Bushranger Mary Ann Bugg"
2021 Wentworth Aunty FranSeries 9, Episode 1: "Rogue"

Episode 2: "Requiem"

2021 RFDS UrsulaSeries 1, Episode 6, Episode 8
2021 Firebite CoraleeSeries 1, Episode 1: "Pest Control"

Episode 2: "The Last Bloodhunter"

2021History Bites BackHost
2020-2022Stuff Everyone Should Know About AustraliaHostSeries 1, Episode 1: "Original Greenies"

Episode 2: "Sweet Dreamings"

Episode 3: "Fishes & Loaves"

Series 2, Episode 1: "The Heroes of Gundagai"

Episode 2: "Language Warriors"

Episode 3: "Ancient Ovens"

Episode 4: "More Than Myth"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Mailman</span> Australian actress

Deborah Jane Mailman is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman is known for her characters: Kelly Lewis on the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us, Cherie Butterfield in the Australian comedy-drama series Offspring, Lorraine in the Australian drama series Redfern Now and Aunt Linda in the Australian dystopian science fiction series Cleverman. Mailman is currently portraying the lead role of Alexandra "Alex" Irving on the Australian political drama series Total Control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangarra Dance Theatre</span> Indigenous Australian dance company

Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born Cheryl Stone. Stephen Page was artistic director from 1991 to 2021, with Frances Rings taking over in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Purcell</span> Indigenous Australian actress, film director and writer

Leah Maree Purcell is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).

Wesley James Enoch is an Australian playwright and artistic director. He is especially known for The 7 Stages of Grieving, co-written with Deborah Mailman. He was artistic director of the Queensland Theatre Company from mid-2010 until October 2015, and completed a five-year stint as director of the Sydney Festival in February 2021.

Stephen George Page is an Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He is the former artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company. Page is descended from the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali of the Yugambeh people from southeast Queensland, Australia.

The NAISDA Dance College is a performing arts training college based in Kariong, New South Wales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. It was established as the Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Scheme (AISDS) in 1975, which became the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association (NAISDA) in 1988. The date of establishment of the college is usually cited as 1976, although some sources report it as 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Australian Film Corporation</span>

South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed by the South Australian Film Corporation for the use of the South Australian film industry.

Rachael Zoa Maza is an Indigenous Australian television and film actress and stage director.

Shari Sebbens is an Aboriginal Australian actress and stage director, known for her debut film role in The Sapphires (2012), as well as many stage and television performances. After a two-year stint as resident director of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), in 2023 she will be directing productions by STC and Griffin in Sydney, as well as Melbourne Theatre Company and Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne. She is on the board of Back to Back Theatre.

8MMM Aboriginal Radio (8MMM), pronounced "8 Triple M", is a 2015 Australian television comedy series.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in 52 Tuesdays, a critically-acclaimed independent film directed by Sophie Hyde, and has also appeared on stage. She appeared in the 2018 film Hotel Mumbai, and starred as feminist icon Helen Reddy in the 2019 biopic I Am Woman. In 2023 she starred in the Amazon Prime TV series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

Nakkiah Lui is an Australian actor, writer and comedian. She is a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet Dyer</span> Australian actress (b. 1988)

Harriet Dyer is an Australian actress. She is best known for starring in the television series Love Child (2014–2017) and No Activity (2015–2018). She has also appeared in films, most notably The Invisible Man (2020). Alongside her husband Patrick Brammall, she is the co-creator, co-writer, and co-star of the comedy series Colin from Accounts (2022).

Kiki and Kitty is an Australian comedy series released through ABC Television's streaming service, iview, in 2017 and then screened on ABC Comedy.

Fiona Crombie is an Australian costume and production designer. She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Production Design for the period film The Favourite.

Sally Riley is an Australian filmmaker, writer, producer and media executive, as of 2021 Head of Scripted Production at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Erica Glynn is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker, known for directing, producing and writing documentaries and other films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lillian Crombie</span> Indigenous Australian actress (1958–2024)

Lillian Crombie, also known as "Aunty Lillian", was an Aboriginal Australian actress and dancer, known for her work on stage, film and television.

Kodie Bedford is an Aboriginal Australian screenwriter, filmmaker and playwright from Western Australia. She is known for her play Cursed!, and work on several television series, in particular the 2021 comedy series All My Friends are Racist.

Roxanne McDonald is an Indigenous Australian actress based in Queensland.

References

  1. 1 2 "First Nations Advisory Committee - Elaine Crombie". SAFC. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Crombie, Elaine (9 December 2016). "I am living proof of the stolen generation. Trust me, the trauma is real". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  3. 1 2 Cathcart, Michael (7 December 2021). "Elaine Crombie will calm you down before she punches you in the guts" (Audio + text). ABC Radio National . The Stage Show. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  4. Kappos, Matthew (9 July 2021). "Elaine Crombie speaks to the First Nations experience in the arts" . Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  5. "The Sunshine Club". AusStage . Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  6. "8MMM Aboriginal Radio (ABC TV Mini Series)". Amy Bastow. 17 August 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. "8MMM Aboriginal Radio (2014)". The Screen Guide. Screen Australia . Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. Knox, David (16 March 2017). "ABC filming absurdist iview comedy, Kiki & Kitty". TV Tonight. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. "Kiki And Kitty". ABC iview. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  10. Elaine Crombie at IMDb
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Elaine Crombie". Belvoir St Theatre. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  12. "National Indigenous Music Awards 2020: Baker Boy wins second artist of the year title". The Guardian. 8 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  13. "The 7 Stages of Grieving". AusStage. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  14. "The 7 Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch & Deborah Mailman". State Theatre Company South Australia . Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  15. Bremer, Rudi (5 June 2021). "As The 7 Stages of Grieving is re-staged, Shari Sebbens and Elaine Crombie ask how much has changed in 26 years". ABC News (Australia) . ABC Arts. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  16. Dow, Steve (26 May 2021). "The 7 Stages of Grieving review – Elaine Crombie gives a singular performance in show that swings to outright activism". the Guardian. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  17. "Show is the story of how the mixed-mob of Albury-Wodonga came to be". The Border Mail. 11 October 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  18. "2019 Nominees and Winners". Helpmann Awards. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  19. "Garrmalang Festival Janet's Vagrant Love - Elaine Crombie". ArtsHub Australia. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  20. "First Nations Screen Strategy 2020-2025". SAFC . Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  21. "SAFC launches new First Nations Screen Strategy and Channel 44 partnership". SAFC. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  22. "Deadly Family Portraits: Crombie Crew". ABC iview. 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  23. Knox, David (14 August 2019). "SAFC, Screen Territory link filmmakers in the heart of Australia". TV Tonight. Retrieved 2 January 2024.