Alice Garner

As Carmen Blake...

Carmen is Meredith's somewhat wayward niece. She is very much a child of the earth, or at least that is the impression that she would like the world at large to have of her. She is very attuned to things alternative, highly receptive to new age and dabbles in all areas spiritual, herbal or healing, but never really becomes expert in any of them. Carmen thinks of herself as existing on a different plane. Much of Pearl Bay thinks that she exists on a different planet.

As Alice Garner...

At 29-years-old Alice is already a veteran performer.

Her first professional role was as a child in the lead role of Gracie in the feature film, Monkey Grip. Since then she has performed in every facet of the industry and been critically awarded.

Alice comes from a family involved in theatre, film and writing, so from early childhood she enjoyed an environment where self-expression and performance were encouraged.

After completing schooling she worked at the Anthill Theatre Company and has worked since in film, television and radio. Her credits include Skirts, Embassy, Flying Doctors, Nostradamus Kid, Miss Taurus, Maiden Head and Frail Mary, for which she won Best Female Actor at the Brisbane Independent Filmmakers Awards. She also played the lead role of Alice in the film, Love and Other Catastrophes, for which she was nominated as Best Actress in the 1996 AFI Awards and won Best Supporting Actress in The Film Critics Circle Awards, 1997. She is soon to appear in Strange Planet, the movie directed by Emma Kate Croghan which also stars Tom Long.

Also an accomplished musician, Alice plays the cello in The Xylouris Ensemble, which performs contemporary, original and traditional Cretan music.

In between her various acting and music performances Alice has completed an Honours degree in History. She is now undertaking a Ph.D. in French History. Her ambition is not academia, but she loves research and writing, as well as giving her something to focus on when she is not acting.

Alice enjoys performing if character, material, cast and script are good. To her, SeaChange had all these qualities. "I love the character of Carmen. I like to create someone with different instincts from my own. Carmen is fearless, not constrained by social norms, and her lack of family support leads her to embrace other things, such as religion. It was also important to make the character convincing and not a stereotype of a new age hippie."

In series 2, Carmel starts a local newspaper with Max which gives focus to her life.