Vikki Blanche

Blanche has a brother.{{cite magazine|last=Cooney|first=Jenny|date=28 April 2024|title=Back to school|magazine=TV Week|page=25}} She became interested in acting when she was eight years old,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108762787/like-a-chameleon/|title=Like a chameleon|last=Thomas|first=Brett|date=23 May 1993|work=The Age|access-date=1 September 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902000453/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108762787/like-a-chameleon/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} after she joined the National Theatre workshops. She attended Kingswood College in Box Hill.

Blanche made her television debut in the 1983 ABC children's series Home.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108453479/your-week-on-television/|title=Your week on television|date=1 April 1984|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=28 August 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=30 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830213832/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108453479/your-week-on-television/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} Blanche played Billie, who she said "knew what she wanted and what she believed in and was good at organising what the others should do." The following year, she appeared alongside Bill Hunter and David Cameron in the nine-part ABC drama series The Keepers. The show focuses on the lives of Fisheries and Wildlife officers in a small community. Blanche plays Kim, the daughter of Aggie French (Catherine Wilkin).{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108392614/feet-up-watch-all-the-wildlife/|title=Feet up? Watch all the wildlife|last=Lewis|first=Jacqueline Lee|date=1 April 1984|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=27 August 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=30 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830213830/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108392614/feet-up-watch-all-the-wildlife/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} She also had a six week guest stint as a doctor's daughter in The Young Doctors. Blanche graduated from the National Theatre in November 1984.{{cite magazine|last=Koppe|first=Margaret|date=16–22 March 1985|title=Big role for a beginner|magazine=TV Radio Extra|volume=5|issue=226|pages=15, 75}}

Blanche's breakthrough role was that of Julie Robinson in the soap opera Neighbours. Blanche admitted to not taking the audition seriously, as she had only just graduated from school and did not think she would win the role.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/19861124/090/0004|title=They are both good 'Neighbours'|date=24 November 1986|work=Aberdeen Press and Journal|access-date=23 February 2022|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} She was cast in December 1984, started filming in January 1985, and made her debut in the first episode on 18 March 1985. Margaret Koppe of TV Radio Extra described Blanche's character as complex. Julie appears to be helpful and caring, but she often interferes and schemes. Marie McNamara of The Age praised Blanche for her performance,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87868995/our-new-neighbours-pt2/|title=Our new neighbours|last=McNamara|first=Marie|date=14 March 1985|work=The Age|access-date=28 October 2021|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=28 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028024919/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/87868995/our-new-neighbours-pt2/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} while a reporter for the Aberdeen Press and Journal said she made Julie "one of the most popular characters in the Australian soap." Blanche had a relationship with her co-star David Clencie during her time in the serial, and the couple lived together for six months.{{cite magazine|last=Cook|first=Stephen|date=9 August 1986|title='Why I quit' Neighbours star tells|magazine=TV Week|page=56}} After seven months of playing Julie, Blanche chose to leave Neighbours before the end of her contract. She admitted that she did not want to stay in the same role for a long time and end up typecast.{{cite book|last=Oram|first=James|title=Neighbours: Behind the Scenes|year=1988|publisher=Angus & Robertson|isbn=978-0-207-16075-2|page=119}}

Following her departure from Neighbours, Blanche worked at the St Martin's Theatre in Melbourne and had a guest role in an episode of The Flying Doctors. In 1988, she re-joined the main cast of The Flying Doctors as radiographer Paula Patterson, the younger sister of pilot Sam, played by Blanche's former Neighbours co-star Peter O'Brien.{{cite magazine|last=Devlyn|first=Darren|date=27 August 1988|title=Sam's sexy sister|magazine=TV Week|page=29}} While appearing on The Flying Doctors, Blanche also worked at the Cadillac Bar in Melbourne.{{cite magazine|last=Devlyn|first=Darren|date=14 April 1990|title=Why Vikki's not nursing grudges|magazine=TV Week|page=25}} Alongside her Flying Doctors co-star Liz Burch and singer Neil Finn, Blanche appeared in Nine Network's A Chance for the Children programme in 1990, which highlighted the need for water, health care and education in third world countries.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108501382/sentimental-rather-than-educational/|title=Sentimental rather than educational look at aid|last=Heath|first=Sally|date=18 January 1990|work=The Age|access-date=28 August 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901041048/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108501382/sentimental-rather-than-educational/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} Following a number of changes to the format of the show, Blanche was written out of The Flying Doctors to make way for new actors. Blanche admitted that while she would have stayed on with the show, her character had very few storylines in the last six months, and she questioned whether she was learning anything new.

After leaving The Flying Doctors, Blanche starred as Julia in the Network Ten sitcom Col'n Carpenter.{{cite web|url=https://mygeekculture.com.au/watch-coln-carpenter/|title=Watch: Col'n Carpenter|last=Fulton|first=Matt|date=16 December 2021|publisher=My Geek Culture|access-date=1 September 2022|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902000454/https://mygeekculture.com.au/watch-coln-carpenter/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108590864/vikki-bites-the-big-apple/|title=Vikki Bites the Big Apple|last=Walker|first=Frank|date=29 September 1991|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=30 August 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901040750/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108590864/vikki-bites-the-big-apple/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} She was contracted for 26 weeks, and she liked that she got to have a say in how her character developed. As Col'n Carpenter was the first comedy Blanche had worked on, she had to learn new acting skills, and she felt that she picked up a lot from her co-stars Kim Gyngell and Monica Maughan. She also filmed a role as Jenny Rose in the 1991 miniseries Rose Against the Odds, which tells the story of Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose. Blanche met with the real Jenny Rose to talk about her life and relationship with Lionel. Blanche later felt that working on both productions simultaneously made her lose respect for her job because of the scheduling, so she decided to go overseas to study acting in order to stay challenged. She spent 18 months living and working in New York City.{{cite magazine|last=McGowen|first=Mark|date=17 October 1992|title=Vikki goes from New York to Phoenix|magazine=TV Week|pages=64–65}} She studied acting at the HB Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and chose not to attend auditions or seek roles. She worked as a waitress in order to pay her rent.

A few weeks after returning to Melbourne, Blanche auditioned for the second season of the ABC police drama Phoenix. Blanche had not watched the series before she was offered the role of Senior Detective Chris Faithful, who is married to Peter Faithful (Simon Westaway) and goes undercover for the drug squad.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108738265/vikki-blanche/|title=Vikki Blanche|last=Thomas|first=Brett|date=23 May 1993|work=The Age|access-date=1 September 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902000453/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108738265/vikki-blanche/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} Blanche described her character as having a "gift for the job. She's tough, in that she is mixing with crooks, but I don't think she's tougher than anyone else in that environment." To prepare for the role, Blanche spoke with undercover drug officers and went through research material compiled by the writers. Phoenix was filmed over 13 weeks, which suited Blanche, who preferred not to stay with a show for too long, and aired in early 1993. In 1997, Blanche appeared in the comedy-drama feature film Road to Nhill as Jill Whitton.{{cite news|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Road+to+Nhill.-a019980228|title=Road to Nhill|last=Stratton|first=David|date=18 August 1997|work=Variety|access-date=2 September 2022|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902014449/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Road+to+Nhill.-a019980228|url-status=live}}

In 1999, Blanche began teaching the Meisner technique at The Sydney Actors Playhouse.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108928193/the-actors-leap/|title=The Actors' Leap|date=29 October 1999|work=The Age|access-date=4 September 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=4 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904200135/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108928193/the-actors-leap/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} She also attended the VCA School of Film and Television, where she wrote and directed the short film The Other Days of Ruby Rae.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108386464/short-cuts/|title=Short cuts|last=Zion|first=Lawrie|date=2 December 1999|work=The Age|access-date=27 August 2022|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901003232/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108386464/short-cuts/|url-status=live}}{{free access}} The plot follows a widowed vicar (Norman Kaye) whose faith is renewed when he befriends a 10-year-old.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/sep/24/featuresreview.review2|title=Mystery in Tehran, torture in Buenos Aires, well-heeled narcissism in London|last=French|first=Phillip|date=24 September 2000|work=The Guardian|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901003232/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/sep/24/featuresreview.review2|url-status=live}} Blanche received a nomination for Best Screenplay in a Short Film at the 2000 AFI Awards.{{cite web|url=https://www.aacta.org/aacta-awards/winners-and-nominees/range/2000-2010/year/2000/|title=Winners & Nominees 2000 – Non-Feature Film|publisher=Australian Film Institute|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901003234/https://www.aacta.org/aacta-awards/winners-and-nominees/range/2000-2010/year/2000/|url-status=live}} The film won the George Méliès Award at the Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2001/04/daily-news-new-fest-sets-bookends-and-moodysson-wins-taos-land-81029/|title=Daily News: New Fest Sets Bookends; and Moodysson Wins Taos Land|last=Hernandez|first=Eugene|date=9 April 2001|work=IndieWire|access-date=27 August 2022|archive-date=1 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901003232/https://www.indiewire.com/2001/04/daily-news-new-fest-sets-bookends-and-moodysson-wins-taos-land-81029/|url-status=live}} Blanche has since gone on to direct television commercials.{{cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/flashback/its-been-a-mixed-bag-for-the-original-neighbours-cast-since-they-left-the-longrunning-soap/news-story/cdad59ecff205e4f2d11c207d9f70a20|title=It's been a mixed bag for the original Neighbours cast since they left the long-running soap|last=Duck|first=Siobhan|date=15 March 2015|publisher=news.com.au|access-date=28 August 2022|archive-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212135019/http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/flashback/its-been-a-mixed-bag-for-the-original-neighbours-cast-since-they-left-the-longrunning-soap/news-story/cdad59ecff205e4f2d11c207d9f70a20|url-status=live}} In 2001, she won the Young Director of the Year Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for her work on a commercial for Australian feminine hygiene company Cottons.{{cite web|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/gallery-44-ones-watch-vicky-blanche/175919|title=Gallery 44: Ones to watch – Vicky Blanche|date=31 October 2002|publisher=Haymarket Media Group|access-date=2 September 2022|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902002655/https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/gallery-44-ones-watch-vicky-blanche/175919|url-status=live}} The following year, she signed with Academy Films and relocated to London.{{cite web|url=https://www.shots.net/news/view/59934-academy-signs-vikki-blanche|title=Academy signs Vikki Blanche|date=24 April 2002|publisher=Shots.net|access-date=2 September 2022|archive-date=2 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902002656/https://www.shots.net/news/view/59934-academy-signs-vikki-blanche|url-status=live}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1960s births

Category:Australian soap opera actresses

Category:Australian television actresses

Category:Australian film actresses

Category:20th-century Australian actresses

Category:Australian directors