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 is a US-born Australian documentary filmmaker, writer, oral historian, and educator. Ansara was one of the first women in Australia to work as a cinematographer, and a founding member and/or convenor of the Sydney Women's Film G ...
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 (; an abbreviation of Australian Sign Language) is the sign language used by the majority of the Australian Deaf community. Auslan is related to British Sign Language (BSL) and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL); the three have descended f ...
(Australian Sign Language). She attended the
Australian Theatre for Young People
Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is the flagship youth theatre company located in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1963 by Eleanor Witcombe.
History
The first committee was formed in 1963 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) is a performing arts school in Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1980, it is notable for being the most comprehensive performing arts school in Aus ...
.
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.
Histo ...
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 industr ...
(now AACTA Awards) and the 2002
Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards
The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of film criticism, cinema critics and film review, reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and fr ...
.
After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Ansara starred in ''