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Australian actress Wendy Hughes was trained as a ballerina before attending the National Institute of the Dramatic Arts. After several seasons with the Melbourne Theatre Company, Hughes emerged as one of the leading lights of so-called "New Australian Film" movement. She was nothing less than brilliant as the mother of Judy Davis in Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career (1979); she followed this triumph with starring roles in Lonely Hearts (1981) and Careful He Might Hear You (1983), for which she won the Australian Film Institute award (the Australian equivalent of the Oscar) for Best Lead Actress. She also dabbled in screenwriting, with 1989's Luigi's Ladies. Her television work included the miniseries Amerika (1987) and A Woman Called Jackie (1991), and the role of Kate McGregor on the weekly Snowy River: The McGregor Saga. Hughes continued to be a major presence in the Australian film, TV and stage scene until her death in 2014 at age 61.