Kerry Armstrong is a well-known Australian actress who is best known for her incredible flexibility within roles. She is the only actor to date to win two awards in one year at that Australian Film Institute Awards.

Biography

Armstrong was born in Sydney on 3rd January 1958 and had various stints on television in the 1970s including a role in the first episodes of Prisoner. She briefly emigrated to the United States in the 1980s and had a role on Dynasty as Duchess Elena.

In the early 1990s, Armstrong did more television series in Australia included Ocean Girl , All Together Now and Halfway Across The Galaxy And Turn Left .

It was in 1998 that she finally received her much-warranted recognition when she joined the cast of SeaChange as Heather Jelly, the ever-devoted wife of the corrupt local mayor Bob. When the series ended in 2000, she continued on with her theatre work but 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 . She won an Australian Film Institute award for Best Actress, among many other awards..

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. However, the series was not renewed for a third season despite its success.

In 2004, however, ABC announced that they would make three mini-series to continue the show. Rumours abound that Armstrong, along with Donovan and Bourne, will be back but nothing has yet been confirmed. Armstrong also recently appeared in the movie One Perfect Day.

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.

Armstrong's film The Oyster Farmer premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2004.

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