Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 15 March 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse

Ellen Crozier Ellen Rosemary Crozier is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera '' Shortland Street'', who was portrayed by Robyn Malcolm for nearly six years in the mid to late 1990s. Creation and casting Robyn Malcolm "won" the role of Ellen Cr ...

on the

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 ...

soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

''. She is best known for six seasons of playing

Cheryl West Cheryl L. West (born October 23, 1965, Chicago) is an American playwright. Life West holds a degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She worked as a social worker and taught before turning to playwriting. In 1990, she came to ...

, matriarch to a sometimes criminal working-class family in the television series '' Outrageous Fortune'', Kirsty Corella in the Australian television series '' Rake'', Julie Wheeler in ''

Upper Middle Bogan ''Upper Middle Bogan'' is an Australian television comedy program created by Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope. It began screening on ABC on 15 August 2013. The series is directed by Hope and Tony Martin. ''Upper Middle Bogan'' was renewed for a seco ...

'' and Marina Baxter in '' The Code''.

Early life and education

Malcolm was born in Ashburton, and attended

Ashburton College Ashburton College is a state coeducational secondary school located in Ashburton, New Zealand. It opened in 1965 following the merger of two Ashburton secondary schools: Ashburton High School and Hakatere College, and moved to its current site ...

, and graduated from Toi Whakaari (New Zealand Drama School) with a Diploma in Acting in 1987. She won an International Actors Fellowship at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

in London for 2003.

Career

Malcolm's first long-running television role was nurse

in soap opera ''

''. She appeared on the show for five years and was nominated for Best Actress at the 1998 TV Guide Television Awards. She was nominated again for her lead role in television feature, ''Clare'', based on the cervical cancer experiment at Auckland's National Women's Hospital which resulted in the

Cartwright Inquiry The Cartwright Inquiry was a committee of inquiry held in New Zealand from 1987 to 1988 that was commissioned by the Minister of Health, Michael Bassett, to investigate whether, as alleged in an article in ''Metro'' magazine, there had been a f ...

. In 1999, Malcolm was one of the founding members of the New Zealand Actors' Company along with

Tim Balme Timothy Guy Balme (born 18 January 1967) is a New Zealand actor and screenwriter. He's most well known for his roles on the long-running soap opera ''Shortland Street'' and '' Mercy Peak'', as well as lead roles in the cult favourites '' Braind ...

Katie Wolfe Katie Wolfe (born 1968) is New Zealand actor and film and stage director. She was in the New Zealand television series ''Marlin Bay'' in the 1990s, ''Shortland Street'' in the late 1990s and ''Mercy Peak'' for two years (2000 - 2001). Her screen d ...

and Simon Bennett. The company produced and toured a number of successful stage productions throughout New Zealand. In 2005, Malcolm took on the role of Cheryl West, matriarch of the West family, in '' Outrageous Fortune''. Mixing comedy and drama, the show became one of the highest rating and awarded in New Zealand history. Malcolm won NZ television awards for the role including the Qantas TV Awards for Best Actress in 2005 and 2008, TV Guide Best Actress in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and Air NZ Screen Awards Best Actress in 2007 Malcolm won the

Woman's Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's monthly magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters magazines. The magazine was fir ...

Readers' Choice Award for Favourite New Zealand Female Personality in 2005, and New Zealand's sexiest woman at the 2007 TV Guide Best on the Box awards. Malcolm co-starred in 2010 feature film ''The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell'', playing mother to a family obsessed with go-karting and motorsports. She has also had small roles in movies ''

Absent Without Leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which a ...

'' directed by John Laing, ''

The Last Tattoo ''The Last Tattoo'' is a 1994 feature film set in World War II, Wellington, New Zealand. Plot During World War II Wellington, New Zealand has U.S. servicemen mingling with the local female population. In such circumstances Kelly Towne, a p ...

'' directed by John Reid,

Gaylene Preston Dame Gaylene Mary Preston (born 1 June 1947) is a New Zealand filmmaker with a particular interest in documentary films. Early life and family Born in Greymouth on 1 June 1947, Preston was educated at Colenso High School (now William Colenso Co ...

's '' Perfect Strangers'', and Christine Jeffs' ''Sylvia''. She had a minor role as Morwen in the second film of the ''

Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

'' trilogy. In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Malcolm was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to television and theatre.

Filmography

Films

Television

Theatre

Personal life

Malcolm has two sons. Her sister is married to

Roger Sutton Roger Sutton (born ) is a business leader in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was chief executive of power lines company Orion New Zealand Limited from 2003 until 13 June 2011, when he commenced as CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Author ...

, the former CEO of the

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA; Māori: ''Te Mana Haumanu ki Waitaha'') was the public service department of New Zealand charged with coordinating the rebuild of Christchurch and the surrounding areas following the 22 Februar ...

Activism

Malcolm voiced

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisational ...

advertisements for the

New Zealand general election, 2008 New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. Malcolm has helped spearhead an actors' union campaign to negotiate standard contracts for actors in ''The Hobbit'' films. The producers refused, saying that collective bargaining would be considered price-fixing and therefore illegal under New Zealand law. The situation escalated into international calls for an actors' boycott of the films, but the boycott was called off. Several days later, the producers said they were considering moving the films to another country as they could not be guaranteed stability in New Zealand. In response, the ruling National Party made several controversial changes to New Zealand's employment laws, and passed legislation explicitly controlling people working on the Hobbit movies.

References

External links

*
New Zealand Listener – Cheryl and me

Biography at Johnson and Laird

Robyn's profile
an
ScreenTalk interview
August 2009. Requires

Flash video Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content (e.g., TV shows, movies, etc.) over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There ar ...

software (53.6 MB). {{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Robyn 1965 births Living people New Zealand film actresses New Zealand television actresses New Zealand soap opera actresses Toi Whakaari alumni People from Ashburton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses People educated at Ashburton College Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit