Robyn Jane Malcolm (born 1965) is a New Zealand actress, who first gained recognition for her role as nurse Ellen Crozier on the soap opera Shortland Street. She is best known for playing Cheryl West, matriarch to a sometimes criminal working-class family, in the television series Outrageous Fortune. She has also worked in Australia, including roles in the TV series Rake and Upper Middle Bogan. She plays the lead role in the six-part 2023 NZ drama After the Party.
Early life and education Robyn Jane Malcolm was born in 1965 in Ashburton, New Zealand.
She attended Ashburton College, and graduated from Toi Whakaari (New Zealand Drama School) with a Diploma in Acting in 1987.
Career Malcolm's first long-running television role was nurse Ellen Crozier in soap opera Shortland Street. She appeared on the show for over five years.
She played the lead role in television feature, Clare, based on the cervical cancer experiment at Auckland's National Women's Hospital which resulted in the Cartwright Inquiry.
In 1999, Malcolm was one of the founding members of the New Zealand Actors' Company along with Tim Balme, Katie Wolfe, and Simon Bennett. The company produced and toured a number of successful stage productions throughout New Zealand.
In 2005, Malcolm took on the role of Cheryl West, matriarch of the West family, in Outrageous Fortune. Mixing comedy and drama, the show became one of the highest-rated and most honoured in New Zealand history.
Malcolm co-starred in 2010 feature film The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell, playing mother to a family obsessed with go-karting and motorsports. She has also had small roles in movies Absent Without Leave directed by John Laing, The Last Tattoo directed by John Reid, Gaylene Preston's Perfect Strangers, and Christine Jeffs' Sylvia. She had a minor role as Morwen in the second film of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
She played Kirsty Corella in the Australian television series Rake, and Julie Wheeler in Upper Middle Bogan.
She plays Mrs Keene on the 2023 drama series Black Bird.
Malcolm plays the lead role in the six-part drama After the Party, which aired on TVNZ from 29 October 2023. The Guardian reviewer Luke Buckmaster called it "one of the greatest performances in any TV show in years".
On 31 January 2025, Malcolm was named in the cast for Netflix series The Survivors. On 29 January 2026, Malcolm was named in the cast for Stan Australia co-commissioned series Careless.
Recognition, awards, and honours Malcolm was nominated for Best Actress at the 1998 TV Guide Television Awards for her work in Shortland Street. She was nominated again for her role in Clare.
In 2003, Malcolm won an International Actors Fellowship at the Globe Theatre in London.
For her role in Outrageous Fortune, Malcolm won several television awards, including the Qantas TV Awards for Best Actress in 2005 and 2008, TV Guide Best Actress in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and Air NZ Screen Awards Best Actress in 2007.
Malcolm won the Woman's Day Readers' Choice Award for Favourite New Zealand Female Personality in 2005, and New Zealand's sexiest woman at the 2007 TV Guide Best on the Box awards.
In the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours, Malcolm was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to television and theatre.
In March 2024 she was honoured with a Best Actress accolade at the Series Mania film festival in Lille, France. She received this prestigious award in the International Panorama section for her outstanding performance in After the Party, a series she co-created with writer Dianne Taylor. This recognition marked a significant milestone as the first time a New Zealand entry had been considered for an award at the festival.
Filmography
Films + Year Title Role Notes 1992 Absent Without Leave Betty 1994 The Last Tattoo Working girl 2002 Morwen 2003 Perfect Strangers Aileen 2003 Sylvia 1st woman at Ted Hughes' lecture 2005 Boogeyman Dr. Matheson 2009 Foreman's wife uncredited 2010 Gail Snell 2011 Burning Man Kathryn Dent 2013 Drift Kat Kelly 2015 Dream Baby Marianne Short film 2016 Edith Barmaid Short film 2017 Goodness Grows Here Trish Short film 2017 Hostiles Minnie McGowan2018Twenty One PointsMumShort film2018CharmerWomanShort film2020This TownPam2024The Moon Is Upside DownHilary2025 Pike RiverSonya Rockhouse +Key Denotes films that have not yet been released
Television Year Title Role Notes 1989 Shark in the Park Janice Guest role (1 episode) 1990–91 Shark in the Park Janet Finn Guest role (2 episodes) 1992 Married Maddie 1993 Joyful & Triumphant Raewyn Television film 1994–99 Shortland Street Ellen Crozier Main role (600 episodes) 1999 Ma'am Guest role (1 episode) 2000 Clare Clare Matheson Television film 2000 Op' Stars Narrator Television documentary 2001 Atlantis High Violet Profusion Guest role (1 episode)2002How's Life?PanellistRecurring 2003 Mercy Peak Liz Guest role (2 episodes) 2003 Intrepid Journeys Herself 1 episode 2004 Serial Killers Pauline Lead role (7 episodes) 2005–10 Outrageous Fortune Cheryl West Lead role 2009 bro'Town Herself 1 episode 2009 Big Night In Herself Television special 2009 The Jaquie Brown Diaries Herself Guest (1 episode) 2010–14 Rake Kirsty Corella Recurring role (11 episodes) 2013 Top of the Lake Anita Main role (series 1; 7 episodes) 2013–14 Agent Anna Anna Kingston Lead role; also executive producer 2013–16 Upper Middle Bogan Julie Wheeler Main role 2014 Charlotte: A Life Without Limbs Presenter Television documentary 2015 Ruth Phelps Episode: "To Die or Not to Die" 2015 The Principal Sonya Guest role (1 episode) 2016–18 Wanted Donna Walsh Recurring role (10 episodes) 2016 The Code Marina Baxter Main role (series 2: 6 episodes) 2017 Wake in Fright Ursula Hynes miniseries 2018–21 Harrow Maxine Pavich Main role2018Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to YouIrene Newton-Johnminiseries 2018–19 The Outpost Elinor Main role (season 1–2: 23 episodes) 2021 My Life is Murder Tamara Innes Episode : "Call of the Wild" 2022 Black Bird Sammy Keen Recurring role 2023 Far North Heather Main role (season 1) After the Party Penny Wilding Main role 2024 Heartbreak High Cait White Guest role (Season 2, Episode 5)2025The SurvivorsVerity Elliott TV series2025Mystery Road: OriginSgt SimmoMain role (season 2: 6 episodes)2026RunThelma AbbottCo-star (6 part Australian mini series)TBACareless AngelaTV series +Key Denotes television series that have not yet been aired
Theatre Year Title Role Theatre1988 Lucy Brown Downstage Theatre1988 Various Downstage Theatre1988 Les Liaisons Dangereuses Cecile de Valonges Downstage Theatre1988 Judy Various Downstage Theatre1988 Jones & Jones Ida Baker Downstage Theatre1988 Gulls Puppeteer Downstage Theatre1989 Twelfth Night Viola BATS Theatre1989 The House of Bernarda Alba Martirio Downstage Theatre1989 Othello Bianca Downstage Theatre1989 Aunt Daisy Various Downstage Theatre1990 Sweet Nothings Various NZ Tour1990 Serious Money Mary Lou Baines / Various Downstage Theatre1990 Macbeth Ross / Hecate Downstage Theatre1990 Hamlet Ophelia BATS Theatre1990 The End of the Golden Weather Various Downstage Theatre1990 Conquest of the South Pole La Braukman BATS Theatre1991 Weed Raewyn Circa Theatre1991 Via Satellite Chrissy Circa Theatre1991 Cecily Cardew Downstage Theatre1991 Songs for Uncle Scrim Various Circa Theatre1991 A Pack of Girls Raewyn Downstage Theatre1993 Two Weeks with the Queen Various Circa Theatre1993 Lettice and Lovage Miss Farmer Circa Theatre1995 Othello Emilia Watershed Theatre1999 Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice Downstage Theatre2000 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Maggie the Cat Downstage Theatre2000 A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania NZ Actors Company2001 A Way of Life Jenny NZ Actors Company2001 A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania NZ Actors Company2002 Middle-Age Spread Judy Auckland Theatre Company2002 Queen Leah Kent / Caius NZ Actors Company2005 Cariolla Auckland Theatre Company2007 Susan Silo Theatre2010 Happy Days Winnie Silo Theatre2014 The Good Person of Szechwan Shen Teh Auckland Theatre Company
Personal life Malcolm was formerly married to Allan Clark and has two sons. She is in a relationship with Scottish actor Peter Mullan, whom she met while filming Top of the Lake in 2013. Her sister is married to Roger Sutton, the former CEO of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
Activism Malcolm voiced Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand advertisements for the New Zealand general election, 2008.
Malcolm has helped spearhead an actors' union campaign to negotiate standard contracts for actors in The Hobbit films. The producers refused, saying that collective bargaining would be considered price-fixing and therefore illegal under New Zealand law. The situation escalated into international calls for an actors' boycott of the films, but the boycott was called off. Several days later, the producers said they were considering moving the films to another country as they could not be guaranteed stability in New Zealand.
References
External links
Biography at Johnson and Laird Robyn's profile and ScreenTalk interview August 2009. Requires Flash Video software (53.6 MB).