PEOPLE - ACTORS

Catherine Downes / Actor

Catherine Downes has had an international career as actor and director spanning four decades. She has worked in theatre, film and television on both sides of the Tasman as an actress, director and playwright.

Catherine graduated from the Queen Elizabeth 2nd Drama School [now Toi Whakaari], after completing a B.A. in English, Politics and Drama at Victoria University. After three years professional acting experience in New Zealand, she travelled to Europe where she established two theatre companies, in Amsterdam and in London, and developed her acclaimed one woman Play, THE CASE OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD.

Catherine has played approximately 1,000 performances of THE CASE OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD in six countries over the last twenty years, winning awards in Britain, New Zealand and Australia. In Australia, Catherine worked for several years as a member of the Nimrod Actors Company in Sydney.

After returning to New Zealand, Catherine focussed on directing and won several Chapman Tripp Wellington Theatre Awards. She was Artistic Director of The Court Theatre for 5 years and Director of Downstage Theatre for 2 years.

Recent acting roles include Arthur Meek's COLLAPSING CREATION which won her a 2009 Chapman Tripp nomination for Best Actress, and Circa and Centrepoint's productions of Roger Hall's FOUR FLAT WHITES IN ITALY. She has just directed Briar Grace Smith’s classic PURAPURAWHETU for the Auckland Maori Playwrights Festival.

In 1998 Catherine was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her Services to the Arts.