Rebecca Massey

Rebecca Massey
Born	New Zealand
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Auckland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998–present

Rebecca Massey is an Australian film, television, and theatre actress. She is best known for her comic roles as Beverley in Utopia, and as Lucy Canon in Chandon Pictures. She has worked in leading roles with major theatre companies nationwide such as The Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, and Griffin Theatre Company. She has performed alongside many Australian actors and actresses including Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, and Barry Otto.

Early life and education

Rebecca Massey was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She grew up in Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong, before returning to New Zealand to complete her schooling at St Cuthbert's College, Auckland.

After graduating dux of school, Rebecca went on to study law and English at the University of Auckland, graduating with honours. She worked briefly as a lawyer.

Theatre career

After graduating from Auckland University, Massey toured New Zealand with an Australian production of Steaming with Liz Burch, Lenore Smith, and Cornelia Frances.

Her first professional job was in a production of The Crucible with the Mercury Theatre Company (now Auckland Theatre Company). She went on to star in Daughters of Heaven directed by Colin McColl, opening the Auckland Theatre Company after the Mercury Theatre went bankrupt. She was a founding member of Stronghold Theatre company with Peter Evans, whom she married.

After moving to Australia, Massey has worked consistently with the major theatre companies, including Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Malthouse Theatre, and Griffin Theatre Company.

After moving to Sydney, Neil Armfield cast her in The Alchemist, alongside Geoffrey Rush and Hugo Weaving. She worked consistently with Armfield at Company B until Armfield's resignation as artistic director of the theatre in 2010. During that time she was awarded a Glug and a Green Room Award for Best Actress, and nominated for two Helpmann Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Steve Martin's The Underpants and It Just Stopped by Steven Sewell. Much of the time in those years was taken up with touring the world with the epic Cloudstreet, Nick Enright and Justin Monjo's adaptation of Tim Winton's novel of the same name.

Massey has performed alongside many of Australia's great actors and actresses including Cate Blanchett (The Seagull), Geoffrey Rush, Barry Otto, Julie Forsythe, and Jacek Koman. Rebecca opened the new theatre at Belvoir Street together with Catherine McClements and John Woods in It Just Stopped.

After 2010 she worked with the Malthouse Theatre, the State Theatre of South Australia in John Doyle's play, Vere (Faith), the Griffin Theatre Company in Kill Climate Deniers by David Finisgan. For the Sydney Theatre Company she has appeared in Travesties, Vere (Faith), Perplex, After Dinner by Andrew Bovell, Lucy Kirkwood's play Chimerica, and Moira Buffini's play Dinner

Awards and nominations

Massey has been nominated and won numerous awards for her performances including the Helpmann Award for both Steve Martin's The Underpants (Belvoir) and Steven Sewell's It Just Stopped (Belvoir).

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
2004	Helpmann Award	Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Play	The Underpants	Nominated
2007		Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Play	It Just Stopped	Nominated
	Green Room Awards	Best Female Actress		Won
		Best Supporting Female Actress		Nominated
	Glug Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Won
2010		Best Supporting Actress	Travesties	Nominated
2018	Sydney Theatre Awards	Best New Australian Work	Kill Climate Deniers	Nominated

Filmography

Rebecca Massey's film and television credits include Chandon Pictures (ABC) which won Best Comedy (AFI, ADG, and AWGIES), Best Original Production (ASTRA), Most Outstanding Light Entertainment (Logies), and Utopia (ABC): which won Best Television Comedy Series (AACTA), Most Outstanding Comedy Program (LOGIES).

Other television credits include Lowdown (2010), My Place (2009), Stepfather of the Bride (2006), Deep Water (2016). Film credits she is known for are Son of the Mask (2005), The Black Balloon (2008), Accidents Happen (2009), Backyard Ashes (2013), Bad Girl (2016).

Film

Years	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Son of the Mask	Clare
2006	Final Call		Short film
2008	The Black Balloon	Miss Babb
2009	Accidents Happen	Louise
2013	Greg's First Day	Madam 2	Short film
2013	Backyard Ashes	Lilly Waters
2015	Holding the Man	Woman from Red Cross
2016	Bad Girl	Detective Daniels
2018	Last Ark	Captain Shane Hudson	Short film
2022	Blaze	Jade

Television

Years	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Kangaroo Creek Gang	Kristie the Koala	Voice
2002	Blood Sports	Sarah	Television film
2002-6	All Saints	Melissa Wilson; Jodie Abbott; Wendy Saralyn	3 episodes
2003	Grass Roots	Kirsten Bovie	Episode: "Youth"
2004	Small Claims	Clare Santarini	Television film
2006	Stepfather of the Bride	Fiona	Television film
2007-9	Chandon Pictures	Lucy Cannon	16 episodes
2009	City Homicide	Peggy Duval	Episode: "Baker's Dozen"
2009	My Place	Mrs Benson	6 episodes
2010-12	Lowdown	Trudy March	4 episodes
2012	Packed to the Rafters	Audrey	2 episodes
2012	Tricky Business	Gaye Hudson	Episode: "Mothercraft"
2015	Winter	Sally McKenzie	Episode: "Blow Up"
2015	The Principal	Rina	4 episodes
2015-17,23	Utopia	Beverley Sadler	11 episodes
2016	Deep Water	Sally Williams	2 episodes
2016-17	Pacific Heat	Maddie Riggs	13 episodes; Voice
2019	Upright	Constable Stacey	Episode: "Day Three"
2019	The Letdown	Real Estate Agent Julie	Episode: "Heavy Heart"
2019-21	Metro Sexual	Miranda Graft	5 episodes
2019	Total Control	Sharon	Episode #1.3
2019	Upright (TV series)	Constable Stacey	1 episode
2022	Barons	Sylive Thompson	3 episodes
2023	The Messenger	Bev Kennedy	6 episodes

Stage

Production	Year	Venue	Company	Role(s)	Director(s)
The Crucible		Mercury Theatre	Mercury Theatre Company	Susanna Walcott	Miles Taylor
The Possibilities			Stronghold Theatre Company	Ensemble	Peter Evans
Daughters of Heaven			Auckland Theatre Company	Pauline Parker	Colin McColl
Evans Freud’s Dora		NZ Arts Council		Dora	Anatoly Frusin
Media Sluts		NZ Puppet Theatre		The Starlet	Peter Evans
Macbeth		Wellington International Festival of the Arts		Lady Macbeth	Peter Evans
The Man from Scotland		New Zealand Fringe Festival			Peter Evans
Steaming		National Tour	Gary Penny Productions	Dawn	Gary Downes
Othello			The Mask Company	Desdemona	Peter Evans
Bad Poetry		NIDA	NIDA Company	Nurse, Sister	Peter Kingston
The Alchemist	1996	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Dame Pliant	Neil Armfield
WASP	1996	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Zig Zag Woman, Angie, Sis	Neil Armfield
The Seagull	1997	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Masha	Neil Armfield
Max & The Trickster		Australian Museum		Trickster	Yaron Lifshitz
Cloudstreet	1998	Sydney Festival, Perth Festival	Company B Belvoir, Black Swan	Elaine, Mrs. Clay, Meredith	Neil Armfield
The Caucasian Chalk Circle	1998	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Natella Abashvili	Michael Kantor
Henry IV (Parts I & II)	1999	National Tour	Bell Shakespeare	Lady Percy, Doll Tearsheet Wart	John Bell
Valley of the Big Bones	1999	Australian Museum		Bjork Mcgurk	Warren Coleman
Ship of Fools	1999		Griffin Theatre Company	Sunny, Mayor, Anna Lundsdorf, Madame van Eyck	Ros Horin
Cloudstreet	1999	Melbourne, Adelaide, Zurich Festival, London, Dublin Festival	Company B Belvoir, Black Swan	Elaine, Lucy Wentworth, Meredith	Neil Armfield
The Small Poppies	1999	Sydney Festival	Company B Belvoir	Clint's Mum, Courtney	Neil Armfield
Australian National Playwrights’ Conference	1999				Richard Wherrett, Ros Horin
The Small Poppies	1999	Dublin Festival, Melbourne Festival	Company B Belvoir	Clint's Mum, Courtney	Neil Armfield
Borderlines	2001	The Griffin	Griffin Theatre Company, Riverina Theatre Company	Meredith Danni, Ren, Lisa	Richard Buckham, Adam Cook, Jeremy Sims
Cloudstreet	2001	National Theatre, BAM, Kennedy Centre	Company B Belvoir	Elaine Lamb, Lucy Wentworth, Meredith	Neil Armfield
The Rood Screen	2001	Development Workshop		Alice	Anna Messariti
Macbeth	2003	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Witch	Michael Kantor
The Underpants	2003	Belvoir Street Theatre	Company B Belvoir	Gertrude	Neil Armfield
Stuff Happens	2005	Seymour Centre	Company B Belvoir	Various	Neil Armfield
It Just Stopped	2006		Company B Belvoir	Pearl	Neil Armfield
Dead Caesar	2007	Wharf 2 Theater	Sydney Theatre Company	Calpurnia	Tamara Cook
Exit The King	2007	The Merlin, Belvoir Street Theatre	Malthouse Theatre Company, Company B Belvoir	Queen Mary	Neil Armfield
Tartuffe	2008	The Merlin	Malthouse Theatre Company	Dorine	Michael Kantor
Travesties	2009		Sydney Theatre Company	Cecily	Richard Cottrell
The Book of Everything	2013	Tour	Belvoir	Margot	Neil Armfield
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	2013	Belvoir Street Theatre	Belvoir	Mae	Simon Stone
Vere	2013	Adelaide Festival Centre, Sydney Opera House	State Theatre Company of South Australia, Sydney Theatre Company	Kate	Sarah Goodes
Perplex	2014	Wharf 1	Sydney Theatre Company	Rebecca	Sarah Giles
After Dinner	2015	Wharf 1	Sydney Theatre Company	Dympie	Imara Savage
Chimerica	2017	Roslyn Packer Theatre	Sydney Theatre Company	Barb, Doreen, Marie Dubiecki, Kate, Judy	Kip Williams
Dinner	2017	Sydney Opera House	Sydney Theatre Company	Wynne	Imara Savage
Kill Climate Deniers	2018	The Griffin	Griffin Theatre Company	Gwen Malkin	Lee Lewis
The Misanthrope	2018	Sydney Opera House	Bell Shakespeare	Philipa (Philinte)	Lee Lewis
First Love is the Revolution	2019	The Griffin	Griffin Theatre Company	Cochineal and Bailey Chicken	Lee Lewis
Dance Nation	2020	Adelaide Festival Centre	Belvoir and State Theatre Company of South Australia	Maeve	Imara Savage

External links

• Official website
• Rebecca Massey at IMDb