Alison Routledge

The globetrotting daughter of an English army officer, Alison Routledge moved to New Zealand as a teenager. After winning a place at Drama School on a dare, Routledge scored lead roles in television’s The Garden Party (1983) and classic end of the world movie The Quiet Earth. Routledge has also done time as a singer, and as a presenter on children's nature show Wildtrack. Her acting roles include ghost tale The Returning, acclaimed movie Rain, and playing a memorably loopy Mum in 2005 short film Nothing Special.

I’m basically a shy person, but I was in such a flippant mood when I did the audition, I sailed through with no worries. Alison Routledge in 1986, on auditioning for drama school