Lisa McCune
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| Lisa McCune | |
| Born | 19 February 1971 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse(s) | Tim Disney (2000 - present) |
Lisa McCune (born 19 February 1971 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), is a four time Gold Logie Award winning Australian actress, best known for her role as Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers, and as Lt. Kate McGregor in Sea Patrol.
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[edit] Early career (1988–1993)
Lisa McCune first performed on stage at the age of 3 years, playing the littlest dwarf in a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and then at age 15 playing Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz.[1]
After graduating from Greenwood Senior High School at just age 16, she was immediately accepted into both the Classical Singing and Musical Theatre courses at the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). She embarked on the Musical Theatre course, and graduated with a BA in Music Theatre in 1990, becoming one of WAAPA's youngest ever graduates. Upon graduation, Lisa immediately secured a distinguished agent in Robyn Gardiner Management (RGM Associates) and took on various jobs in Sydney and Melbourne.
In February 1991 she won a twelve-month contract with Coles Supermarkets[2], for a series of print and TV advertisements in which she played 'Lisa' the girl-next-door checkout-chick.
McCune performed in a state-wide tour of Victorian high schools in the educational John Romeril play about work experience, called Working Out, was in the chorus for a Sydney musical version of Great Expectations starring Philip Gould, and starred as the hilarious aspiring ballerina postulant, Sister Mary Leo, in the sequel to the Dan Goggin musical Nunsense.
She had a brief appearance in a re-enactment about an alien-sighting in Bass Strait for the American series Unsolved Mysteries and a role in the forgettable horror movie Body Melt, in which her heavily-pregnant character was attacked by a ferocious placenta before dying from an exploding stomach. McCune also spent time singing in a couple of bands including George Kapiniaris' Flares and Choice.
In 1991 she filmed a promising pilot for a Steve Vizard/Artist Services comedy called Turn it Up (aka Radio Waves). In 1993, Lisa won the lead part of Allie Carter in the pilot of Newlyweds before being replaced by Annie Jones for the series.
[edit] Blue Heelers (1994–2000)
McCune shot to fame in January 1994 at age 22 when she debuted as Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers, playing the role until the seventh season. During this time she won the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Television Personality four times. When her character was killed in 2000, the "Who Shot Maggie Doyle?" story arc was the most watched in the series history, and her departure is attributed as one of the major factors in the ratings slump that followed.
Throughout her Blue Heelers run she occasionally took time off to appear in other productions. In 1996 Lisa appeared opposite Brett Climo who played her brother in Blue Heelers, in a friend's film The Inner Sanctuary. In early 1997 she played the notoriously difficult[citation needed] role of Anne in the Melbourne Theatre Company's A Little Night Music In 1998, McCune played Cinderella in another Sondheim musical, Into the Woods. She also did two short seasons of the classic two-hander Love Letters.
In early 1999 she took six weeks off Blue Heelers to play one of the leads, Mary Abacus, in the miniseries adaptation of Bryce Courtenay's The Potato Factory, which earned her a nomination for AFI Best Actress in a TV Drama.[3] In July 1999, a couple of months before finishing on Blue Heelers she starred alongside John Wood in She Loves Me.
[edit] Later career (2000–present)
Immediately after finishing Blue Heelers, she starred alongside John Waters and later Rob Guest in a stage version of The Sound of Music, as Maria von Trapp.[4]
In 2001 while pregnant with her first child, her portrait by Shaun Clark was entered in the Archibald Prize.[5][6] She was off screens for a year to be a stay-at-home-mother.
In 2002, her next project was a "comeback" role in the television series Marshall Law with Alison Whyte and former Blue Heelers cast member William McInnes.[7] Although it rated well in the first week[8], the series was critically panned and its subsequent low ratings ensured it was cancelled after one season.[9]
In 2004, after another year off from giving birth to her second child, McCune slowly began to return to television. She again was the advertising face of Coles Supermarkets[2]. She also hosted Seven Network shows The World Around Us and Forensic Investigators. McCune also appeared as the love interest opposite Matt Day in the ABC telemovie Hell Has Harbour Views.[10]
In September 2005, McCune guest starred in a four-episode storyline on MDA[11] alongside her former Blue Heelers co-star Paul Bishop.
Also in 2005 she narrated a second season of Forensic Investigators and appeared in the Australian film Little Fish starring alongside Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill in the early stages of her third pregnancy.
She has also appeared in a number of musicals and other stage productions around Australia, notably as Sally Bowles in Cabaret [1][12], Hope Cladwell in Urinetown, and Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee[13][14].
From 2007, Lisa McCune is in the ensemble cast for the Nine Network drama series, Sea Patrol. Her character is the Executive Officer (second in command) Lieutenant Kate McGregor, of a fictional Royal Australian Navy patrol boat.
On 5 April 2008, she began her role of Sarah Brown in the major stage production Guys & Dolls[15], playing for 20 weeks at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne before being revived for a Sydney season at the Capitol Theatre on the 12th of March, 2009.
[edit] Personal life
McCune is married to Tim Disney, a film technician who was once part of the Blue Heelers crew. They began dating in 1996, and married on 18 February 2000. They have three children: sons Archer James (born 31 May 2001) and Oliver Timothy (born early October 2003), and daughter Remy Elise (born 15 June 2005).
[edit] External links
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ray Martin for Midday |
Gold Logie Award Most Popular Personality on Australian Television 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 for Blue Heelers |
Succeeded by Georgie Parker for All Saints |
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Sweet to Sexy Australian Women's Weekly Nov 2002
- ^ a b Lisa's queen of the aisles Sydney Morning Herald
- ^ MDA Lisa McCune profile ABC.net.au
- ^ The Hills Are Alive review in The Australian
- ^ Lisa's Gift To Her Baby Herald Sun article
- ^ Portrait entered in Archibald Prize NewsPix
- ^ Lisa Farewells the Goody Goody Woman's Day article
- ^ Critics in the cold as Law takes off The Age, Melbourne
- ^ Lawless Lisa TV Week article
- ^ Hell's Belle Herald Sun article
- ^ MDA Lisa McCune profile ABC.net.au
- ^ Sex, orphans and a lion The Age, Melbourne
- ^ Girl next door moves on News.com
- ^ Putnam spelling Bee Sydney Stage Archive
- ^ Guys And Dolls is a sure bet Australian Jewish News
