Sacha Horler

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Sacha Horler

Sacha Horler (born February 12, 1970, Sydney) is an Australian actress. She has quickly gained a reputation for bold and skilled portrayals in acclaimed native productions, and won two Australian Film Institute acting awards in 1999, winning Best Actress as a sexual obsessive in Praise, and Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a young divorced mother dealing along with her siblings with her mother's terminal illness in Soft Fruit. Horler's parents were lawyers, but co-founded Sydney's Nimrod Theatre Company in the early 1970s, so she grew up with an affection and appreciation for drama instilled from an early age.

[edit] Biography

In 1993 she graduated from Sydney's prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts and made her film debut two years later with a role in the music-themed comedy Billy's Holiday. In 1997, Horler was featured in the Australian produced drama Blackrock, and even appeared in the international hit Babe: Pig in the City the following year. Among her notable Sydney stage credits were featured roles in the one-act play collection Playgrounds (1996) and Harold Pinter's theater classic The Birthday Party (1997).

Next up for the actress was her breakthrough role, that of the passionate, manic and demanding Cynthia, a young woman suffering from chronic eczema who falls in love with alcoholic asthmatic Gordon (Peter Fenton) in the gritty drama Praise. Horler proved a courageous and dedicated performer to tackle the role, which featured several sobering sex scenes and a great deal of unromanticized nudity. Add in her character's chronic eczema, overbearing personality and bad dye job, and it is obvious that Horler had to become quite an unattractive person for the film, yet she brought to her character an odd and endearing dignity and charm.

Horler's follow-up supporting role in Soft Fruit called for the physical alterations of weight gain and wildly curly hair. In this funny, yet harrowing examination of family, life and death, she played Nadia, the middle daughter of a woman (Jeanie Drynan) stricken with terminal cancer. Horler brought exuberant life to Nadia, portraying her both as a free-spirit and a fighter who sees more of her unstable father in herself than she'd like to. In 2000, both of these films saw release in the United States, further raising her profile. That year, she also had a supporting turn in the drama My Mother Frank, starring as the married daughter of a widow (Sinead Cusack) who returns to school after her children have grown.

She also appeared in the TV series CrashBurn playing "Abby". Although the series was not popular, she did a very good job and proved her versatility as an actress. She is currently appearing in Love My Way.

[edit] Filmography

Love My Way (2004) TV Series .... (2006-)
BlackJack: Ace Point Game (2005) (TV) .... Angie
The Illustrated Family Doctor (2005) .... Carol Kelp
Look Both Ways (2005) .... Linda
Go Big (2004) (TV) .... Michaela Twinch
Syntax Error (2003) .... Lauren
CrashBurn (2003) TV Series .... Abby
Travelling Light (2003) .... Bronwyn White
Farscape ... aka Far Horizon (Australia) -Prayer (2003) TV Episode .... Morrock
Halifax f.p: Takes Two (2002) (TV) .... Karen Oldfield
Secret Bridesmaids' Business (2002) .... Lucy Dean
Chang (2001) (mini) TV Series .... Nerida
Russian Doll (2001) .... Liza
Walk the Talk (2000) .... Bonita
My Mother Frank (2000) .... Margaret
Grass Roots (2000) TV Series .... Helen Manoufis
Soft Fruit (1999) .... Nadia
Babe: Pig in the City (1998) .... Night Nurse
Praise (1998) .... Cynthia
Murder Call -More Than Meets the Eye (1998) TV Episode .... Elspeth
Blackrock (1997) .... Teacher
Water Rats -Bad Blood (1996) TV Episode .... Christine Martin
Billy's Holiday (1995) .... Kristin