Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 15 March 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse Ellen Crozier on the

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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

''. She is best known for six seasons of playing Cheryl West, matriarch to a sometimes criminal working-class family in the television series '' Outrageous Fortune'', Kirsty Corella in the Australian television series ''

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'', Julie Wheeler in '' Upper Middle Bogan'' and Marina Baxter in '' The Code''.

Early life and education

Malcolm was born in Ashburton, and attended Ashburton College, and graduated from Toi Whakaari (New Zealand Drama School) with a Diploma in Acting in 1987. She won an International Actors Fellowship at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and ...

in London for 2003.

Career

Malcolm's first long-running television role was nurse Ellen Crozier in soap opera ''

''. She appeared on the show for five years and was nominated for Best Actress at the 1998 TV Guide Television Awards. She was nominated again for her lead role in television feature, ''Clare'', based on the cervical cancer experiment at Auckland's National Women's Hospital which resulted in the Cartwright Inquiry. In 1999, Malcolm was one of the founding members of the New Zealand Actors' Company along with Tim Balme, Katie Wolfe and Simon Bennett. The company produced and toured a number of successful stage productions throughout New Zealand. In 2005, Malcolm took on the role of Cheryl West, matriarch of the West family, in '' Outrageous Fortune''. Mixing comedy and drama, the show became one of the highest rating and awarded in New Zealand history. Malcolm won NZ television awards for the role including the Qantas TV Awards for Best Actress in 2005 and 2008, TV Guide Best Actress in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and Air NZ Screen Awards Best Actress in 2007 Malcolm won the

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Readers' Choice Award for Favourite New Zealand Female Personality in 2005, and New Zealand's sexiest woman at the 2007 TV Guide Best on the Box awards. Malcolm co-starred in 2010 feature film ''The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell'', playing mother to a family obsessed with go-karting and motorsports. She has also had small roles in movies ''

Absent Without Leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ar ...

'' directed by John Laing, ''

The Last Tattoo ''The Last Tattoo'' is a 1994 feature film set in World War II, Wellington, New Zealand. Plot During World War II Wellington, New Zealand has U.S. servicemen mingling with the local female population. In such circumstances Kelly Towne, a p ...

'' directed by John Reid, Gaylene Preston's '' Perfect Strangers'', and Christine Jeffs' ''Sylvia''. She had a minor role as Morwen in the second film of the '' Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. In the

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

, Malcolm was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to television and theatre.

Filmography

Films

Television

Theatre

Personal life

Malcolm has two sons. Her sister is married to Roger Sutton, the former CEO of the

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA; Māori: ''Te Mana Haumanu ki Waitaha'') was the public service department of New Zealand charged with coordinating the rebuild of Christchurch and the surrounding areas following the 22 Februa ...

Activism

Malcolm voiced

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisationa ...

advertisements for the New Zealand general election, 2008. Malcolm has helped spearhead an actors' union campaign to negotiate standard contracts for actors in ''The Hobbit'' films. The producers refused, saying that collective bargaining would be considered price-fixing and therefore illegal under New Zealand law. The situation escalated into international calls for an actors' boycott of the films, but the boycott was called off. Several days later, the producers said they were considering moving the films to another country as they could not be guaranteed stability in New Zealand. In response, the ruling National Party made several controversial changes to New Zealand's employment laws, and passed legislation explicitly controlling people working on the Hobbit movies.

References

External links

*
New Zealand Listener – Cheryl and me

Biography at Johnson and Laird

Robyn's profile
an
ScreenTalk interview
August 2009. Requires

Flash video Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content (e.g., TV shows, movies, etc.) over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There ...

software (53.6 MB). {{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Robyn 1965 births Living people New Zealand film actresses New Zealand television actresses New Zealand soap opera actresses Toi Whakaari alumni People from Ashburton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses People educated at Ashburton College Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit