BIOGRAPHY

Following a successful career spanning athlete/event management, publishing and corporate law in Australia, I returned to acting in 2014 after training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.

My debut on BBC One in the BAFTA Scotland award-winning television series, Armchair Detectives playing the role of Emma Kean in Episode 11 (School's Out for Murder) was closely followed by a Queen Palm International Best Supporting Actress Award for my role as Emily Moore in Sheltered.

Combining voice over work with acting, I have had the good fortune to work in a variety of independent short films, feature films and voice over campaigns and in December 2019 I brought the character Holly Christmas to life, specifically to raise funds for the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.

But my very first stage appearance was at the age of 3 and it was love at first sight...of the audience!  Throughout my childhood I performed with a children's theatre group and one summer successfully auditioned for a place in the Scottish Youth Theatre (Glasgow, Scotland).  This was the turning point as it gave me the confidence and inspiration to start auditioning for television roles and, after the requisite number of knock-backs, I got my first break on Dramarama's Silver (ITV) featuring Gareth Thomas and directed by Jim McCann, which led to a minor role on Take the High Road (STV) throughout 1986.

A career change for my parents took me to the other side of the world, first to New Zealand where I studied and qualified with a Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University of Wellington, and 4 years later to Australia where I began my corporate career and also studied and qualified with a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney.

If I was relocating to New Zealand now my acting career may have been able to continue given the phenomenal success of Sir Peter Jackson et al, but in the late '80s the New Zealand film industry was small-scale and the closest I got to it was flatting with Christian River's sister (Christian was at that time a story board artist on Sir Peter's zombie film Dead Alive).

I have no regrets, though, as I loved working as a lawyer and I was very fortunate to be offered some amazing opportunities in other commercial areas including event management, athlete management and publishing.

I would never have been given the chance to do these amazing things if life had worked out as I had originally planned and anyway, as the old Scottish saying goes, “Whit's fur ye'll no go by ye”!

And as Michelle Yeoh reminded us all during her acceptance speech for Best Actress at the 2023 Oscars ‘…don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime.’