Kerry Armstrong

Last updated

Kerry Armstrong
Born
Kerry Michelle Armstrong

(1958-09-12) 12 September 1958 (age 65) [1]
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Occupations
  • Actress
  • author
Years active1974–present
Spouses
(m. 1981)
Alexander Bernstein
(m. 1981)
(m. 1990)
Mark Croft
(m. 19962001)
Children3

Kerry Michelle Armstrong (born 12 September 1958) [1] is an Australian actress and author. [2] She is one of only two actresses to win two Australian Film Institute Awards in the same year, winning Best Actress in a Leading Role for Lantana and Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for SeaChange in 2001. [3] [4]

Contents

After early television roles in Australia including Prisoner (1979) and Skyways (1980), Armstrong moved to the United States in 1981, where she played Ophelia in Hamlet and Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and had a role in the soap opera Dynasty (1985–86). [5] [6] She returned to Australia in 1987. Her other television roles include MDA (2002–03) and Bed of Roses (2008–11).

Career

Early years

Armstrong appeared in both acting and presenting roles on Australian television in the 1970s and early 1980. One of her first acting roles was on television series Marion, released in March 1974. [7] She appeared as a GTV-9 weather girl, [2] and then in a dramatic acting role, appearing as Lynn 'Wonky' Warner, an original character in Network Ten women's prison drama Prisoner . Initially planned to last 16 episodes, the series was continued and Armstrong appeared in the first 44 episodes. She then switched to another ongoing role in drama series Skyways for 49 episodes. In 1981 she co-hosted the Network Ten series Together Tonight with Greg Evans.

In 1981 Armstrong married rock band Australian Crawl's rhythm guitarist Brad Robinson. [8] Armstrong and Robinson co-wrote "Easy on Your Own", [9] a track on Australian Crawl's second album Sirocco and B-side to the single "Errol". [10]

United States and Dynasty

Armstrong moved to the United States in 1981, where she studied under Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at the HB Studio [11] in New York City on an acting scholarship. [5] [12] [13] With the studio's Playwrights Foundation, she played Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , Ophelia in Hamlet , and Isabella in Measure for Measure at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC. [13] In order to obtain residency, Armstrong and Robinson agreed she would have to marry a US citizen, so they separated and she married her friend Alexander Bernstein. [5] Armstrong only had a professional arrangement with Bernstein, but her long distance from Robinson dissolved their relationship. [5] In the US, she starred as Christine in Tom Stoppard's Dalliance at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, [14] had an ongoing role in daytime serial One Life to Live , and became part of The Actors' Gang along with John Cusack and Tim Robbins. [5] [6] After working in the group's plays, Armstrong appeared in seven episodes of Dynasty as Elena, Duchess of Branagh. Robbins and Armstrong became romantically involved. Cusack, Robbins and Armstrong auditioned for Saturday Night Live but only Armstrong was offered a part, which she declined. [5] She also guest starred in the 1984 Murder, She Wrote episode "Death Takes a Curtain Call".

Australian return

In 1987, Armstrong returned to Australia upon the death of her grandmother. [5] [6] In the early 1990s, she resumed acting in Australian television series, including Police Rescue , Ocean Girl , Come In Spinner , All Together Now and Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left . In 1991 Armstrong was nominated for an AFI award for Best Actress for her role in the film Hunting which was released by Paramount in the U.S. [3]

In 1998, Armstrong was offered the role of Heather Jelly in the television series SeaChange , the ever-devoted but long-suffering wife of corrupt local mayor Bob (John Howard). The role won her critical acclaim and garnered several awards. [3] When SeaChange ended in 2000, Armstrong continued on with her theatre work and also appeared in Lantana , the award-winning Ray Lawrence film also starring Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey, Geoffrey Rush, Glenn Robbins and Vince Colosimo.

Armstrong won the Inside Film (IF) Award, Film Critics Circle of Australia Award and the AFI Award for her Lantana performance. In the same year she won another AFI award, for the final season of SeaChange, making her the second actress to win two AFI awards in one year. [3] The first had been Sacha Horler for her 1998 Lead Role in Praise and 1999 Supporting Role in Soft Fruit awarded in 1999. [15]

In 2002, Armstrong joined the cast of medico-legal drama MDA on ABC alongside Jason Donovan and Shane Bourne. However, she left the series at the end of its second season. In the series her character, Dr Ella Davis, left the firm that was the focus of the show. After MDA, Armstrong appeared in films One Perfect Day , Oyster Farmer , [2] Virus, Car Pool and Razzle Dazzle. On 10 May 2008 ABC-TV started screening a six-part series Bed of Roses with Armstrong in the lead role as Louisa Atherton. [16] [17] In 2008 she appeared in the film Reservations. In 2010, Bed of Roses returned for a second season on the ABC followed by a third and final season in 2011. In the same year she starred in the short film, The Forgotten Men, alongside Jack Thompson and Gyton Grantley. 2016 saw Armstrong return to Australian screens in the series The Wrong Girl for Network Ten.

In 2024, Armstrong was announced as part of the cast for STAN Australia Christmas movie Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story. [18]

Author

Armstrong wrote a self-help book, The Circles, released on 1 November 2003. [19] She described the book as a practical exercise in empowering people. [20] In May 2008, Armstrong told the Herald Sun the book's US publisher, Beyond Words, had received a call from a large book club in the US which wanted 21,000 copies of the book. [5]

Her second book, Fool on the Hill, released in March 2006, [21] is about the nature of personality. [6] A travel guide, Newcomer's Handbook for New York City was co-edited with Belden Merims in 1996. [22]

Public profile

Armstrong has worked with several charitable organisations including Childwise, [6] Big hART, [23] and Cure for Life Foundation which sponsors research into brain tumour treatments. [6] [24] In 2006, she represented Cure for Life in season five of Dancing with the Stars . [4] Armstrong and dance partner, Christopher Ryan, were the third couple eliminated from the show. [25]

Armstrong has publicly opposed the War in Iraq, and in protest, sat on the steps of the Victorian Parliament in a purple bra to draw attention to her cause. [6]

In October 2008 Armstrong appeared as the face of a "myth-busting" advertising campaign for Coca-Cola Amatil, created by the agency Singleton Ogilvy & Mather. [26] Titled "Kerry Armstrong on Motherhood and Myth Busting", the print advertisement purported to correct "myths and conjecture" about Coca-Cola drink products. Claiming her three boys called her "Mum, the myth buster", Armstrong rejected suggestions that Coca-Cola "rots your teeth", "makes you fat" and is "packed with caffeine". [27]

In April 2009, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commissioner ruled that the Coca-Cola advertisements in which Armstrong appeared were misleading. The ACCC's chairman, Graeme Samuel, said, "Coke's messages were totally unacceptable, creating an impression which is likely to mislead that Coca-Cola cannot contribute to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay". [28]

Personal life

Armstrong was born in Melbourne in 1958. In 1981, Armstrong was briefly married to Australian Crawl's rhythm guitarist Brad Robinson. [8] Under the advice of her US agent and with Robinson's consent, she married friend, Alexander Bernstein (son of Leonard Bernstein), in order to resolve visa issues and allow her to work in the United States. [5] In 1990, she married writer-producer Mac Gudgeon [5] when their son was three months old, The marriage to Gudgeon ended and in 1996 she married builder Mark Croft and they have twin sons. [5] [6] Armstrong and Croft separated in 2001. [5] As of 2008, she lived with her three sons in the Yarra Valley. [5]

Awards

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1977 The Getting of Wisdom KateFeature film
1979The Franky Doyle StoryLynn WarnerTV film
1980 Cornflakes for Tea CherryTV film
1985 Key Exchange The BeautyFeature film US
1988 Grievous Bodily Harm AnnieFeature film
1991 Hunting Michelle HarrisFeature film
1995 The Good Looker Documentary
1997Heart Of FireSue TuckerTV film US
1997 Amy Sarah TrendleFeature film
1998DenialMotherShort
1998JusticeAnnie MartinFeature film
1999TakenSophiaFilm short
2001 Lantana Sonja ZatFeature film
2002Lost In OzAlex's Mother (uncredited)TV movie US
2004 One Perfect Day Carolyn MatisseFeature film
2004 Oyster Farmer TrishFeature film
2004A Hard Place(voice)Short
2005VirusLillium DoubleheartShort
2005Mind the GapOlivia KeeleyShort
2006WobbegongPaula / MumShort
2006Car PoolMrs. LondonShort
2007 Razzle Dazzle Justine MorganFeature film
2008ReservationsHellenFeature film US
2011The Forgotten MenMotherFilm short
2015 Pawno Jennifer MontgomeryFeature film
2017 2:22 CatherineFeature film US
2019 Two Heads Creek MaryFeature film
2020 The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee EllaFeature film
2024Nugget is Dead: A Christmas StoryTBAFeature film

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1974 Marion Elizabeth AndrewsTV miniseries, 4 episodes
1976 The Sullivans WinniTV series
1978, 1979 Cop Shop Marlene Anderson / Angela ClarkTV series, 2 episodes (guest roles)
1979 Prisoner Lynn WarnerTV series, season 1, 44 episodes (regular role)
1980 Water Under the Bridge DoraTV miniseries, 1 episode: "1.8"
1980 Skyways Angela MurrayTV series, 49 episodes (regular role)
1981Together TonightCo-hostTV series
1984 The Edge of Night Tess McAdamsTV series, 24 episodes
1984 Tales from the Darkside Elaine Anderson HallTV series, 1 episode: "Slippage"
1984 Murder, She Wrote Irina KatsaTV series, 1 episode: "Death Takes a Curtain Call"
1985-1986 Dynasty Elena, Duchess of Branagh TV series, 7 episodes (recurring role)
1988 Australians: Mary McKillop MatronTV miniseries, 1 episode
1988Barlow and Chambers: A Long Way from Home (aka Dadah Is Death )Shawn BurtonTV miniseries; 2 episodes
1989 American Playhouse Eve LummisTV series, 1 episode
1989-1991 Police Rescue Des McClintockTV series (recurring role)
1990 Come In Spinner Deb ForrestTV miniseries, 2 episodes
1993 All Together Now Beth SumnerTV series, 17 episodes (regular role)
1993-1994 Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left Officer JadyTV series, 13 episodes (regular role)
1994 High Tide ValerieTV series, 1 episode: "Beauty's Only Skin Deep"
1994-1995 Ocean Girl Dr. Dianne BatesTV series, season 1–2, 26 episodes (lead role)
1995 Blue Heelers Sandy FieldingTV series, 1 episode: "Shadow Man"
1996 Halifax f.p. Fiona HolmesTV film series, 1 episode: "Sweet Dreams"
1997The Making of Special: '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea'Lydia RawlingsTV special
1997 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Lydia RawlingsTV miniseries, 2 episodes
1998-2000; 2019 SeaChange Heather JellyTV series, seasons 1–4 (regular role)
2000 Eugénie Sandler P.I. Sylvia"1.4"
2002-2003 MDA Dr. Louella DavisTV series (lead role)
2008-11 Bed of Roses Louisa AthertonTV series, seasons 1–3 (lead role)
2016-17 The Wrong Girl Mimi WoodwordTV series (lead role)
2018-20 Neighbours Heather Schilling TV series (recurring role)
2019 SeaChange Heather JellyTV series, 13 episodes
2019-2021 Frayed JeanTV series, season 1-2, 12 episodes (support role)
2020-2022Grey NomadsElla RoucheTV series, 12 episodes
2021 Spreadsheet CarolTV series, 4 episodes
2022 Joe vs. Carole TV miniseries, 1 episode
2022 Darby And Joan SummerTV miniseries, 2 episode
2022The Queen and UsNarratorTV special UK

Self appearances

YearTitleRoleNotes
2022 This Is Your Life: Rebecca Gibney Herself - GuestTV series, 1 episode
ABC 90 Celebrate!HerselfTV special
2020 News Breakfast HerselfTV series, 1 episode
2019 Today Extra HerselfTV series, 1 episode
Studio 10 HerselfTV series, 1 episode
2018 Show Me the Movie! HerselfTV series, 1 episode
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here HerselfTV series, 31 episodes
2006-2007 Dancing with the Stars Herself - Audience memberTV series, 6 episodes
2007 9am with David & Kim Guest hostTV series, 1 episode
2007-2010 20 to One HerselfTV series, 10 episodes
2003 Australian Story HerselfTV series, 1 episode
2003 Australian Film Institute Awards Herself - PresenterTV special
2004 George Negus Tonight Herself - GuestTV series, 1 episode
The Making of 'One Perfect Day'HerselfVideo
Oyster Farmer: Cast and Crew InterviewsHerselfVideo
Oyster Farmer: Deleted and Extended ScenesHerselfVideo
2001 Rove Live HerselfTV series, 1 episode
The Big SchmoozeHerselfTV series, 1 episode
The 43rd Annual TV Week Logie Awards Herself - AudienceTV special
1999 Today Tonight HerselfTV series, 1 episode
1999; 2000 Denise HerselfTV series, 1 episode
1999LawsHerselfTV series, 1 episode
The Panel HerselfTV series, 4 episodes
1993-2005 Good Morning Australia HerselfTV series
1989 The Bert Newton Show Guest (with John Savage (Hunting)TV series, 1 episode
1980 Hey Hey It's Saturday Herself in comedy sketchTV series, 1 episode

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References

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