Vanessa Downing

Vanessa Downing (born 5 May 1958) is an Australian character actress of theatre and screen; she has also done recordings including singing and voice-over. She was educated in Sydney, attended the Australian theatre for young people, and after leaving school took a master's degree in English literature from the University of Sydney.

Vanessa Downing
Born	5 May 1958
Other names	Vanessa Ryan
Alma mater	University of Sydney
Occupation	Actress (stage, television and film) singer recording artist voice artist lawyer
Years active	1976–present
Known for	The Restless Years (1977) Home and Away (1988-1990) Bullpitt!
Spouse(s)	Rodney Fischer (Director/writer)

She graduated as a lawyer in 2006, and now juggles a law career with firm Craddock Murray Neumann and her acting roles, mostly on the stage[1]

Career

Theatre

Theatre roles include Three a Penny and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She is a well-known and prominent stage actress and has featured in many productions[2]

Television

Television roles including All Saints, classic '80s soap opera Sons and Daughters, G.P., Water Rats, HeadLand and Packed to the Rafters. She had a role in the Kingswood Country re-boot series Bullpitt!, she has appeared in numerous mini-series and made for TV films.

Home and Away

She is best known however for her more regular role being an original cast member of the television soap opera Home and Away playing a role many years her senior as foster mother Pippa Fletcher, replacing Carole Willesee at short notice, the wife of newsreader Mike Willesee, who was originally cast as Pippa, with the casting news hitting the headlines, at the publicity launch of the soap. When Downing left the series in 1990, the part was recast, and taken over at short notice by Debra Lawrance who went on to play the character from 1990 to 1998, with subsequent guest appearances. The role had also been auditioned by future Neighbours star Jackie Woodburne. After Lawrence took over the role, the character remarried and now known as Pippa Ross was awarded a fictitious OAM for her services as a foster parent.

Post-Home and Away

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Reflections	Mrs. O'Brien
2013	Felony	Manny Summer
2015	Stationery	Penny Wilkins	Short
20??	The Immortal	Lucy (age 50)	Short, completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Sons and Daughters	Cheryl Ryan	Episodes: "1.44", "1.60"
1983	The Disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain	Mrs. Lowe	TV film
1986	Funeral Going	Patricia	TV film
1986	Double Sculls	Sister Cathy	TV film
1988	Melba	Evie Doyle	TV miniseries
1988–1990	Home and Away	Pippa Fletcher	Regular role
1991	A Country Practice	Fiona Farrell	Episode: "For the Good Times: Part 1"
1993	G.P.	Pam Preston	Episode: "Close to Her Chest"
1994	Mary: The Mary MacKillop Story	Flora MacKillop	Documentary
1997	Water Rats	Margaret Hobbs	Episode: "The Messenger"
1997	Big Sky	Danielle Morgan	Episode: "The Right Thing"
1997–1998	Bullpitt!	Muriel Johnstone	Main role
1998, 2002	All Saints	Helen Lancaster, Claire Hobson	Episodes: "Live Now, Pay Later", "Slings and Arrows"
2006	headLand	Pamela Martin	Episodes: "1.50", "1.51", "1.52"
2008	Packed to the Rafters	Shirley	Episode: "Removing the Block"
2014	The Moodys	Robin Benson	Episode: "Australia Day"
2019	Mr Inbetween	Lorraine	Episode: "I Came from Your Balls?"

References

1. "Home and Away flashback! The original cast reunited". 10 May 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
2. "Vanessa Downing". AusStage.

External links

• Vanessa Downing at IMDb