Anita Hegh Biography

Anita Hegh (born 11 May 1972) is an Australian actor, known for starring as Ellen 'Mac' Mackenzie in the television series Stingers.

Life

Her father was Norwegian, and her mother is an Estonian. They both came out to Australia as children after World War II. Hegh has one brother. She was married to theatre director Peter Evans from 2001 to 2007.

Hegh studied drama when she was younger to overcome shyness. She studied to be a teacher at Sydney University, where she joined the Sydney University Dramatic Society. After auditioning for and being accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art, in Sydney, she changed her career path. Hegh studied drama at NIDA, graduating in 1994, and has rarely been out of work since.

Career

After minor roles in Cosi (1996), Paradise Road (1997) and the children's television series Return to Jupiter, Hegh became well-known starring as Ellen 'Mac' Mackenzie on Stingers, which she starred on from 1998 to 2002.

Hegh starred with Jason Donovan in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation miniseries Loot, a four episode guest role on MDA in 2005, for which she won an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and a recurring role on Last Man Standing. She also starred in Valentines Day directed by Peter Duncan and The Informant with William Mc Guiness. Her other television credits include Water Rats, State Coroner, Wildside, My Place, McLeod's Daughters, Rescue Special Ops and most recently Time of Our Lives.

Her recent film credits include Maiden and Last Ride with Hugo Weaving. In theatre she won both a Helpmann and Sydney Theatre Award for The Wild Duck at Belvoir Street Theatre, She also won a Sydney theatre award for The City at the Sydney Theatre Company.

In 2012 she was awarded best actress and also most popular actress by Time Out Theatre magazine.

In 2005, Hegh performed in a psychodrama entitled The Yellow Wallpaper which was an adaptation from a novella of the same title by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This play was adapted by Hegh and her former husband Peter Evans and was nominated for best female actor in the 2005 Green Room Awards for the role in the fringe/independent theatre category.

In a recent AAMI car insurance advertisement, Hegh appears as a mature driver being confronted with her younger self and the embarrassing memories that brings. Hegh will play Elizabeth opposite David Wenham's Proctor in The Crucible in 2013. She has completed a tour of The Secret River directed by Neil Armfield.