FILMOGRAPHY
2004] Oyster Farmer
2004] One Perfect Day
2002-03] "MDA"
2001] Lantana
1998-00]"SeaChange"
1998] Justice
1998] Amy
1997] 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1997] Heart of Fire (TV)
1996] Halifax fp: Sweet Dreams (TV)
1994-95] "Ocean Girl"
1992-93] "All Together Now"
1992] "Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left"
1991] Hunting
1990] Come in Spinner (TV)
1988] Dadah Is Death (TV)
1988] Grievous Bodily Harm
1985-86] "Dynasty"
1985] Key Exchange
1981] "Cornflakes for Tea"
1979] "Prisoner"
1979] "Skyways"
1977] The Getting of Wisdom
1976] "The Sullivans"
1974] "Marion"
LINKS
Born 1958 in Sydney,
Kerry's the mother of three boys - a 12-year-old and six-year-old twins.
Her first stage appearance was with Sid James in 'The Mating Season' followed
by her first feature, Bruce Beresford’s 'The Getting of Wisdom'.
Kerry started out
as a TV weather girl in the 1970s.
On television she appeared in 'Prisoner', 'Skyways' and 'The Sullivans'
before heading to the USA to study with Uta Hagen (the creator of Martha
in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf) at the HB Studios in New York having
received a scholarship. Kerry was chosen to play Ophelia by Anthony Hopkins
in his workshop of 'Hamlet' and was then asked to play Isabella in 'Measure
for Measure' at the Arena Stage in Washington.
Contracted by Universal Studios, Kerry starred in 'Murder She Wrote' with
Angela Lansbury and 'Dynasty'.
In 1985 she joined a core of group actors including Tim Robbins, Helen
Hunt, Anthony Edwards and John Cusack to form the Actors Gang. The group
performed their highly acclaimed production 'Methusalem Violence and Others'
in both Los Angeles and New York.
On her return to Australia in 1989, Kerry began a prolific body of work
including for stage 'Talley Folley' for The Playbox, Dostoevsky’s
'The Idiot' at Theatreworks and 'I’m Not Rappaport' with Warren Mitchell
at the Melbourne Theatre Company.
in 2001 Kerry won 2 AFI awards - for her performance in the much-loved
ABC drama series 'Sea Change' and for her leading role in the hit Australian
movie 'Lantana'. In doing so, she became the first actress in Australian
history to win the 'Best Performance by an Actress' award in both the
feature film and television categories in the same year.
She works with "teenagers at risk" - the homeless, the drug-addicted,
the lonely and the abused. "I'm not a bleeding heart," she insists.
"I just want to be of use."
In October 2002 at Federation Square, Armstrong laid down on a bed as
part of the kNOT@Home Project for the Melbourne Festival. The aim was
to raise awareness of the 26,000 young homeless people in Australia, and
to encourage the public to make contact with isolated people.
Kerry on using her fame:
"The notion of being in the public eye just to be seen is, to me,
abhorrent. I really think it's complete farce. But the notion of being
in the public eye for a reason, and that is to shine a light on something
much greater than myself, much greater than Kerry Armstrong's life, then
that to me is of use. And that makes me happy."
Kerry on the idea
of celebrity:
"No one has ever asked anyone in the public eye if the tag celebrity
fits. It doesn't fit me, not even one iota. It's really creepy. It's like
a vine that pervades, and you have to work out whether you cut yourself
out from it, or just take heart, put roots down and stand there, waiting
until it goes away, or wondering if it ever will."
Kerry on the Australian
Film Industry:
"I think the saddest thing is that to get a film up without an American
star is very difficult. On a good day, it's the world stage, and we're
having a wonderful cultural exchange. On a very bad day, there are some
great female film roles going to US actors. We're constantly undervaluing
ourselves. We've sold out, and if we don't celebrate what we've got, we're
not celebrating who we are, and so there's no growth. We're at the end
of that, and we can start telling stories again that are not ideas of
what we think we should do."
Kerry on what she
looks for in a script:
"I just know. I knew it with Heather Jelly (SeaChange), with Sonja (Lantana)
and Trish (Oyster Farmer). It's about authenticity; it's instinctual.
I believe their story and can't wait to tell it. You know who they are,
and you know you get it right when you know when they're lying to themselves.
I really like that, and knew that with Sonja."
2002 Nominated for an AFI Award Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television
Drama for: "MDA" (2002) & in 1990 Nominated for an AFI Award
Best Actress in a Lead Role for: Hunting (1991)
2002 Won FCCA Award Best Actress for: Lantana (2001) & nominated twice
for Seachange in 2000 & 2001 for a silver logie for Most Outstanding
Actress in a Series picking up the win in 2001.
In January 2003 Kerry launched a new website called "One Voice For
Peace" with fellow Australian actors Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Gibney
- an online, pro-active expression of the desire for peace in the world
in these troubled times. Visit the site at http://www.onevoiceforpeace.org