Alison Bruce

For the Australian field hockey player, see Alison Bruce (field hockey).
Alison Bruce
Born

1962 (age 5354)


Tanzania

Occupation Actress
Years active 1986 - present

Alison Bruce (born 1962) is a New Zealand television and movie actress, who starred in 1999 feature Magik and Rose. International viewers may know her for her parts in teen series Being Eve and guest roles on Xena: Warrior Princess.

Life and career

Bruce was born in Tanzania to a Scottish father and an English mother. Her family moved to New Zealand when she was around eight.[1] After training at Auckland's Theatre Corporate in the early 1980s, she began a busy acting career with stage roles that include starring in Hamlet (as Ophelia) and Cyrano de Bergerac (as Roxane).

Bruce made her screen debut in 1984 teleplay The Minders. Since then she has acted in more than 30 screen roles, including sizeable parts in two feature films: 1990 chase comedy User Friendly, in which her character steals a keenly-sought dog statue from a crazed former boss; and 2001 feature Magik and Rose, which Bruce later described as a turning point in terms of the type of roles she is offered.[2] The comedy-drama saw Bruce playing Magik, a fortune-teller who arrives in a Kiwi town in a house-truck, seeking the daughter she gave up for adoption many years before.

Bruce also acted in based-on-a-true-story feature The World's Fastest Indian (as a doctor) and short film Mon Desir, which was selected to play in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.

Television

Bruce's television roles include the eccentric mother of Eve, the main character in award-winning series Being Eve, and the hospital personal assistant who falls pregnant in Mercy Peak. The latter part would win Bruce two consecutive New Zealand television awards for best supporting actor. She also had a number of small roles on the Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys franchise, including playing an Amazon Queen (Queen Melosa). Bruce enjoyed the chance to take part in fight scenes, and "do all this stuff you normally don't get to do in television".[3]

More recently she played estranged mother to a family of gods in television series The Almighty Johnsons, and worked with New Zealand director Jane Campion on 2012 series Top of the Lake.

References

  1. "Alison Bruce". NZOnScreen.com. December 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  2. "Alison Bruce: on Being Eve, Hercules and Agnetha". NZOnScreen.com. February 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  3. "An Interview with Alison Bruce". Whoosh.org. May 1998. Retrieved 2 April 2012.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Heroes Glenda Episode: "2.2"
1987 Adventurer Sovay Banks TV movie
1990 User Friendly Augusta Feature Film
1990 Shark in the Park Christina Long Episode: "Fall from Grace"
1990 Star Runner TV movie
1990 An Angel at My Table Dora Mini-Series/Feature Film
1991 Mon Desir Short Film
1991 Old Scores Ngaire Morgan TV Movie
1991 End of the Golden Weather, TheThe End of the Golden Weather Auntie Kass Feature Film
1992 Rainbow Warrior, TheThe Rainbow Warrior Leslie Holbrook
1992 Alex Female Journalist Feature Film
1995 Xena: Warrior Princess Queen Melosa Episode: "Hooves and Harlots"
1995 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Postera Episode: "Gladiator"
1998 Chosen, TheThe Chosen Denise TV Mini-Series
1998 City Life Katherine Dwyer Episode: "1.15"
Episode: "1.24"
1998 Shortland Street Danni Brown / Nurse Lindsay Maguire TV Series
1998–1999 Young Hercules Simula 6 episodes
1999 Willy Nilly Carol Short film
1999 Xena: Warrior Princess Talia Episode: "Animal Attraction"
2000 Xena: Warrior Princess Kahina Episode: "Legacy"
2001 Magik and Rose Magik Feature Film
2001–2002 Mercy Peak Louise Duval 27 episodes
2001–2002 Being Eve Vivienne Baxter 21 episodes
2003 Sylvia Elizabeth Feature Film
2004 As Dreams Are Made On Ruth Short film
2004 Spooked Sheila Miller Feature Film
2005 World's Fastest Indian, TheThe World's Fastest Indian Doctor Feature Film
2005 Us Woman Short film
2006 Perfect Creature TV presenter Feature Film
2006 Maddigan's Quest Witch-Finder Episode: "Witch-Finder"
2007 Reckless Behavior: Caught on Tape Grace Leister TV movie
2007 Tattooist, TheThe Tattooist Charge Nurse Feature Film
2009 Life's a Riot Nell Edmonds TV Movie
2010 Legend of the Seeker Sister Verna 4 episodes
2010 This Is Not My Life Jude 9 episodes
2010 Avalon High Coach Miganov TV movie
2011–2012 Almighty Johnsons, TheThe Almighty Johnsons Agnetha 8 episodes

Awards

Bruce won the New Zealand Screen Awards Best Performance in a Short Film award in 2006, for her role in James Blick relationship drama Us, and won in the category Best Supporting Actress for Mercy Peak in 2002 and 2003.

External links

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