Alice Ansara

Ansara is the daughter of documentary filmmaker, Martha Ansara 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 (Australian Sign Language). She attended the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney and later trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.^{[1][citation needed]}

She is the mother of two children, Mavis and Esther.^[2]

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,^[3][4] which debuted at the Sydney Film Festival and garnered her Best Actress nominations at the 2001 Australian Film Institute Awards^[5] (now AACTA Awards) and the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.^[6]

After graduating from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Ansara starred in Rosebery 7470^[7] for which she won a Best Actress Award at the 2006 Melbourne Underground Film Festival.^{[citation needed]} She also began working in theatre, including with leading Australian companies: Sydney Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, Monkey Baa Theatre and Bell Shakespeare. In 2009 Ansara was chosen by Artistic Directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as one of nine actors in the Sydney Theatre Company's acting ensemble known as "The Residents".^[8]

Ansara was part of the core cast of the TV comedy series Bogan Pride,^[9] playing Rebel Wilson's best friend Nigella. She has played various characters, including Lamees, in the first two seasons of Nazeem Hussain's television sketch comedy Legally Brown.^{[10][citation needed]}

She has been a member of Actors Equity since 1989 and has served on the Management Committee of the Actors Benevolent Fund.^[11]

Ansara has directed two short documentaries in Auslan for The Deaf Society of NSW, including Jacobs Story,^[12] commissioned by the Australian Human Rights Commission. 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.^[13] In 2013 she received a Mike Walsh Fellowship^[14] 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 for whom she records oral histories of Australian actors.^[15]

As a radio presenter and podcaster Alice moved from the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to host the Saturday breakfast program for ABC South East NSW.^[16][17]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Gino	Girl
1997	She’s Not Very Beautiful	Jane (lead)	Short film
	The One That Got Away	Maria (lead)	Short film
2000	La Spagnola	Lucia (lead)	Feature film Best Actress Nomination at AFI Awards, FCCC Awards
2005	Rosebery 7470	Alison (lead)	Won Best Actress Award at MUFF Awards
2006	Meditations on a Name	Wattle (lead)	Short film
2007	Sexy, Single, Bilingual	Zoya (lead)	Short film
2008	The Ballad of Betty & Joe	Betty (lead)	Short film
	The Ladies Lounge	Layla (lead)	Short film Won Queer Perspective Award at Sydney Queer Film Festival
2010	Nude Study	Alison
2014	Shock Room	Lana	Documentary film Won Best Feature Documentary at Antenna Documentary Film Festival
2016	Video Report	Susie (lead)
2017	Deep Storage	Sylvia (lead)	Short film Won Audience Award for Best Short Film at Bentonville Film Festival
	Beyond the Bubble	Denise	Short film
2018	Judy and Punch	Alice	Feature film

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Breaking Through	Young Ann	TV movie
	Death Duties	Sophie
1997	The Teenage Guide to Popularity	Amy
2007	All Saints	Detective Grant
2008	Bogan Pride	Nigella
2010	My Place	Mrs Stockton	Anthology series
2013–2014	Legally Brown	Lamees / various	Season 1–2
2015	Moonman	Mum
2017	Newton's Law	Carla
2019	Doctor Doctor	Green Annie
2023	Bump	Convenor
2024	Black Snow	Mandy Neilson
2026	Dustfall	TBA	Miniseries

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