Amy Mathews (born 29 March 1979) is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She is best known for her role as Rachel Armstrong in Australian soap opera ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...

''.

Early life

Mathews was born in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, but has spent most of her life in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. She was offered a scholarship at The University of the Arts in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, US, which she completed. She then enrolled in and completed a full time acting course at Actors Centre Australia in Sydney, where she met fellow ''

'' actor Jon Sivewright, who plays Tony Holden, her husband on the show. Before landing her full time role on ''

'', Mathews waited tables to pay the bills between acting jobs.

Career

Mathews became involved with the Bell Shakespeare Company. She performed as part of the "Actors at Work" program, touring high schools in Australia and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Her passion for theatre, saw her feature in a 2003 production of ''Cigarettes and Chocolate and Other Hang Ups''. Her other early theatre credits include ''Tracked'', ''Push Up 1-3'', ''Chicom'', ''Orange Flower Water'' and ''Transparency''. Mathews made her on-screen acting debut in 2001, when she had a guest appearance in the short-lived television series '' Head Start''. Following this, she landed roles in several other television series including '' Always Greener'', ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted th ...

'', ''

Love Bytes ''Love Bytes'' is an Australian anthology series which premiered on the Fox8 subscription television channel in 2004. The series follows the lives and exploits of people involved in electronic dating. The series also screened on UKTV. Episode ...

'', '' All Saints'' and the British series '' Jeopardy''. Mathews then played the role of doctor and psychiatrist Rachel Armstrong on long-running soap opera ''

'', from the first episode of the 2006 season until 2010 when she departed the show to pursue new projects. The role of Rachel won Mathews the Logie Award for Most Popular New Female Talent in 2007. Following ''

'', Mathews made guest appearances in ''

Packed to the Rafters ''Packed to the Rafters'' is an Australian family-oriented comedy drama television program which premiered on the Seven Network on Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 8:30 pm. The show continued on Tuesdays in this timeslot for its entire run. The dr ...

'', '' Rescue: Special Ops'' and ''

Crownies ''Crownies'' is an Australian television drama series which was originally broadcast on ABC1 from 14 July until 1 December 2011. The series revolves around a group of solicitors fresh from law school, working with Crown Prosecutors, who are t ...

'', the latter starring her former ''

'' co-stars

Todd Lasance Todd James Lasance (born 18 February 1985) is an Australian actor, best recognised for his roles in Australian television including Aden Jefferies on ''Home and Away'', Cam Jackson on '' Rescue: Special Ops'', Ben McMahon on '' Crownies'' and M ...

and

Indiana Evans Indiana Rose Evans (born 27 July 1990) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' as Matilda Hunter, '' H2O: Just Add Water'' as Bella Hartley, and '' Blue Lagoon: The Awakening'' as Emmaline Robinson. Early li ...

. In 2007, Mathews starred in the Australian film ''

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

''. In August 2023, Mathews joined the cast of the

courtroom drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...

series, '' The Twelve'' for its second season, in the role of Sasha Price. Her most recently screen appearance was in a 2025 episode of '' NCIS: Sydney'', once again opposite

. Mathews' other theatre credits include ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' (2011–2012), ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunke ...

'' (2011–2012), ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' (2012–2013), ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play ...

'' (2012–2013) and ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' (2013) with Sport for Jove. She appeared in ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

'' (2014) and ''The Anzac Project'' (2015) for the

Ensemble Theatre The Ensemble Theatre is an Australian theatre company and theatre, situated in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli, New South Wales. History It is Australia's longest continuously running professional theatre group, having given its first perfor ...

. She also performed in ''Coma Land'' (2017), '' Toast'' (2017), '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' (2018/2020) and ''Water'' (2019) for

Black Swan Theatre Company Black Swan State Theatre Company, formerly known as the Black Swan Theatre Company, is Western Australia's state theatre company. It runs an annual subscription season in Perth, Western Australia, Perth at the State Theatre Centre of Western A ...

winning a Blue Room Award for ''Toast'' and a Performing Arts WA Award for '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll''. In 2024 and 2025, she has appeared in '' August: Osage County'', for Black Swan. Mathews has also starred in TV commercials. She has an interest in writing and directing, runs her own blog and studies surface design.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards

References

External links

Official site
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at RTÉ.ie {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathews, Amy 1979 births Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses Living people Logie Award winners University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni