Alyssa McClelland

Alyssa McClelland
McClelland in December 2012
Born	1981 Sydney, Australia
Education	Newtown High School of the Performing Arts Australian Theatre for Young People University of Technology Sydney Atlantic Theater Company, New York
Occupation(s)	Director, writer, actress
Years active	2000–present

Alyssa McClelland (born 1981^[1]) is an Australian director, writer and actress.

Early life and education

Daughter of an industrial chemist father and office manager mother,^[2] McClelland was educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney and was Dux in her final year. She attended the University of Technology Sydney where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in Media Arts and Production, majoring in film. From the age of fifteen she trained and performed in productions with the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney, until she received a scholarship that enabled her to study abroad with the Atlantic Theater Company in New York in 2002.^[3]

Career

Actor

McClelland has had roles in the feature films A Man's Gotta Do, The Bet, Deck Dogz and in Australian television series Rake, Home and Away, Dance Academy and Canal Road.^[4]

She received an Australian Film Institute Award nomination for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in Television, for her 2005 role in the Network Ten telemovie Small Claims: White Wedding.^[4]

McClelland has performed leading roles in productions with the Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, and Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney.^[5]

McClelland is a former Jan Logan star, and face of the annual campaign, alongside other Jan Logan ambassadors Rose Byrne, Elizabeth Debicki, and Teresa Palmer.

Director / producer / writer

McClelland's short film Second Best won the Dendy Live Action Short Award at the Sydney Film Festival, the Australian Directors' Guild Award for Best Direction in a short film, Best Short Film at the Milano Film Festival, Best Foreign Film at Lake Shorts Film Festival, the Youth Award at 20MinMax Film Festival and Best Direction at Flickerfest [1].

McClelland directed, wrote and produced seasons 1 and 2 of the cult hit web series One Step Closer to Home, and the short film Nic and Shauna which was a finalist in Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival.

McClelland is also a respected international commercial director, having directed campaigns for Google Pixel, Apple, Air New Zealand, Samsung, Netflix and Vodafone, AEG, McDonald’s and Pot Noodle. Her advertising work has won awards such as the Black Pencil at the D&AD Awards and Best Direction at the London International Awards.^[6][7]

She was the recipient of the InStyle Magazine Woman of Style Scholarship for her work as a filmmaker in Australia.

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
2001	Ben	Sally	Short film
2002	Queen of the Damned	London Groupie	Feature film
2003	Horseplay	Cindy Perlman	Feature film
2004	A Man's Gotta Do	Chantelle	Film
2005	Deck Dogz	Baby T	Film
2005	Son of the Mask	Dream Nurse	Feature film
2005	Mind the Gap	Young Girl	Short film
2005	Second Chance	Alyssa Fulham	TV movie
2006	The Bet	Trish	Film
2008	Restraint	Gabrielle	Feature film
2009	Knowing	Flight Attendant	Feature film
2009	Emilia Eckle	Emilia Eckle	Short film
2011	Commercialisms	Actor	Short film
2011	Surviving Georgia	Sandy	Feature film
2011	Home		Short film
2011	The Bride	The Bride	Short film
2011	Cupid	Lucy	Short film
2012	A Light Touch	Tracy	Short film
2013	The Humble Beginnings of the Balloon	Stephanie's teacher	Short film
2016	The Eleven O'Clock	Donna	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
1999; 2001	All Saints	Scarlett Baker / Zoe Dell	TV series, 2 episodes
1999; 2001; 2004–05; 2011–12	Home and Away	Brooke MacPherson / Hayley O'Connor / Gemma / Cynthia	TV series, 54 episodes
2000	Water Rats	Samantha	TV series, 1 episode
2005	Small Claims: White Wedding	Kiara Duffy	TV movie
2008	East West 101	Vesna Popov	TV series, 1 episode
2008	Canal Road	Skye Brady	TV miniseries, 13 episodes
2010	Rescue: Special Ops	Beth Robson	TV series, 1 episode
2012	Rake	Larissa Downe	TV series, 1 episode
2013	The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting	Special Guest	TV miniseries, 1 episode
2013	Dance Academy	Rebecca Braithwaite	TV series, 7 episodes
2011–15	One Step Closer to Home	Nat Cat / Nat Shaw	TV web series, seasons 1–2, 19 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Type
1997	The Don Juan Project		Australian Theatre for Young People
1997	Junks		Martin Place Amphitheatre, Sydney with Australian Theatre for Young People
2000	Contact		Australian Theatre for Young People
2000	Birds		Australian Theatre for Young People
2000	Spurboard		Australian Theatre for Young People
2001	Re:Macbeth		Australian Theatre for Young People
2001	Outpatients		Australian Theatre for Young People
2003	The Shape of Things	Jenny	Wharf Theatre with STC
2003	Ray's Tempest	Frog's girlfriend	Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney
2005; 2006	The Give and Take	Julie	Sydney Opera House, Playhouse, Melbourne with STC & MTC

^[8][9]

Director / producer / writer credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Type
2009	Emilia Eckle	Director, writer	Short film
2010	Nic and Shauna	Director, writer, producer	Short film
2011	The Bride	Co-producer	Short film
2011	Home	Producer	Short film
2018	Second Best	Director, writer, producer	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Type
2011–15	One Step Closer to Home	Director, writer, producer	TV web series, seasons 1–2, 19 episodes
2021	Home and Away	Director	TV series, 5 episodes
2022	Everything Now (aka The Fuck-It Bucket)	Director	TV series, 2 episodes
2022	Sex Education	Final block director	TV series, season 4, 3 episodes
2023	Class of '07	Splinter unit director	TV series, 7 episodes
2015	Amandaland	Lead director	Motherland spin-off (In pre-production)

Music video

Year	Title	Artist	Role	Type
2011	"Let Me Cut In"	Belle Roscoe	Director	Music video

Awards

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
2005	Small Claims: White Wedding	Australian Film Institute Award || Best Guest or Supporting Actress in Television || style="background: #FFE3E3; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2 notheme"|Nominated
2010	Emilia Eckle	Reel Shorts Film Festival, Canada	Best Short Film	Top 5
2010	Nic and Shauna	Tropfest	Best Short Film	Nominated (finalist)
2012	Alyssa McClelland	InStyle Magazine	Woman of Style Scholarship	Won
2014	The Duchenne Foundation Awareness for Muscular Dystrophy TVC	D&AD Awards	Black Pencil Award	Won
2018	Second Best	20MinMax Film Festival	Youth Jury Award	Won
2019	Second Best	Australian Directors' Guild Award	Best Direction in a Short Film	Won
2018	Second Best	Flickerfest	Best Direction	Won
2018	Second Best	Lakeshorts International Film Festival	Best Foreign Film	Won
2018	Second Best	Maryland International Film Festival	Best Short Film	Nominated
2018	Second Best	Milan Film Festival	Best Short Film	Won
2018	Second Best	Milano Film Festival (MIFF Awards)	Best International Short Film (15–30 minutes)	Won
2018	Second Best	Sydney Film Festival	Dendy Live Action Short	Won
	Alyssa McClelland	London International Awards	Best Direction	Won

References

1. "Alyssa McClelland | Actress, Director, Producer". IMDb. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
2. https://thebeast.com.au/people/alyssa-mcclelland-giving-it-everything/
3. https://atyp.com.au/about/our-people/
4. Alyssa McClelland at IMDb
5. "Ray's Tempest" by Stephen Dunne, The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 May 2005
6. https://www.stellarshortfilmfestival.com.au/filmmakers2019
7. https://finchcompany.com/directors/alyssa-mcclelland/
8. https://ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/68483
9. https://atyp.com.au/about/our-people/

External links

• Media related to Alyssa McClelland at Wikimedia Commons