Alice Ansara is an Australian actress and dramaturg who works in film, television and theatre.

Background

Ansara is the daughter of documentary filmmaker,

Martha Ansara Martha Ansara (born 9 September 1942) is a documentary filmmaker whose films on social issues have won international prizes and been screened in Australia, the UK, Europe and North America. Ansara was one of the first women in Australia to work a ...

and Master Builder Bill Ethell. Ansara began working as an actor as a child and also traveled in Australia whilst her mother made films. In her teens, she spent time in Colombia, South America, becoming fluent in Spanish. Ansara also signs

Auslan Auslan () is the majority sign language of the Australian Deaf community. The term ''Auslan'' is a portmanteau of "Australian Sign Language", coined by Trevor Johnston in the 1980s, although the language itself is much older. Auslan is relat ...

(Australian Sign Language). She attended the

Australian Theatre for Young People Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is a not-for-profit national youth theatre company located in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1964 by Eleanor Witcombe. History The first committee was formed in 1964 and ...

in Sydney and later trained at the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

. She is the mother of two children, Mavis and Esther.

Career

Ansara's first significant role was as young Cathy Ann in the award-winning Australian telemovie ''Breaking Through''. She continued to work professionally across film and television into her adolescence. Before finishing high school, Ansara landed the lead role of Lucia in the 2001 Australian movie '' La Spagnola'', which debuted at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Hist ...

and garnered her Best Actress nominations at the 2001

Australian Film Institute Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television indust ...

(now AACTA Awards) and the 2002

Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

. After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Ansara starred in '' Rosebery 7470'' for which she won a Best Actress Award at the 2006

Melbourne Underground Film Festival The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) is an Austalian independent film festival featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material. History The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreeme ...

. She also began working in theatre, including with leading Australian companies:

Sydney Theatre Company Sydney Theatre Company (STC) is an Australian theatre company based in Sydney, New South Wales. The company performs in The Wharf Theatre at Dawes Point in The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Roslyn Packer Theatre (formerly Sydney Thea ...

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Green. Artistic direct ...

, Monkey Baa Theatre and

Bell Shakespeare Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare, his contemporaries and other classics. It is based in Sydney. The Bell Shakespeare vision is to create theatre that allows audiences of all wal ...

. In 2009 Ansara was chosen by Artistic Directors

Cate Blanchett Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received n ...

and

Andrew Upton Andrew Upton (born 1 February 1966) is an Australian playwright, screenwriter and director. He has adapted the works of Gorky, Chekhov, Ibsen and others for London's Royal National Theatre and the Sydney Theatre Company. He wrote the original p ...

as one of nine actors in the Sydney Theatre Company's acting ensemble known as "The Residents". Ansara was part of the core cast of the TV comedy series '' Bogan Pride'', playing

Rebel Wilson Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing as Tou ...

's best friend Nigella. She has played various characters, including Lamees, in the first two seasons of

Nazeem Hussain Nazeem Hussain (born 21 April 1985) is an Australian comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. He is best known as creator and star of two television comedy shows, ''Legally Brown'' (2013-14) and ''Orange Is the New Brown'' (2018). His ...

's television sketch comedy ''

Legally Brown ''Legally Brown'' was an Australian comedy television series screened on SBS from 2013 to 2014. It presented a take on being Muslim in Australia. The ten-part series was hosted and co-written by Nazeem Hussain and produced by Johnny Lowry. It ...

''. She has been a member of

Actors Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

since 1989 and has served on the Management Committee of the Actors Benevolent Fund. Ansara has directed two short documentaries in Auslan for The Deaf Society of NSW, including ''Jacobs Story'', commissioned by the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

. She has also served as a member of the Society's Centenary History sub-committee in the creation of the website ''Deaf in New South Wales: a Community History''. In 2013 she received a Mike Walsh Fellowship to study deaf theatre practices in Scandinavia. Ansara is a member of the Film & Broadcast Industries Oral History Group associated with Australia's

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national c ...

for whom she records oral histories of Australian actors.

Filmography

Theatre

Radio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansara, Alice Actresses from Sydney Australian film actresses Australian television actresses Living people Year of birth missing (living people)