# Anni Finsterer

Anni Finsterer is an Australian actress. For her performance in 3 Acts of Murder she won the 2009 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in Television Drama.

## Early life

Finsterer grew up in Canberra, Australia.

## Career

Finsterer is a film, teievision and stage actor, voice over artist, director, playwright. author, singer, keynote speaker, coach and teacher (of acting and drama).
Feature films include I Met a Girl, The Flood (both 2020), True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), Sweet Country (2017), Teenage Kicks (2016), Sleeping Beauty (2011), The Boys are Back and Prime Mover (both 2009). She has had significant roles in Bigger Than Tina (1999) and To Have & to Hold (1996).
Recent television roles include The Gloaming for Stan, Harrow, Wentworth (season 7), the US TV series Reckoning, Rake, Secret City for Foxtel and Glitch for the ABC.
On 9 September 2024, Finsterer was named as part of the extended cast for Stan Australia series Thou Shalt Not Steal.

## Stage

Her lengthy stage career has seen her perform in Australia, Asia and Europe, with Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Griffin Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre Company, La Mama and more. Highlights include playing the title character in Sharon Lilly Screwdriver (Stables Theatre, 1991), and producing and acting in East (Bay Street Theatre, 1988). Other significant roles include playing Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra, Ishtar, and the Queen of Hearts on stilts.
Finsterer is also an author - her most recent publication being Radical Rock and Roll Resilience (2020) - a personal story of overcoming adversity, combined with strategies of how to live an empowered life.
She holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts, and a Diploma of Education in Drama and English.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1990 | Sky Trackers | Scientist | Feature film |
| 1994 | Cody: A Family Affair | Leilani | TV film |
| 1995 | Lessons in the Language of Love | Nicki | Short film |
| 1996 | To Have & to Hold | Rose | Feature film |
| 1999 | Bigger Than Tina | Jacinta Fellows | Feature film |
| 1999 | Strange Fits of Passion | Judy | Feature film |
| 2000 | Thomson of Arnhem Land | Narrator | Documentary film |
| 2002 | Queen of the Damned | Euro Trash Vampire | Feature film |
| 2006 | Candy | Crystal (uncredited) | Feature film |
| 2007 | The Uncertainty Principle | Nellie | Short film |
| 2009 | Prime Mover | Thomas's mum | Feature film |
| 2009 | 3 Acts of Murder | Anne Upfield | TV film |
| 2009 | The Boys are Back | Tennis journalist | Feature film |
| 2010 | The Clinic | Locker room woman (DCIII, Blue) | Feature film |
| 2011 | Sleeping Beauty | Train riding hairdresser | Feature film |
| 2011 | Johnny Ghost | Millicent | Feature film |
| 2011 | Blue Monday | | Short film |
| 2012 | Grace | Joy | Short film |
| 2012 | Devine is Dead | Kate Leigh | Short film |
| 2013 | Strange Tourist | Gena | Short film |
| 2013 | Touch | Sue | Short film |
| 2015 | Damage Control | The Pharmacist | Short film |
| 2016 | Teenage Kicks | Illona Varga | Feature film |
| 2016 | Wolf | | Short film |
| 2017 | Sweet Country | Nell | Feature film |
| 2019 | Three Stories Inside a Rental Van | | Short film |
| 2019 | My First Panic | Tracey | Short film |
| 2019 | True History of the Kelly Gang | Mrs Gill | Feature film |
| 2019 | Backpedal | | Short film |
| 2020 | I Met a Girl | Miss Needle | Feature film |
| 2020 | The Flood | Wilma Wilson | Feature film |
| 2021 | We Have Me | Principal | Short film |
| 2022 | Lonesome | Carol | Feature film |
| 2022 | The Stranger | Female uniformed cop (uncredited) | Feature film |
| 2022 | Max | Suzie Williams | Short film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1987 | Sons and Daughters | Waitress | TV series. 1 episode |
| 1990 | The Paper Man | Australian newsreader | TV miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 1987-91 | Rafferty's Rules | TV publicist / Narelle Grimes | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1991 | Police Rescue | Agnes | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1992 | Chances | Eva | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1993 | Seven Deadly Sins | | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 1997 | Blue Heelers | Danielle Simpson | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1997 | State Coroner | Daria Bond | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1998 | Good Guys Bad Guys | Sergeant Hawthorn | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1998 | Halifax f.p. | Maxine | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2000 | Eugenie Sandler P.I. | Irene Kendall | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 2001 | Stingers | Suzie Lake | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2006 | Love My Way | Wendy | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2007 | Home and Away | Brenda | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002-08 | All Saints | Gina Finch / Gemma Lee / Stefanie Garrett | TV series, 8 episodes |
| 2009 | City Homicide | Megan Black | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2012 | Underbelly | Dianne Erlich | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2016 | Secret City | Vice Admiral Joanna Hartzig | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2015-17 | Glitch | Caroline Eastley | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Rake | Judge | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2019 | Over and Out | Dr Facecutter | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 2019 | Wentworth | May Jenkins | TV series, season 7, 5 episodes |
| 2020 | The Gloaming | Eileen McGinty | TV miniseries, 6 episodes |
| 2020 | Reckoning | Karen Anderson | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 2020 | Deadhouse Dark | Grace | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 2021 | Harrow | Di baverstock | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2020-21 | Space Nova | Guest cast | TV series, 8 episodes |
| 2020-21 | 100% Wolf: Legend of the Moonstone | The Duchess / Mrs Mutton | TV series, 8 episodes |
| 2022 | Barons | Vic | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2023 | The Clearing | Evelyn Smith | TV miniseries, 1 episode |
| 2024 | Return to Paradise | Donna Smithwick | TV series, 1 episode (Curl Up and Dye) |
| 2024 | Thou Shalt Not Steal | Billy | TV series: 2 episodes |

## Theatre
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Location / Co. |
| 1979 | Man and Man | | Childers Street Hall, Canberra |
| 1986 | Snatched! | Toni | The Rocks Theatre, Sydney with Nepean College of Advanced Education School of Arts Theatre |
| 1987 | Kennedy’s Children | | Exchange Hotel, Sydney with New Mercury Theatre Company |
| 1988 | East | | Bay Street Theatre, Sydney |
| 1990 | Gilgamesh | Ishtar | Ashgrove Quarry with Queensland Theatre Company |
| 1991 | Sharon Lilly Screwdriver | Sharon | Stables Theatre with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 1992 | The Women of Troy | | Wharf Theatre, Sydney with Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1993 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | Wharf Sea Level Space, Sydney with Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1994 | The Wedding Song | | NIDA at Parade Theatre |
| 1994 | The Threepenny Opera | | Sydney Opera House with Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1995 | Poor Super Man | | Wharf 2 Theatre with Sydney Theatre Company |
| 1996 | Macbeth | Macbeth / Lady Macbeth | Victorian regional tour with Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 1996 | Lenz | | The Police Garage with Mene Mene Theatre for Melbourne Festival |
| 1996 | Alice in Wonderland | Queen of Hearts | Melbourne Zoo with Australian Shakespeare Company |
| 1997 | Footprints on Water | | La Mama |
| 1997 | Raised by Wolves | | Shed 14, Docklands with Regurgitator and Handspan Theatre for Melbourne International Arts Festival |
| 1998 | The Present | | Carlton Courthouse with La Mama |
| 1998 | Scissors, Paper, Rock | | Trades Hall, Carlton South with La Mama |
| 1998 | The Keene / Taylor Project, Season 5: Kaddish / Violin / The Rain | Woman - The Violin | La Mama |
| 2000 | Gravegnomes | | La Mama |
| 2003 | Rabbit | Kate | Stables Theatre with Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2003 | The Threepenny Opera | Tiffany | Belvoir Street Theatre |
| 2004–05 | Ray's Tempest | Ruthie | Belvoir Street Theatre |
| 2004 | Kimberly Akimbo | | Ensemble Theatre |
| 2005 | The World's Wife | Littie Red Cap / Queen Herod / Pilate's Wife / Mrs Sisyphus / Queen Kong / The Devil's Wife / Mrs Lazarus / Mrs Icarus / Eurydice / Elvis's Twin Sister | Fairfax Studio with Melbourne Theatre Company |
| 2007 | Othello | | Playhouse Canberra, Playhouse Melbourne, Sydney Opera House, Orange Civic Theatre with Bell Shakespeare |
| 2007 | Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train | Mary Jane Hanrahan | Belvoir Street Theatre |
| 2011 | Pin Drop | Voice Over Artist | Malthouse Theatre |
| 2014 | Parramatta Girls | Melanie | Riverview Productions at Lennox Theatre, Parramatta |
| 2016 | The Importance of Being Ernest | | Ensemble Theatre |
| 2017 | In Real Life | Theresa Faber | Darlinghurst Theatre |
| 2018 | The Readers | Annie | Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre |
| 2023 | Camp | Krissi | Seymour Centre with Siren Theatre Company |
| 2024 | Othello | Emilia | Playhouse Canberra, Playhouse Melbourne, Sydney Opera House, Orange Civic Theatre with Bell Shakespeare |
| | Set Piece | | Sydney Festival |
| | Macbeth | | Sydney Theatre Company |
| | The Loaded Ute | | Sydney Theatre Company |
| | Hamlet | | Theatre Up North Qld |
| | A Christmas Carol | | American Drama Group Europe |

### As crew

| Year | Title | Role | Location / Co. |
| 1988 | East | Producer | Bay Street Theatre |
| 1992 | The Tale of the Tiger | Designer / Director | Seymour Centre & European tour |
| 1994 | Bloodwood | Playwright | |
| 1995 | Shorts Program | Co-Author | Wharf Theatre |
| 2000 | Gravegnomes | Playwright / Director | La Mama |
| 2000 | The Sax Diaries | Director | The Fitzroy Gallery for Melbourne International Comedy Festival |
| 2013 | Stolen | Director | Education Program at Riverside Theatres Parramatta |
| 2014 | The Shoe-Horn Sonata | Director | Education Program at Riverside Theatres Parramatta |
| 2014–15 | Fast and Fresh (performance shorts) | | Riverside Theatres Parramatta |
| 2016 | Betrayal in Shakespeare | | Sport for Jove for Shakespeare Carnival 2016 |
| 2020 | Girl Wild | Playwright | Australian Plays with Red Hot Arts Festival. Nominated for the Rodney Seabourne Award |
| 2023 | Amadeus | Resident Director | Sydney Opera House |
| | MotherHunt | | Red Hot Arts Festival |
| | Malawa | Director | Seymour Centre with OnSTAGE |
| | Sunset Estate | Director | Seymour Centre with OnSTAGE |
| | The Astonishing World of Wonders: School of Life (aka Happiness is a Place Called School) | Playwright | Newtown High School of the Performing Arts (Senior showcase) |

## Books

| Year | Title | Type |
| | The Girl Who Lost Her Bounce | Novella |
| 2020 | Radical Rock and Roll Resilience: How to Get Up, Get Real & Totally Rock Your Life | Autobiography |
| 2020 | My Quarantine Companion | e-book (collaborator) |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Nominated work | Organisation | Award | Result |
| 2009 | 3 Acts of Murder | Australian Film Institute | Best Guest or Supporting Actress in Television Drama | Won |
| 2020 | Girl Wild | The Seaborn Broughton & Walford Foundation | Rodney Seabourne Playwrights Award | Nominated |

## Personal life

In the 1980s Finsterer was involved in two car accidents, having to undergo many operations including skin grafts, facial reconstruction, a hand replacement and an ear reconstruction from her rib cartilage.