Kerry Armstrong
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Kerry Armstrong (b. 3 January 1958, Sydney) is a well-known Australian actress who is best known for her incredible flexibility within roles. She is only one of two actors to date to win two awards in one year at the Australian Film Institute Awards.
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[edit] Biography
Armstrong was a frequent face on Australian television in the 1970s and early 1980s, in both acting and presenting roles. She initially appeared as a weather girl, and then tackled a dramatic acting role, appearing as a key original character Lynne Warner in Network Ten prison drama Prisoner. Initially planned to last just 16 episodes, the series was continued and so was Armstrong's role, and she ultimately appeared in the show's first 44 episodes. She then switched to an on-going role in drama series Skyways. In 1981 she co-hosted the Network Ten series Together Tonight with Greg Evans.
As was common among Australian actors of the time, Armstrong emigrated to the United States in 1981. There she studied at the Herbert Berghof acting school in New York City. Whilst there, she starred in Tom Stoppard's "Dalliance", had an on-going role in daytime serial One Life to Live, and became part of the 'Actor's Gang' along with John Cusack and her boyfriend at the time, Tim Robbins. After working in the groups' plays - which she has stated were her favorite part of her time in America - Armstrong starred on Dynasty as Duchess Helena. She began receiving job offers - including a part on Saturday Night Live, and a three-picture deal, which she turned down.
In 1987, Armstrong's grandmother died and she returned to Australia, where she assumed that she would continue her rising career path. However, instead, she found less work in her native country than abroad. Around this time she met her third husband, Mac Gudgeon, with whom she had a son. They divorced a few years later.
In the early 1990s, Armstrong began acting in television series in Australia, including Police Rescue, Ocean Girl, All Together Now and Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left. However, after meeting builder Mark Croft and having twin boys with him, the lack of work - a problem that had been growing relatively common in the Australian industry - almost led her to quit acting.
This likely would have happened, had she not been offered a role in the cast of SeaChange in 1998, as Heather Jelly, the ever-devoted but long-suffering wife of corrupt local mayor Bob (John Howard). The role won her critical acclaim, mainstream attention and several awards.
When the series ended in 2000, Armstrong continued on with her theatre work and also led the cast of Lantana, the award winning Ray Lawrence film also starring Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey, Geoffrey Rush, Glenn Robbins and Vince Colosimo.
Not only did Armstrong win both the IF Award and the Australian Film Institute Award for this performance, but — the same year — she won another AFI, for final season of SeaChange, making her the second actress to win two AFI awards in one year (the first was Sacha Horler for Soft Fruit and Praise.
In 2002 she joined the cast of medico-legal drama MDA on ABC alongside Jason Donovan and Shane Bourne. However, the low wages of the Australian television industry meant that working on one television show was not viable enough and so Armstrong left the series at the end of its second season. In the series her character, Dr. Ella Davis, left the firm that was the focus of the show.
Armstrong's most recent role was a small part in the low-budget film The Oyster Farmer.
She currently resides in Eltham, Victoria. Her sons attend Eltham High School.
[edit] Relationship with the media
Armstrong has long been known for her outspoken personality. She works for several charity organizations, has publicly opposed the War in Iraq — in one instance sitting on the steps of the Victorian Parliament in a purple bra to gain attention.
On 29 August 2004, Armstrong gave an extraordinary interview to the Sunday Telegraph in which she attacked singer Kylie Minogue and actress Nicole Kidman and their contemporaries for damaging the Australian and international entertainment industries by lowering standards. Armstrong expressed disdain at the fact that the industry - particularly the Academy Awards - gave praise to beauty rather than talent, expressing scorn at Minogue, Kidman, and others such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Halle Berry; while expressing admiration for actors such as Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett. However, in a July 2005 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Armstrong claimed that she was misrepresented in that article.
[edit] Awards
- 1991 - Nominated - Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award - Best Actress - Hunting
- 2000 - Nominated - Logie Award - Outstanding Actress in TV Series - SeaChange
- 2001 - Winner - Logie Award - Outstanding Actress in TV Series - SeaChange
- 2001 - Winner - If Award - Best Actress - Lantana (shared with co-stars Barbara Hershey, Leah Purcell, Rachel Blake and Daniella Farinacci
- 2001 - Winner - AFI Award - Best Actress - Lantana
- 2001 - Winner - AFI Award - Best Actress (Television) - SeaChange
- 2002 - Winner - Film Critics Circle of Australia Award - Best Actress - Lantana
- 2002 - Nominated - AFI Award - Best Actress (Television) - MDA
