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Mary-Anne Fahey

b. 1955

Australian actress

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About Mary-Anne Fahey

Born 1955. Mary-Anne Fahey is an Australian actor and film actor.

Mary-Anne Fahey (born 19 August 1955 as Mary-Anne Waterman) credited also as Maryanne Fahey, is an Australian actress, comedian, screenwriter and children's author.

Career Fahey has starred in and written for numerous TV and film comedy programs including The Comedy Company, Kittson Fahey, the first Australian female-only sketch comedy program, Get a Life and One Size Fits All. She had roles in Future Schlock, The Dunera Boys, All the Rivers Run II, Celia, Lucky Break and SeaChange. She has received roles in theatre including Mary Lives!.

Fahey is most famous for her work on Channel Ten's The Comedy Company especially for her school girl character, Kylie Mole, and three-year-old "Jophesine", the Play School Sketches with Glenn Robbins and the "Bedscene" sketches with her then real-life husband Ian McFadyen.

In the 1980s she appeared in an advertisement for David Reid electronics, which was promoting the Commodore Amiga 500.

Kylie Mole

Fahey's Kylie Mole character—a scowling schoolgirl—was so popular she published the best-selling novel My Diary by Kylie Mole. She released a Double A-Side single with tracks "So Excellent"/"I Go, I Go", which hit #8 on the Australian ARIA chart in November 1988. A music video for "So Excellent" was filmed. The Kylie Mole character was one of several iconic characters that appeared in the show. Her characterisation especially resonated with Australian youth. The Australian adoption of the word "bogan" was first popularised in the media by Kylie Mole, and other phrases she used gained a wider currency.

Later career Fahey lives in Melbourne and is concentrating on writing and children's theatre. In May 2007, she published her first children's novel, I, Nigel Dorking: An Autobiography about a Boy with an Unusual Vocabulary, a Suit of Armour and an Unshakeable Dream, Written by That Very Boy (Nigel Dorking), Grade Six ( and ).

Awards Fahey won a 1989 Logie Award for "Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality" for her work on The Comedy Company. She has won an AWGIE Award and an Irish-dancing trophy where she came second in a competition of two. He too has a background in comedy writing as a former writer for The Norman Gunston Show, and a satirical columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

From 2014, Fahey has been in a relationship with Paul Jennings, another children's book writer who had previously collaborated with Morris Gleitzman on two books series, Wicked and Deadly.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Type 1984 Future Schlock Sarah Feature film 1989 Celia Pat Carmichael Feature film 1994 Lucky Break (aka Paperback Romance) Myra Feature film

Television

Stage Year Title Role Venue / Company 1980 Alcestis University of Melbourne 1981 Carnival Knowledge Melbourne Comedy Cafe 1986 Faking It Presenter Living Arts Centre, Adelaide for Adelaide Fringe Festival 1986 Faking It 2 Presenter The Last Laugh, Melbourne 1987 No Trouble Universal Theatre, Melbourne 1992 Mary Lives! Mary Malthouse Theatre, Geelong Arts Centre, Monash University with Playbox Theatre Company 1992 A Night of Infectious Laughter Melbourne Athenaeum 1993 Humorists Read the Humorists Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit 1993 The Grand Finale Galah Canberra Theatre with Comedy Summit

As writer Year Title Role Venue / Company 1987 Duck Writer Le Joke, Melbourne with Handspan Theatre

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Nationality

Family & relationships

Spouse
Ian McFadyen
Spouse
Morris Gleitzman
Spouse
Paul Jennings (Australian author)

People in Mary-Anne Fahey's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Mary-Anne Fahey's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Mary-Anne Fahey?

Australian actress

When was Mary-Anne Fahey born?

Mary-Anne Fahey was born on 19 August 1955 in Melbourne.

What is Mary-Anne Fahey's occupation?

Mary-Anne Fahey is an actor and film actor.

What nationality is Mary-Anne Fahey?

Mary-Anne Fahey is Australian.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Mary-Anne Fahey

· Wikidata: Q6778712

· DBpedia: Mary-Anne Fahey

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Mary-Anne Fahey. https://biography.guide/mary-anne-fahey/

MLA: "Mary-Anne Fahey." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/mary-anne-fahey/.

Chicago: "Mary-Anne Fahey." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/mary-anne-fahey/.

Data last updated: 2026-09-22 · Spot an error? Report a correction.

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