Emily Barclay (born 24 October 1984) is an English-born, New Zealander and Australian

AFI award The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...

winning actress.

Career

Emily Barclay was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

to a General practitioner and a landscape designer, and raised in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where she went to an all-girls school and attended Saturday morning drama classes. At the age of nine, Barclay played

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in a school production and decided to become an actress. At the age of 13, she got herself an agent and supported herself between TV movies by working in a video store. Diana Rowan (the same casting agent who discovered

Anna Paquin Anna Hélène Paquin ( ; born 24 July 1982) is a New Zealand actress. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, Paquin made her acting debut portraying Flora McGrath in the romantic drama film ''The Piano'' (1993), for which she won the Aca ...

, and

Keisha Castle-Hughes Keisha Castle-Hughes (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian-born New Zealand actress who rose to prominence for playing Paikea "Pai" Apirana in the film ''Whale Rider''. She was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best ...

) discovered Barclay in a school play and cast her as Celia in 2004's ''

In My Father's Den ''In My Father's Den'' is a 1972 novel by New Zealand author Maurice Gee. The novel was adapted to film in 2004, written and directed by Brad McGann. First edition *''In My Father's Den''. London: Faber, 1972. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1978. The no ...

'', that raised the actress to prominence. For that film, Barclay won Most Promising Newcomer at the 2005

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

. She followed by moving to Australia – while continuing part-time with her degree in English and gender studies at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

– for a role in the critically acclaimed 2006

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

Suburban Mayhem ''Suburban Mayhem'' is a 2006 Australian film directed by Paul Goldman, written by Alice Bell, and produced by Leah Churchill-Brown, with Jan Chapman as executive producer. It features an ensemble cast including Emily Barclay, Michael Dorman, A ...

'' directed by Paul Goldman, for which she collected an AFI Award for Best Actress. Barclay's performance also lead to an invitation to her first stage performance, on

Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armf ...

's 2009 production of ''

Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great resona ...

'' in Sydney. Armfield later indicated Barclay to

Lee Lewis Lee Lewis is an Australian theatre director. Early life and education Lewis trained as an actor at Columbia University in New York. Returning to Australia, she completed a Masters of Directing at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) ...

, who cast her in the play ''

That Face ''That Face'' is a two- act play written by Polly Stenham. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 26 April 2007, directed by Jeremy Herrin. The play was revived at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End in 2008, opening on 1 ...

''. In 2011, she performed in another Belvoir production, ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises t ...

'', and acted opposite

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy ...

in the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

's ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

''. In 2012, Barclay performed opposite Hollywood actors

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

and

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

in ''

This Is Our Youth ''This Is Our Youth'' is a play by American dramatist and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1996 and since been produced all over the world, including the West End, Broadway Sydney and Toronto. Plot The play takes pla ...

'', returned to Belvoir with ''

Strange Interlude ''Strange Interlude'' is an experimental play in nine acts by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill began work on it as early as 1923 and developed its scenario in 1925; he wrote the play between May 1926 and the summer of 1927, and complete ...

'' and debuted at London's

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...

performing on '' Three Sisters''. Barclay is currently represented by United Agents. Barclay also starred in the music video "Big Jet Plane" by

Angus & Julia Stone Angus & Julia Stone are an Australian folk and indie pop group, formed in 2006 by brother and sister Angus and Julia Stone. Angus & Julia Stone have released five studio albums: ''A Book Like This'' (2007), '' Down the Way'' (2010), '' Angus ...

which was directed by Kiku Ohe in 2010. She has cited her favourite actor as being

Ewen Leslie Ewen Leslie (born 27 July 1980) is an Australian stage, film and television actor. Career Theatre His first work on Sydney stages was performing at the Old Fitzroy Hotel theatre in Woolloomooloo. In 2007 he was cast by Philip Seymour Hoffma ...

Animal rights

The actress has had an active involvement in

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

, working with the organisation

Save Animals From Exploitation SAFE (Save Animals From Exploitation) is a New Zealand animal rights group, with a vision to create an ethical Aotearoa (New Zealand) that ensures the rights of animals. Its purpose is to educate, inform and empower people to make cruelty-free, ...

in anti-cruelty campaigns, including having posters put in her room in ''In My Fathers Den''; she is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

. In 2006, Barclay became an ambassador for Australian animal rights group

Voiceless, the animal protection institute Voiceless is an independent, non-profit animal protection charity based in Sydney, Australia. According to its mission statement, Voiceless's vision is for a world in which animals are treated with respect and compassion. Voiceless was founde ...

. "I'm not against people who eat meat but I'd like them to know what happens in

factory farms Intensive animal farming or industrial livestock production, also known by its opponents as factory farming and macro-farms, is a type of intensive agriculture, specifically an approach to animal husbandry designed to maximize production, while ...

where highly intelligent animals live horrific lives."

Filmography

Film

Television

, 2022 , '' Wolf Like Me'' , charlotte , TV series

Stage

References

External links

*
Filmography at Karen Kay ManagementEmily Barclay in the SAFE 2007 Calendar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Emily 1984 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses New Zealand child actresses New Zealand film actresses English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand television actresses Actors from Auckland Actors from Devon New Zealand expatriates in England Best Actress AACTA Award winners