# Mary-Anne Fahey

Mary-Anne Fahey (born 19 August 1955 as Mary-Anne Waterman) credited also as Maryanne Fahey, is an Australian actress, comedian, screenwriter and children's author.

## Career

Fahey has starred in and written for numerous TV and film comedy programs including The Comedy Company, Kittson Fahey, the first Australian female-only sketch comedy program, Get a Life and One Size Fits All. She had roles in Future Schlock, The Dunera Boys, All the Rivers Run II, Celia, Lucky Break and SeaChange. She has received roles in theatre including Mary Lives!.
Fahey is most famous for her work on Channel Ten's The Comedy Company especially for her school girl character, Kylie Mole, and three-year-old "Jophesine", the Play School Sketches with Glenn Robbins and the "Bedscene" sketches with her then real-life husband Ian McFadyen.
In the 1980s she appeared in an advertisement for David Reid electronics, which was promoting the Commodore Amiga 500.

### Kylie Mole

Fahey's Kylie Mole character—a scowling schoolgirl—was so popular she published the best-selling novel My Diary by Kylie Mole. She released a Double A-Side single with tracks "So Excellent"/"I Go, I Go", which hit #8 on the Australian ARIA chart in November 1988. A music video for "So Excellent" was filmed. The Kylie Mole character was one of several iconic characters that appeared in the show. Her characterisation especially resonated with Australian youth. The Australian adoption of the word "bogan" was first popularised in the media by Kylie Mole, and other phrases she used gained a wider currency.

## Later career

Fahey lives in Melbourne and is concentrating on writing and children's theatre. In May 2007, she published her first children's novel, I, Nigel Dorking: An Autobiography about a Boy with an Unusual Vocabulary, a Suit of Armour and an Unshakeable Dream, Written by That Very Boy (Nigel Dorking), Grade Six (ISBN 0-143-30247-7 and ISBN 978-0-14-330247-6).

## Awards

Fahey won a 1989 Logie Award for "Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality" for her work on The Comedy Company. She has won an AWGIE Award and an Irish-dancing trophy where she came second in a competition of two.

## Personal life

Fahey has two sons. Thomas Fahey, from her first marriage, and James McFadyen, born 12 July 1990. Fahey and Ian McFadyen split up in 1992. From 1994 until 2011 her partner was children's writer Morris Gleitzman. He too has a background in comedy writing as a former writer for The Norman Gunston Show, and a satirical columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
From 2014, Fahey has been in a relationship with Paul Jennings, another children's book writer who had previously collaborated with Morris Gleitzman on two books series, Wicked and Deadly.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1984 | Future Schlock | Sarah | Feature film |
| 1989 | Celia | Pat Carmichael | Feature film |
| 1994 | Lucky Break (aka Paperback Romance) | Myra | Feature film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1981 | Cop Shop | Robyn Cain | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1983 | Prisoner | Kelly Fraser | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1983 | All The Rivers Run | Hilda | TV miniseries, 3 episodes |
| 1984 | The Keepers | | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1984 | Special Squad | | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1985 | The Eleventh Hour | Various characters | TV series |
| 1985 | The Dunera Boys | Naomi Mendellsohn | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1986 | The Great Bookie Robbery | Cheryl | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Rubbery Figures | Various characters (voice) | TV series |
| 1987 | Willing and Abel | | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1988-1990 | The Comedy Company | Kylie Mole | TV series, regular role |
| 1988 | The Flying Doctors | Lisa Morgan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1988 | The Gerry Connolly Show | Various characters | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1991 | All Together Now | Rivka Carpenter | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992-1993 | Kittson Fahey | Various characters | TV series |
| 1993-1996 | Crocadoo | Gina (voice) | Animated TV series, season 1 |
| 1994 | Blue Heelers | Sandra Lynch | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1997 | Get a Life | Jackie Carter (voice) | Animated TV series |
| 1998 | Crocadoo II | Kelly (voice) | Animated TV series, 1 episode |
| 1999 | Chuck Finn | Dr. McCorquondale (voice) | Animated TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | SeaChange | Kerry Philby | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | One Size Fits All | Herself / Various characters | TV series, 13 episodes |

### Television appearances as self

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1988 | The Eleventh Hour Looks at Television | Herself | TV special |
| 1988 | Late Night Oz | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1988 | Life Education Television Appeal | Herself | TV telethon special |
| 1990 | A Funny Thing Happened to Australian Comedy | Herself | TV special |
| 1991 | Wisecracks | Herself | Documentary special |
| 1991 | Til Ten | Guest (with Ian MacFadyen) | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1991; 1993 | Tonight Live with Steve Vizard | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1991 | In Sydney Today | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1991 | The Melbourne Comedy Festival - A Night of a Thousand Laughs | Herself | TV special |
| 1991 | 35 Years of Television | Herself | TV special |
| 1992 | The Morning Show | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Burke's Backyard | Celebrity gardener | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Review | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Hinch | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | The World Tonight | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Vidiot | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993 | Australian Television's Funniest People | Herself | TV special |
| 1993 | The Norman Gunston Show | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993 | Live and Sweaty | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993; 1994; 1997 | Good Morning Australia | Guest | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1993; 1994 | Live It Up | Guest | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1993; 1997 | Ray Martin at Midday | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1994; 1997 | What's Cooking | Celebrity cook | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1996 | Comic Relief | Herself | TV special |
| 1997 | Midday with Kerri-Anne | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1997 | Today | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1997 | This Is Your Life | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1998 | Denise | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002 | People Dimensions | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2006 | Good as Gold! | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2007 | Saturday Disney | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2007 | The Sounds of Aus | Herself | TV series |

## Stage

| Year | Title | Role | Venue / Company |
| 1980 | Alcestis | | University of Melbourne |
| 1981 | Carnival Knowledge | | Melbourne Comedy Cafe |
| 1986 | Faking It | Presenter | Living Arts Centre, Adelaide for Adelaide Fringe Festival |
| 1986 | Faking It 2 | Presenter | The Last Laugh, Melbourne |
| 1987 | No Trouble | | Universal Theatre, Melbourne |
| 1992 | Mary Lives! | Mary | Malthouse Theatre, Geelong Arts Centre, Monash University with Playbox Theatre Company |
| 1992 | A Night of Infectious Laughter | | Melbourne Athenaeum |
| 1993 | Humorists Read the Humorists | | Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit |
| 1993 | The Grand Finale Galah | | Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit |

### As writer

| Year | Title | Role | Venue / Company |
| 1987 | Duck | Writer | Le Joke, Melbourne with Handspan Theatre |