Sophie Lee (born 7 August 1968)TV Hits Sophie Lee Collect-a-Card is an Australian film, stage and television actress and author.

Career

Lee worked as a model early in her career, both in Australia and Japan''Lunch of Blood'' by Antonella Gambotto. pp160-171. Random House. appearing in print and on TV. Her first feature film was ''Raw Silk'' in 1988. She first rose to fame in 1990 for hosting ''

The Bugs Bunny Show ''The Bugs Bunny Show'' is a long-running American animated anthology television series hosted by Bugs Bunny that was mainly composed of theatrical '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons released by Warner Bros. between 1948 and 196 ...

'' on Australian TV. The show provoked controversy through her wardrobe, which was publicised as "middle-aged men... rush home from work in time to watch Sophie throw to

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

cartoons". The

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

series, which had previously not been hosted, featured ''

'' and other

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoons, plus occasional other material, such as an interview between Sophie and

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

. She was cast by executive producer David Lyle out of 150 candidates. In 1991, Lee started playing the ongoing role of Penny Wellings in the drama series ''

The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...

''. Also that year Lee, on saxophone and vocals, formed a pop group,

Freaked Out Flower Children Freaked Out Flower Children were an Australian band which formed in 1991 with actress and TV presenter, Sophie Lee, on saxophone and vocals. Other members were Gumpy Phillips (ex-Battle Happy, Mighty Big Crime) on guitar and vocals; Tricky J (Mi ...

, with Gumpy Phillips on lead vocals and guitar (ex-Battle Happy); Tricky J as synthesiser programmer; Nicole Love on backing vocals; and Fiona Ruttelle on backing vocals. In December that year the group issued their sole album, ''Love In'', which Australian

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, found was "full of syncopated beats and breezy melodies wrapped around tunes". The group's debut single, "

Spill the Wine "Spill the Wine" is the debut single by singer Eric Burdon and the band War, released in May 1970. It was backed by the non-album track " Magic Mountain", and was War's first ''Billboard'' chart hit.''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990'' ...

", was a cover version of

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, powe ...

and

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

's 1970 hit. Freaked Out Flower Children's version reached No. 31 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

but by 1993 the group had disbanded "the concept had run its course ...

s the S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

retro-cabaret and day-glo focus of the ensemble ... did little to foster a sense of longevity". In 1992, she also hosted the TV series ''Sex''. Lee built on this in the media, speaking out on feminism, sexism and the need for sex education in the

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

era. Lee has acted in a number of iconic films, including the Australian comedies ''

Muriel's Wedding ''Muriel's Wedding'' is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by P.J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Jeanie Drynan, Sophie Lee, and Bill Hunter, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambi ...

'', ''

Bootmen ''Bootmen'' is a 2000 Australian-American romantic comedy film directed by Dein Perry. It was distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures and funded by the Australian Film Finance Corporation. Production was from 19 June to 18 August 1999 in Sydne ...

'' and '' The Castle'' as well as cult films such as ''

He Died with a Felafel in His Hand ''He Died with a Felafel in His Hand'' is a purportedly non-fiction autobiographical novel by Australian author John Birmingham about his experiences as a share housing tenant, first published in 1994 by The Yellow Press (). The story consists ...

'' and ''

Titsiana Booberini ''Titsiana Booberini'' is a 1997 Australian short film directed by Robert Luketic, written by and starring Tania Lacy, also starring Sophie Lee, and Roz Hammond. Initially entered at the Telluride Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, th ...

''. She is a patron of ''"Big Screen"'' at the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

. For her performance in the 1997 film '' The Castle'', Lee was nominated for the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lee has appeared in a number of stage productions, including ''Mr Kolpert'' with the Sydney Theatre Company and the title role in ''"The Virgin Mim"''. From 2008, she has hosted ''"Natgeo Presents with Sophie Lee"'' on the National Geographic channel. She is also a commentator on the series '' 20 to 1''. She has now branched into writing, releasing a book in 2007 titled ''"Alice in La La Land"'' through

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

publishing. The book is inspired by her time spent in Hollywood. Also in 2007, she became a columnist for ''"Sunday Magazine"''. In 2009 Sophie released her first children's novel titled ''"Edie Amelia and the Monkey Shoe Mystery"'', a story for 7+ year-olds, published by

Pan Macmillan Pan Books is a publishing imprint (trade name), imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the United Kingdom, British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. Pan Books b ...

. The second title in the series is ''"Edie Amelia and The Runcible River Fever"''.

Personal life

Born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, her family did not have a TV in the house as her father, a philosophy professor at the University of Newcastle, preferred more intellectual pursuits. She attended the local public school in Dudley, Newcastle, and St Mary's Convent school. She completed year 12 at St Francis Xavier College, Hamilton, in 1986, achieving academic excellence. She appeared in a school production of "Frankenstein", playing Baron Frankenstein. She moved to Sydney at age 18 for her career. When working at

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular ...

in the early 1990s, she lived in

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 6 km (4 miles) south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip Local governmen ...

. For six years up to early 2000, she was the partner of Melbourne comedian/writer/actor

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts ''The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. L ...

, regularly appearing on his nationally syndicated radio show. In 2002 she married Anthony Freedman and stated that she would be converting to Judaism. The couple have a daughter, Edie, and two sons, Tom and Jack.

In popular culture

* Australian band

TISM TISM (an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) are a seven-piece anonymous alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia on 30 December 1982 by vocalist/drummer Humphrey B. Flaubert, bassist/vocalist Jock Cheese and keyboardist/vocalist Eu ...

's song "Get Thee to a Nunnery" was specifically about Sophie Lee, mentioning her by name. * 23 June 2009 Lee appeared on the Australian Television show ''

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation ''Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation'' is an Australian game show produced by Granada Productions which premiered on Network Ten on 5 May 2009. It is hosted by Shaun Micallef. History Original run The first series ran on Network Ten for 18 episode ...

'' as a member of the 'Generation X' team.

Filmography

FILM TELEVISION

References

External links

Sophie Lee
article at the Museum of Broadcast Communications *
Freaked Out Flower Children – Spill the Wine
YouTube
Pre-fame Portmans ad
YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sophie 1968 births Living people Australian film actresses People from Newcastle, New South Wales Australian television actresses Australian stage actresses Actresses from New South Wales