Mary-Anne Fahey

Last updated

Mary-Anne Fahey
Born
Mary-Anne Waterman

(1955-08-19) 19 August 1955 (age 69)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupations
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • screenwriter
  • author
Years active1981–present
Spouse(s) Ian McFadyen
Morris Gleitzman (1994 – 2011)
Paul Jennings

Mary-Anne Fahey (born 19 August 1955 as Mary-Anne Waterman) credited also as Maryanne Fahey, is an Australian actress, comedian, screenwriter and children's author.

Contents

Career

Fahey has starred in and written for numerous TV and film comedy programs including The Comedy Company , Kittson Fahey , the first Australian female-only sketch comedy program, Get a Life and One Size Fits All . She had roles in Future Schlock , The Dunera Boys , All the Rivers Run II , Celia , Lucky Break and SeaChange . She has received roles in theatre including Mary Lives!.

Fahey is most famous for her work on Channel Ten's The Comedy Company especially for her school girl character, Kylie Mole, and three-year-old "Jophesine", the Play School Sketches with Glenn Robbins and the "Bedscene" sketches with her then real-life husband Ian McFadyen.

In the 1980s she appeared in an advertisement for David Reid electronics, which was promoting the Commodore Amiga 500.

Kylie Mole

Fahey's Kylie Mole character—a scowling schoolgirl—was so popular she published the best-selling novel My Diary by Kylie Mole. She released a Double A-Side single with tracks "So Excellent"/"I Go, I Go", which hit #8 on the Australian ARIA chart in November 1988. [1] A music video for "So Excellent" was filmed. The Kylie Mole character was one of several iconic characters that appeared in the show. Her characterisation especially resonated with Australian youth. The Australian adoption of the word "bogan" was first popularised in the media by Kylie Mole, and other phrases she used gained a wider currency.

Later career

Fahey lives in Melbourne and is concentrating on writing and children's theatre. In May 2007, [2] she published her first children's novel, I, Nigel Dorking: An Autobiography about a Boy with an Unusual Vocabulary, a Suit of Armour and an Unshakeable Dream, Written by That Very Boy (Nigel Dorking), Grade Six ( ISBN   0-143-30247-7 and ISBN   978-0-14-330247-6). [3] [4]

Awards

Fahey won a 1989 Logie Award for "Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality" for her work on The Comedy Company. She has won an AWGIE Award [5] and an Irish-dancing trophy where she came second in a competition of two. [5]

Personal life

Fahey has two sons. Thomas Fahey, from her first marriage, and James McFadyen, born 12 July 1990. Fahey and Ian McFadyen split up in 1992. From 1994 until 2011 her partner was children's writer Morris Gleitzman. [6] He too has a background in comedy writing as a former writer for The Norman Gunston Show , and a satirical columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age .

From 2014, Fahey has been in a relationship with Paul Jennings, another children's book writer who had previously collaborated with Morris Gleitzman on two books series, Wicked and Deadly.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleType
1984 Future Schlock SarahFeature film
1989 Celia Pat CarmichaelFeature film
1994 Lucky Break (aka Paperback Romance)MyraFeature film

Television

YearTitleRoleType
1981 Cop Shop Robyn CainTV series, 2 episodes
1983 Prisoner Kelly FraserTV series, 2 episodes
1983 All The Rivers Run HildaTV miniseries, 3 episodes
1984The KeepersTV series, 1 episode
1984 Special Squad TV series, 1 episode
1985The Eleventh HourVarious charactersTV series
1985 The Dunera Boys Naomi MendellsohnTV miniseries, 2 episodes
1986 The Great Bookie Robbery CherylTV miniseries, 2 episodes
1986 Rubbery Figures Various characters (voice)TV series
1987 Willing and Abel TV series, 1 episode
1988-1990 The Comedy Company Kylie MoleTV series, regular role
1988 The Flying Doctors Lisa MorganTV series, 1 episode
1988The Gerry Connolly ShowVarious charactersTV series, 5 episodes
1991 All Together Now Rivka CarpenterTV series, 1 episode
1992-1993 Kittson Fahey Various charactersTV series
1993-1996 Crocadoo Gina (voice)Animated TV series, season 1
1994 Blue Heelers Sandra LynchTV series, 1 episode
1997Get a LifeJackie Carter (voice)Animated TV series
1998 Crocadoo II Kelly (voice)Animated TV series, 1 episode
1999 Chuck Finn Dr. McCorquondale (voice)Animated TV series, 1 episode
2000 SeaChange Kerry PhilbyTV series, 1 episode
2000One Size Fits AllHerself / Various charactersTV series, 13 episodes

Television appearances as self

YearTitleRoleType
1988The Eleventh Hour Looks at TelevisionHerselfTV special
1988Late Night OzHerselfTV series, 1 episode
1988Life Education Television AppealHerselfTV telethon special
1990A Funny Thing Happened to Australian ComedyHerselfTV special
1991WisecracksHerselfDocumentary special
1991Til TenGuest (with Ian MacFadyen)TV series, 1 episode
1991; 1993 Tonight Live with Steve Vizard GuestTV series, 2 episodes
1991In Sydney TodayGuestTV series, 1 episode
1991 The Melbourne Comedy Festival - A Night of a Thousand Laughs HerselfTV special
199135 Years of TelevisionHerselfTV special
1992 The Morning Show GuestTV series, 1 episode
1992 Burke's Backyard Celebrity gardenerTV series, 1 episode
1992ReviewHerselfTV series, 1 episode
1992 Hinch GuestTV series, 1 episode
1992The World TonightGuestTV series, 1 episode
1992 Vidiot GuestTV series, 1 episode
1993Australian Television's Funniest PeopleHerselfTV special
1993 The Norman Gunston Show GuestTV series, 1 episode
1993 Live and Sweaty GuestTV series, 1 episode
1993; 1994; 1997 Good Morning Australia GuestTV series, 3 episodes
1993; 1994Live It UpGuestTV series, 2 episodes
1993; 1997 Ray Martin at Midday GuestTV series, 1 episode
1994; 1997 What's Cooking Celebrity cookTV series, 2 episodes
1996Comic ReliefHerselfTV special
1997 Midday with Kerri-Anne GuestTV series, 1 episode
1997 Today GuestTV series, 1 episode
1997 This Is Your Life HerselfTV series, 1 episode
1998DeniseGuestTV series, 1 episode
2002People DimensionsHerselfTV series, 1 episode
2006 Good as Gold! GuestTV series, 1 episode
2007 Saturday Disney GuestTV series, 1 episode
2007The Sounds of AusHerselfTV series

Stage

YearTitleRoleVenue / Company
1980 Alcestis University of Melbourne [7]
1981Carnival KnowledgeMelbourne Comedy Cafe
1986Faking ItPresenterLiving Arts Centre, Adelaide for Adelaide Fringe Festival
1986Faking It 2Presenter The Last Laugh, Melbourne
1987No Trouble Universal Theatre, Melbourne
1992Mary Lives!Mary Malthouse Theatre, Geelong Arts Centre, Monash University with Playbox Theatre Company
1992A Night of Infectious Laughter Melbourne Athenaeum
1993Humorists Read the Humorists Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit
1993The Grand Finale Galah Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit

As writer

YearTitleRoleVenue / Company
1987DuckWriterLe Joke, Melbourne with Handspan Theatre

[8]

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References

  1. "ARIA Awards Best Comedy Release". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  2. Penguin Books (Australia) author bio for Mary-Anne Fahey
  3. I, Nigel Dorking, book description & details
  4. Book Review of I, Nigel Dorking: "My Life as a Loser", by Sue Bursztynski, June 2007. Accessed 11 August 2007.
  5. 1 2 Melbourne Writers' Festival 24Aug-2Sep 2007: Mary-Anne Fahey Information page Archived 1 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Fahey, Mary-Anne (7 May 2007). "Ask an author: Mary-Anne Fahey". The Age . Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2007.
  7. "Alcestis (1980) | Melbourne University Student Theatre Archive".
  8. "AusStage".