Emily Barclay

Emily Barclay
Barclay in 2012
Born	(1984-10-24) 24 October 1984 (age 40) Plymouth, England, UK
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998–present
Spouse	Thomas Ward (m.2023-present)
Children	2
Relatives	Charlotte Dawson (aunt)

Emily Barclay Ward (born 24 October 1984) is a British-born New Zealand and Australian AFI award winning actress.

Career

Emily Barclay was born in Plymouth to a General practitioner and a landscape designer, and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, where she went to an all-girls school and attended Saturday morning drama classes. At the age of nine, Barclay played Hamlet in a school production and decided to become an actress.^[1] At the age of 13, she got herself an agent and supported herself between TV movies by working in a video store.^[2]

Diana Rowan (the same casting agent who discovered Anna Paquin and Keisha Castle-Hughes) discovered Barclay in a school play and cast her as Celia in 2004's In My Father's Den, that raised the actress to prominence.^[3] For that film, Barclay won Most Promising Newcomer at the 2005 British Independent Film Awards. She followed by moving to Australia – while continuing part-time with her degree in English and gender studies at the University of Auckland – for a role in the critically acclaimed 2006 crime drama Suburban Mayhem directed by Paul Goldman, for which she collected an AFI Award for Best Actress.

Barclay's performance also lead to an invitation to her first stage performance, on Neil Armfield's 2009 production of Gethsemane in Sydney. Armfield later indicated Barclay to Lee Lewis, who cast her in the play That Face.^[1] In 2011, she performed in another Belvoir production, The Seagull, and acted opposite Geoffrey Rush in the Melbourne Theatre Company's The Importance of Being Earnest. In 2012, Barclay performed opposite Hollywood actors Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin in This Is Our Youth, returned to Belvoir with Strange Interlude and debuted at London's Young Vic performing on Three Sisters.^[4][5]

Barclay is currently represented by United Agents.^[6]

Barclay also starred in the music video "Big Jet Plane" by Angus & Julia Stone which was directed by Kiku Ohe in 2010.^[7]

She has cited her favourite actor as being Ewen Leslie.

Animal rights

The actress has had an active involvement in animal rights, working with the organisation Save Animals From Exploitation in anti-cruelty campaigns, including having posters put in her room in In My Fathers Den; she is a vegan.^[8][9]

In 2006, Barclay became an ambassador for Australian animal rights group Voiceless, the animal protection institute. "I'm not against people who eat meat but I'd like them to know what happens in factory farms where highly intelligent animals live horrific lives."^[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	No One Can Hear You	Amy Burchall
2004	In My Father's Den	Celia Steimer	British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer New Zealand Screen Award for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
2005	Cockle	Jane	Short
2006	Suburban Mayhem	Katrina Skinner	AACTA Award for Best Leading Actress IF Award for Best Actress
2009	Prime Mover	Melissa / Calendar Girl
2010	Zero	Girl	Short
2010	Lou	Rhia
2010	Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole	Gylfie (voice)
2011	Love Birds	Brenda
2011	Weekender	Claire
2012	Mr. Pip	Australian teacher
2016	The Light Between Oceans	Gwen Potts
2017	Ellipsis	Viv
2019	Babyteeth	Toby
2020	Baby Done	Molly

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Shortland Street	Kelly McKinley	TV series
1999	A Twist in the Tale	Alison Bradley	"The Duellists", "A Ghost of Our Own"
2001	Mercy Peak	Hayley Borden	"Her Secret Passion"
2003	Spin Doctors	Tiffany	"4.2"
2004	Deceit	Katie McCarthy	TV film
2005	Kidnapped	Maddy	TV film
2006	The Silence	Evelyn Hutchison	TV film
2009	Piece of My Heart	Young Flora	TV film New Zealand Film and TV Awards for Best Performance by an Actress in General Television
2010	Lowdown	Abi Hart	"Hart of Darkness"
2015–17	Glitch	Sarah Hayes	Regular role
2015–16	Please Like Me	Ella	Main role
2017	Offspring	Georgie	TV series
2017	Sisters	Casey	TV series
2019	Diary of an Uber Driver	Georgie	TV series
2021	Mr Inbetween	Zoe	TV series
2022	Wolf Like Me	Charlotte	TV series

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes and awards
2009	Gethsemane	Suzette
2010	That Face	Mia
2011	The Seagull	Masha	Nominated – 2012 Sydney Theatre Award: Best Actress in a Supporting Role of a Mainstage Production
	The Importance of Being Earnest	Cecily
2012	This Is Our Youth	Jessica
	Strange Interlude	Nina
	Three Sisters	Natasha
2013	Hamlet	Ophelia

References

1. "Emily Barclay is a rebel with a cause". 26 January 2010.
2. O'Neill, Phelim (22 December 2006). "First Sight: Emily Barclay". The Guardian.
3. Kiwi actor a star attraction via Sydney Morning Herald 11 June 2006
4. "The Importance of Being Earnest - Emily Barclay - Theatre - Time Out Melbourne". Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
5. "This is Our Youth". 24 February 2012.
6. "Emily Barclay | United Agents".
7. Barclay portrays character "Ella" in Season 3 of Josh Thomas's comedy drama tv show
8. Bad-girl Barclay press.co.nz 10 April 2007
9. Actress Emily Barclay supports vegetarian SAFE stall Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE) press release 8 Nov 2004
10. "Voiceless, the animal protection institute". February 2012.

External links

• Emily Barclay at IMDb
• Filmography at Karen Kay Management
• Emily Barclay in the SAFE 2007 Calendar