Alice Miriam Olivia Garner is an Australian actor, author, musician, teacher and historian. She is the daughter of Australian novelist and screenwriter

Helen Garner Helen Garner (née Ford, born 7 November 1942) is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist. Garner's first novel, '' Monkey Grip'', published in 1977, immediately established her as an original voice on the Aust ...

and playwright, historian and actor Bill Garner.

Acting life and career

Garner's acting career began as a child in the 1982 film '' Monkey Grip'' adapted from her mother's 1977 novel of the same name, which Alice featured in as a character, under the name of Gracie. She was nominated for an AFI Award for her role. She starred in '' Love And Other Catastrophes'' in 1996, winning the Film Critics Circle of Australia award for best supporting actress, and played the role of Carmen in the popular ABC TV series ''

SeaChange ''SeaChange'' is an Australian television program that ran from 1998 to 2000 on the ABC and in 2019 on the Nine Network. It was created by Andrew Knight and Deborah Cox and starred Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham, William McInnes, John Howar ...

''. Other credits include films '' Jindabyne'', ''

Strange Planet ''Strange Planet'' is a 1999 Australian comedy directed by Emma-Kate Croghan and starring Claudia Karvan. It was Croghan's follow up to '' Love and Other Catastrophes'' and used many of the same cast and crew. Plot The film explores the lives ...

'' and award-winning short film ''

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England, on the southwestern bank of the River Thames. It had an estimated population of 70,374 and forms part of the border with southern Bu ...

'', and on television, the role of Caitlin in '' Secret Life of Us''. In September 2001 she and Kate Atkinson (with whom she had worked on ''

'') founded Actors for Refugees, to counter negative stereotyping of refugees and asylum seekers through public readings by volunteer performers around Australia. In 2014, she joined a team of presenters on three series of a television documentary series about the Australian coastline, ''Coast Australia'' (History Channel), hosted by archaeologist

Neil Oliver Neil Oliver (born 21 February 1967) is a British television presenter, archaeologist, historian and author. He has presented several documentary series on archaeology and history, including ''A History of Scotland'', ''Vikings'', and ''Coast'' ...

. Garner presented stories about social and cultural history.

Academic life and career

Garner speaks

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and in 2001 gained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

French history The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age. What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. The first writings on indigenous populations mainly start in the first century BC. Greek ...

from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb ...

for her study of representations of sea and shore in south-western France. Garner held an ARC Linkage postdoctoral research fellowship at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

from 2009 to 2012, researching the history of the Australian-American Fulbright Program. As part of this project, Garner recorded 23 whole-of-life interviews with

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

s for the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "maint ...

's oral history and folklore collection. She has also begun to research the history of hitchhiking. She has published three books: *''The Student Chronicles'' (MUP 2006), a memoir of her undergraduate years at Melbourne University * '' A Shifting Shore: Locals, Outsiders, and the Transformation of a French Fishing Town, 1823–2000'' (Cornell University Press, 2005), which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's General History Prize in the year it was published. *With historian

Diane Kirkby Diane Elizabeth Kirkby, (born 24 July 1948) is an Australian historian and academic. Early life and education Diane Elizabeth Kirkby was born in Walgett, New South Wales, in 1948. Her education began by correspondence course and at age six sh ...

, she co-authored ''Academic Ambassadors, Pacific Allies: Australia, America and the Fulbright Program'' (Manchester University Press, 2018). Since January 2020 she has been based in the Centre for Vocational and Educational Policy at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (University of Melbourne), researching the history of trade union training in Australia for an ARC Linkage project, bringing together historians, vocational educationalists and industrial law experts.

Teaching

Garner became involved in community actions to support her local government secondary school and this inspired her to train in secondary teaching at Victoria University (2013-2014). She worked as a French and History teacher at

Albert Park College Albert Park College is a public, co-educational high school located in Albert Park, Victoria, Australia. In 2018, the school had 1036 enrolments and 79 teaching staff. Construction of the new school was completed in late 2010 and it opened in ...

from 2015 to 2019 and co-led the Languages curriculum team with colleague Tasha Brown.

Music life

She has been playing

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

since the age of ten, and was a long-time member of th
Xylouris Ensemble
The ensemble, led by

Giorgos Xylouris Giorgos Xylouris ( el, Γιώργoς Ξυλούρης, born September 25, 1965), also known as ''Psarogiorgis'' (Greek: Ψαρογιώργης), is a Cretan laouto player and singer. Xylouris was born into a musical family (his father is Psaran ...

on Laouto, performed contemporary, original and traditional Cretan music and released several studio albums. Garner currently plays in a trio
the endlings
with David Bowers and Dee Hannan, and has also played with euphonia wit
Mairead Hannan
and Dee Hannan.

Awards

* 1982 – nominated for the

Australian Film Institute 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 responsib ...

Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for ''Monkey Grip'' * 1996 – nominated for the

Awards, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for ''Love and Other Catastrophes'' * 1997 – won

Film Critics Circle of Australia The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

Award for Best Supporting Actor – Female, for ''Love and Other Catastrophes'' * 2002 – won the Screen Music Awards, Australia for Best Soundtrack Album, for ''

One Night the Moon ''One Night the Moon'' is a 2001 Australian musical non-feature film starring husband and wife team Paul Kelly, a singer-songwriter, and Kaarin Fairfax, a film and television actress, along with their daughter Memphis Kelly. The film was dire ...

'' shared with Mairead Hannan, Paul Kelly, Kev Carmody, John Romeril, Deirdre Hannan * 2005 – shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's History Awards General History Prize for ''A Shifting Shore: locals, outsiders and the transformation of a French fishing town, 1823–2000'' * 2015 – Victoria University Medal for Excellence in Postgraduate Studies

Personal life

Garner is married with three children.

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

* ''A Shifting Shore: Locals, Outsiders, And The Transformation Of A French Fishing Town, 1823–2000'',

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in ...

, published 31 January 2005, . * ''The Student Chronicles'', Melbourne University Publishing, 2006 * co-authored with Diane Kirkby,
Academic Ambassadors, Pacific Allies: Australia, America and the Fulbright Program
' (Manchester University Press, 2018)

References

External links

* * Actors for Refugeesbr>web site

*

br>media release 31 August 2005 on Garner's appointment

Xylouris Ensemble web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Alice 1969 births Living people APRA Award winners Australian film actresses Australian women writers University of Melbourne alumni Australian television actresses Actresses from Melbourne Writers from Melbourne