Rebecca Gibney Biography

Rebecca Catherine Gibney (born 14 December 1964 in Levin, New Zealand) is a New Zealand born Australian actress. She has appeared regularly in Australian film and television since the mid-1980s. She won the Gold Logie in 2010 for her role in Packed to the Rafters.

Biography

Gibney was born the youngest of six children, and brought up in Wellington. She has said she wasn't so much funny as a "bit odd" as a child. "I was a bit like Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family. I walked around with this headless doll that I took everywhere." Gibney moved to Australia at the age of 19.

Performance career

After working as a model, she broke into television with the role of Julie Davis in the children's series Zoo Family in 1985 and went on to play mechanic Emma Plimpton in the popular drama series The Flying Doctors. In 1990, she starred in the mini-series Come In Spinner.

In 1991, she starred in the Channel Nine sitcom, All Together Now. She left the series in 1993. After her departure, she starred in Snowy.

The title character of Dr. Jane Halifax in Halifax f.p. was created especially for her, by the producers of her previous show 'Snowy'. Halifax f.p debuted in 1994 with the episode "Acts Of Betrayal", and continued with a further 20 telemovies leading up until 2002. This was a popular role for her. She has also appeared in other mini-series, like Kangaroo Palace (in 1997), and in The Day of the Roses (in 1998).

In 2002 and 2003, Gibney had a role in Stingers, and from 2003 until 2006, she had a role in the telemovie trilogy Small Claims as Chrissy, co-starring with Claudia Karvan.

She appeared in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot, released in 2004, and then followed up in 2006 with King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes TV Mini-series.

In 2006, she played the role of Lydia, a hippie restaurant owner and operator in the Network Ten drama series Tripping Over. In 2007, she had a small role in the film Clubland, starring Brenda Blethyn, and directed by Cherie Nowlan. The film is known as Introducing the Dwights in the United States.

A series of Australian television adverts for Advil in 2006/7 have featured Gibney and her family. A new television advert with only Gibney appeared in October 2007.

Rebecca was executive producer and also starred in New Zealand feature film The Map Reader as Amelia alongside Michael Hurst and played the mother of Michael, The map reader of the title portrayed by Jordan Selwyn, nephew of New Zealand acting icon Don Selwyn. The film was released in 2008.

Rebecca currently hosts a documentary series produced by Television New Zealand called Sensing Murder in which unsolved New Zealand murder or missing person cases are probed by psychic investigators from both New Zealand and Australia.

Since August 2008, Rebecca played the female lead of Julie Rafter on Channel 7's new Tuesday night show Packed to the Rafters. Her role in the show proved popular for Gibney, and she won the Gold Logie in 2009 for the show.

In 2010, she has the lead role on Channel Ten's telemovie Wicked Love: The Maria Korp Story.

Rebecca starred in the 2012 movie Mental alongside Toni Collette.

Personal life

Gibney has been married twice, first to Irwin Thomas (former lead singer of Southern Sons; aka Jack Jones) in 1992, which ended in divorce. She married production designer Richard Bell in November 2001 and gave birth to her first child, a son, Zachary Edison Bell, in early 2004.

She currently resides in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia with her husband and son.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	I Live with Me Dad	Jill Harkness
	Among the Cinders	Sally
1986	Mr Wrong	Secretary
1990	Jigsaw	Virginia York
1994	Lucky Break	Gloria Wrightman
1997	Joey	Penny McGregor
2006	Lost and Found	Mac's Mum
2007	Clubland	Lana
2008	The Map Reader	Amelia
2009	I Am You	Mrs. Reid
2012	Mental	Shirley Moochmoore
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Sea Urchins		Television film
1985	The Zoo Family	Julie Davis
1986	The Great Bookie Robbery	Bonnie	Mini-series
1990	Come In Spinner	Guinea Malone	Television film
	Acropolis Now	Mrs. Spiro Strangulator	1 episode: Cappuccino Catastrophe
1986-–1991	The Flying Doctors	Emma Plimpton/Emma Patterson	73 episodes
1991	Ring of Scorpio	Judith	Television film
1991–1993	All Together Now	Tracy Lawson	Main role; 86 episodes
1993	Snowy	Lilian Anderson	13 episodes
1994	Time Trax	Dr. Maria Mills	1 episode: The Cure
1995	G.P.	Larissa Schuller	1 episode: Still Life
1997	Kangaroo Palace	Heather Randall	Television film
1998	13 Gantry Row	Julie	Television film
	The Silver Brumby	Boon Boon #1	Voice
	The Day of the Roses	Margaret Warby	Television film
1999	Sabrina, Down Under	Hilary Hexton	Television film
	The Lost World	Lady Cassandra Yorkton	1 episode
	Computer-Crash 2000	Nicole	Television film
2001	Finding Hope	Hope Fox	Television film
	Farscape	Rinic Sarova	1 episode: "Thanks for Sharing"
	Ihaka: Blunt Instrument	Kirsty Finn	Television film
1994–2002	Halifax f.p.	Jane Halifax	Main role; 22 episodes/television films
2002–2003	Stingers	Ingrid Burton	13 episodes
2003	Sensing Murder	Host
2004	Small Claims	Chrissy Hindmarsh
	Salem's Lot	Marjorie Glick	Mini-series/television film
2005	Small Claims: White Wedding	Chrissy Hindmarsh
2006	Small Claims: The Reunion	Chrissy Hindmarsh
	Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King	India Fornoy	Mini-series; 1 episode: "The End of the Whole Mess"
	Tripping Over	Lydia	6 episodes
2010	Wicked Love: The Maria Korp Story	Maria Korp	Television film
2008"?2013	Packed to the Rafters	Julie Rafter	Main role; 111 episodes

Awards

Gibney has won, and has been nominated, for several television awards at the AFIs and the Logies on numerous occasions in her acting career.

She won her first award in 1990, winning the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award for Best Actress for her role in Come In Spinner. She also won a peer-nominated Most Outstanding Actress Logie award in 1991 for her role in the show.

In 1992, she was nominated at the Logies for her role in the sitcom All Together Now in two categories: Most Popular Actress and Most Popular Light Entertainment / Comedy Female Performer.

Her role as the lead in Halifax f.p. had Gibney nominated for three different awards awards - Most Popular Actress at the Logies (in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001); Most Outstanding Actress at the Logies (in 1998, 1999 and 2000) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama at the AFI's (in 1998 and 2000).

Gibney's Role in the telemovie Small Claims led her to another nomination at the 2005 Logies in the Most Outstanding Actress category.

A popular role for Gibney has been on Packed to the Rafters. Her role in this has led her to win the 2009 Gold Logie and the 2009 Most Popular Actress award. She also been nominated at the Logies for the Gold Logie in 2010 and 2011, Most Popular Actress in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and Most Outstanding Actress in 2009. At the AFI Awards she was nominated in 2009, in the Best Lead Actress in a Drama award.