Mandy McElhinney

Last updated

Mandy McElhinney
Mandy McElhinney arrives at TV Week Logie Awards (26836426791).jpg
Born (1970-09-09) 9 September 1970 (age 53)
Perth, Western Australia
OccupationActress
Years active1994-present
Known for

Mandy McElhinney (born 9 September 1970) is an Australian actress best known for playing Rhonda in AAMI insurance advertisements. She appeared on the sketch comedy television series, Comedy Inc. , from 2003 to 2006. [1] She appeared as Gina Rinehart in the telemovie The House of Hancock , alongside Sam Neill in 2015. McElhinney played Jackie Walters, federal agent and team leader of the Australian Federal Police Counter-Terrorism Unit in the television drama thriller series Hyde & Seek that premiered on the Nine Network in October 2016.

Contents

Early life

McElhinney was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Rosemary and Andrew, [2] and raised in Leeman. [3] She has a younger sister, Hayley, who is also an actress. [4] They both took drama and dance lessons as teenagers. [2] McElhinney was bullied for her red hair as a child and so she became somewhat of a class clown making people laugh. [2] Her "stupid" impersonations as a child have in some way given her the desire to entertain. [2] McElhinney studied at Stella Maris Presentation College in Geraldton, which is now Nagle Catholic College. [5]

Roles

McElhinney is known for appearing in many Australian television series and films, including a recurring role in 2002 and 2003 on MDA , small roles in various crime and medical dramas, and a guest role as a shop assistant in Kath & Kim . She also appeared in the film The Bank . [6] She is also a regular in stage productions, including with the Melbourne and the Sydney Theatre Companies. [7] [8] She starred as Rhonda in the AAMI Safe Driver rewards series of commercials. [9] The ad and her character's love story within it, consequently became a major part of Australian popular culture. [10] [11] She stars as strict Matron Frances Bolton in the Australian drama series Love Child . She played the role of mining magnate Gina Rinehart in Nine's 2015 telemovie The House of Hancock . [2] In 2024 she played advice columnist Sugar in the Sydney, Australia, Belvoir St Theatre’s adaption of Tiny Beautiful Things.

Filmography

Film/TV
YearTitleRoleNotes
2023 Home and Away [12] Esther Lawrence/Margot Dafoe8 episodes
2021 Wakefield (TV series) Linda Crowley8 episodes
2020 Halifax: Retribution Minister Nolan2 episodes
2020Not A WalliflowerMrs ThornShort
2018-19SquintersBridget12 episodes
2019 Bad Mothers Maddie8 episodes
2017-18 True Story with Hamish & Andy Linda / Rosemary2 episodes
2018Sherbert Rozencrantz, You're BeautifulMumShort
2014-17 Love Child (TV series) Matron Frances Bolton36 episodes
2016HiccupHiccuperShort
2016 Hyde & Seek Jackie Walters8 episodes
2016The Legend of Gavin TannerRaelene1 episode
2015 House of Hancock [13] Gina Rinehart 2 episodes
2013Paper Giants: Magazine WarsNene King2 episodes
2012A Moody ChristmasLinda1 episode
2012 Howzat! Kerry Packer's War Rose Mitchell2 episodes
2011At Home with JuliaNewsreader1 episode
2010-11 Bed of Roses (TV series) Tamara Denning3 episodes
2005-08 All Saints (TV series) Corinne Davies / Natalie Haplin2 episodes
2003-06 Comedy Inc. (Australian TV series) Various75 episodes
2005The AliceCheryl Wilson1 episode
2002-03MDAHelena Lewis8 episodes
2003 Ned Kelly (2003 film) Jerildere Woman
2003 Welcher & Welcher Sonja Cohen2 episodes
2002The Real ThingKylie
2002 Stingers (TV series) Norma McClyment1 episode
2002 Kath & Kim Novelty Shop Assistant1 episode
2001The BankDiane
1999 Water Rats (TV series) Lisa Bell1 episode
1996-99 Blue Heelers Vanessa Mackay / Deslee Arnold2 episodes
1998Cody: The Wrong StuffSarahTV Movie
1996Naked; Stories of MenKate1 episode
1994Ship to ShoreSocial Worker1 episode

Awards

McElhinney starred as Kerry Packer's down-trodden personal assistant, Rose in Channel Nine's TV mini-series Howzat! Kerry Packer's War [14] for which she won the AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama and was nominated for the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Actress in a Series and as the new Editor-in-Chief of Packer's newly acquired Woman's Day magazine, Nene King, in series 2 of ABC1's Paper Giants mini-series Magazine Wars . [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Gibney</span> Australian actress (born 1964)

Rebecca Catherine Gibney is a New Zealand actress known for her roles on Australian television in The Flying Doctors, Halifax f.p., Packed to the Rafters, Winter and Wanted. She is a Gold Logie winner and has featured in a number of Australian films including Mental and The Dressmaker.

<i>Kath & Kim</i> Australian comedy television series

Kath & Kim is an Australian sitcom created by Jane Turner and Gina Riley, who portray the title characters of Kath Day-Knight, a cheery, middle-aged suburban mother, and Kim, her self-indulgent daughter. The cast also includes Glenn Robbins, Peter Rowsthorn and Magda Szubanski as, respectively, Kath's metrosexual boyfriend Kel Knight, Kim's henpecked husband Brett Craig, and her lonely "second-best friend" Sharon Strzelecki. The series is set in Fountain Lakes, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Griffiths</span> Australian actress (b. 1968)

Rachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian actress. Raised primarily in Melbourne, she began her acting career appearing on the Australian series Secrets before being cast in a supporting role in the comedy Muriel's Wedding (1994), which earned her an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 1997, she was the lead in Nadia Tass's drama Amy. She had a role opposite Julia Roberts in the American romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), followed by her portrayal of Hilary du Pré in Hilary and Jackie (1998), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline McKenzie</span> Australian actress

Jacqueline Susan McKenzie is an Australian film and stage actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa McCune</span> Australian actress

Lisa McCune is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series Blue Heelers as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in Sea Patrol as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Turner</span> Australian comedian

Jane Turner is an Australian actress, comedian and Logie Award-winning comedy series creator and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lachy Hulme</span> Australian actor and screenwriter

Lachy Hulme is an Australian actor and screenwriter. He has written several films and has appeared in a number of successful Australian and US film and television productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudia Karvan</span> Australian actress (born 1972)

Claudia Karvan is an Australian actress and producer. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film Molly (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in High Tide (1987). She portrayed a teacher in The Heartbreak Kid (1993) – the film was spun off into a TV series, Heartbreak High (1994–1999), with her character taken over by Sarah Lambert. Karvan's roles in television series include The Secret Life of Us (2001–2005), Love My Way (2004–2007), Newton's Law (2017) and Halifax: Retribution (2020). She won Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama at the AFI Awards for her appearance in G.P. (1996). She won two similar AFI Awards for her role in Love My Way and in 2014 for her work in The Time of Our Lives (2013–2014). As a co-producer and co-writer on Love My Way, she won three further AFI Awards for Best Drama Series in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Karvan was inducted into the Australian Film Walk of Fame in 2007 in acknowledgment of her contributions to the Australian film and television industry. From 2010 to 2011, she starred in the drama series Spirited, which she co-created and was executive producer. She appeared as Judy Vickers in Puberty Blues. Karvan has co-produced House of Hancock and Doctor Doctor (2016–2021). In 2021 she co-created, co-produced and starred in the TV drama series, Bump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Rinehart</span> Australian businesswoman (born 1954)

Georgina Hope Rinehart is an Australian billionaire mining magnate and heiress. Rinehart is the Executive Chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by her father, Lang Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine McClements</span> Australian actress

Catherine McClements is an Australian stage, film and television actress and television presenter. She is known for her TV roles in Water Rats and Tangle, for which she won Logie Awards, and has performed in stage productions for theatre companies such as Belvoir St Theatre, the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company and the State Theatre Company of South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacha Horler</span> Australian actress

Sacha Horler is an Australian actress. Her parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachael Blake</span> Australian actress

Rachael Morelle Blake is an Australian actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asher Keddie</span> Australian actress (born 1974)

Asher Keddie is an Australian actress. Beginning her career in the television series Five Mile Creek in the mid 1980s, Keddie received wide recognition for her role in the television series Offspring. Her significant repertoire in television has led to her being dubbed as the 'Golden Girl of Australian Television'. Keddie also had a small role in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as Dr. Carol Frost. Aside from television and film work, she has several theatre credits, including in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of Les Liaisons dangereuses as Madame de Tourvel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susie Porter</span> Australian actress

Susie Porter is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She made her debut in the 1996 film Idiot Box, before rising to prominence in films including Paradise Road (1997), Welcome to Woop Woop (1997), Two Hands (1999), Better Than Sex (2000), The Monkey's Mask (2000), Mullet (2001), Teesh and Trude (2002), and The Caterpillar Wish (2006). Porter is also highly recognised for her roles in television series, most notably, as Patricia Wright in East West 101, Eve Pritchard in East of Everything, as Kay Parker in Sisters of War, and as Marie Winter in the prison drama, Wentworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Garner</span> Australian actor (born 1970)

Nadine Lynette Garner is an Australian actor who started her career as a teen performer.

Dierdre Claire Smart is an Australian actress, model, singer, dancer and painter. After giving up on being a dancer, she rose to prominence portraying Lucinda Croft in the popular soap opera Home and Away from 1991 to 1992. After leaving the show she appeared in a handful of television guest spots, plays and films, including the 1997 comedy Welcome to Woop Woop, and was known for her appearances as Lady Luck on the variety programme The Footy Show before returning to regular television in the police procedural Water Rats, where she portrayed Detective Senior Constable Alex St. Clare from 1999 to 2001. Her more recent roles include having appeared in the 2011 TV movie Panic at Rock Island and the television shows Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries in 2013 and Winter in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeman, Western Australia</span> Town in Western Australia

Leeman is a small coastal town in the Shire of Coorow in Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Edwards (producer)</span> Australian television drama producer

Robert John Edwards is an Australian television drama producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacki Weaver</span> Australian actress

Jacqueline Ruth Weaver is an Australian theatre, film, and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as Stork (1971), Alvin Purple (1973), and Petersen (1974). She later starred in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Caddie (1976), Squizzy Taylor (1982), and a number of television films, miniseries, and Australian productions of plays such as Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire.

House of Hancock is an Australian mini-series, part 1 aired on the Nine Network on 8 February 2015 and the 2nd part on 15 February.

References

  1. ↑ McEvoy, Marc (1 June 2005). "Comedy Inc – The Late Shift". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mandy McElhinney: from flirty Rhonda to iron-willed Gina Rinehart". PerthNow . 8 February 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Blundell, Graeme (12 August 2015). "Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery: meet Mandy McElhinney". The Australian . Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  4. ↑ Tuohy, Wendy (6 April 2013). "After playing Rhonda in AAMI ads, Mandy McElhinney is in the spotlight". Herald Sun . Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Notable Alumni". Archived from the original on 23 October 2016.
  6. ↑ LaSalle, Mick (28 August 2002). "'The Bank' cashes in on corruption". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Middleton, Carol (15 January 2007). "Dons Party". Australian Stage. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Brantley, Ben (3 December 2009). "A Fragile Flower Rooted to the Earth". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Waterhouse, Kate (19 June 2016). "Mandy McElhinney found fame from 'a little ad that I did to pay the rent'". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Baxter, Andrew (21 June 2013). "Why an ad should be hot like a sunrise". The Australian . Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Banks, Susi (4 February 2013). "Mandy's star rising but don't call her Rhonda". The Australian. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  12. ↑ https://www.backtothebay.net/news/2023/05/15/home-and-away-spoilers-has-theo-tracked-down-andrews-mum/
  13. ↑ https://tvtonight.com.au/2014/08/mandy-mcelhinney-to-play-gina-rinehart.html
  14. ↑ News.com.au
  15. ↑ "Mandy McElhinney".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.