Emily Barclay (born 24 October 1984) is an English-born, New Zealander and Australian
AFI award winning actress.
Career
Emily Barclay was born in
Plymouth to a
General practitioner and a landscape designer, and raised in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, where she went to an all-girls school and attended Saturday morning drama classes. At the age of nine, Barclay played
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
in a school production and decided to become an actress.
[ At the age of 13, she got herself an agent and supported herself between TV movies by working in a video store.
Diana Rowan (the same casting agent who discovered ]Anna Paquin
Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film '' The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the ...
, and Keisha Castle-Hughes
Keisha Castle-Hughes (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand actress who rose to prominence for playing Paikea "Pai" Apirana in the film '' Whale Rider''. She was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Bes ...
) discovered Barclay in a school play and cast her as Celia in 2004's '' In My Father's Den'', that raised the actress to prominence. For that film, Barclay won Most Promising Newcomer at the 2005 British Independent Film Awards
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...
. She followed by moving to Australia – while continuing part-time with her degree in English and gender studies at the University of Auckland – for a role in the critically acclaimed 2006 crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...
'' Suburban Mayhem'' directed by Paul Goldman, for which she collected an AFI Award for Best Actress.
Barclay's performance also lead to an invitation to her first stage performance, on Neil Armfield's 2009 production of '' Gethsemane'' in Sydney. Armfield later indicated Barclay to Lee Lewis
Lee Lewis is an Australian theatre director.
Early life and education
Lewis trained as an actor at Columbia University in New York. Returning to Australia, she completed a Masters of Directing at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) ...
, who cast her in the play '' That Face''.The Seagull
''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises th ...
'', and acted opposite Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy Award, a Primetime Em ...
in the Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...
's ''The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
''. In 2012, Barclay performed opposite Hollywood actors Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears'' and portraying a young Chuck B ...
and Kieran Culkin
Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...
in ''This Is Our Youth
''This Is Our Youth'' is a play by American dramatist and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 and since been produced all over the world, including the West End, Broadway Sydney and Toronto.
Plot
The play takes pla ...
'', returned to Belvoir with ''Strange Interlude
''Strange Interlude'' is an experimental play in nine acts by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill began work on it as early as 1923 and developed its scenario in 1925; he wrote the play between May 1926 and the summer of 1927, and complete ...
'' and debuted at London's Young Vic performing on '' Three Sisters''.
Barclay is currently represented by United Agents.
Barclay also starred in the music video "Big Jet Plane" by Angus & Julia Stone which was directed by Kiku Ohe in 2010.
She has cited her favourite actor as being Ewen Leslie.
Animal rights
The actress has had an active involvement in animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...
, working with the organisation Save Animals From Exploitation in anti-cruelty campaigns, including having posters put in her room in ''In My Fathers Den''; she is a vegan.
In 2006, Barclay became an ambassador for Australian animal rights group Voiceless, the animal protection institute
Voiceless is an independent, non-profit animal protection charity based in Sydney, Australia. According to its mission statement, Voiceless's vision is for a world in which animals are treated with respect and compassion.
Voiceless was founde ...
. "I'm not against people who eat meat but I'd like them to know what happens in factory farms where highly intelligent animals live horrific lives."
Filmography
Film
Television
, 2022
, '' Wolf Like Me''
, charlotte
, TV series
Stage
References
External links
*
Filmography at Karen Kay ManagementEmily Barclay in the SAFE 2007 Calendar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Emily
1984 births
Living people
20th-century New Zealand actresses
21st-century New Zealand actresses
New Zealand child actresses
New Zealand film actresses
English emigrants to New Zealand
New Zealand television actresses
Actors from Auckland
Actors from Devon
New Zealand expatriates in England
Best Actress AACTA Award winners