Michele Amas

Michele Louise Amas (8 October 1961 – 26 December 2016) was a New Zealand actress of stage, screen, television and radio, poet and playwright. She began writing poetry at age 10 and began her professional acting career in 1980. Amas wrote and directed the 2002 short film Redial which competed at the Venice Film Festival in the same year. and her first collection of poetry, After the Dance, published in 2006 was shortlisted for a Montana New Zealand Book Award and nominated for the 2008 Prize in Modern Letters. She earned a Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for her portrayal of Barbara in the 2011 play August: Osage County.

Biography Amas was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 8 October 1961. She was the daughter of Beth and Bruce Amas and had an older brother. Amas was brought up in Dunedin. She and attended Queen's High School, where she got inspiration to become a professional actress from her drama teacher. She relocated to Wellington in 1982 and graduated from the drama school Toi Whakaari two years later. Amas had a cameo role as a horse in the 1980 British film The Elephant Man. In 1985, She portrayed Olwen as a young woman in the fourth and sixth episodes of the New Zealand television programme Heart of the High Country.

In 1991, Amas played Anna Cassar in the television series Shark in the Park and as a mother in the television programmes Christmas Shopping and Wonderful World. Amas was Primose Iredale in the first episode of the 1995 television programme Mirror, Mirror. Amas researched for the role by consulting several pathologists and learnt more women were becoming pathologists. She earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the series in 2000. From 1997 to 1998, Amas played Ruby in the television series The Enid Blyton Secret Series. It was shortlisted for the NZSA Jessie McKay Award as the Best First Book of Poetry Award at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards (today the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards) and was nominated for the 2008 Prize in Modern Letters. The performance earned her a Chapman Tripp Theatre Award. She wrote the 2014 comedy-drama play The Pink Hammer,

Personal life She was married to the playwright Ken Duncum. She had one child. On 26 December 2016, Amas died in Wellington following a long period of time with cancer. Her funeral took place at All Saints Church on the afternoon of 30 December 2016, in Hataitai, Wellington.

Approach Bill Manhire, the Victoria University Institute of Modern Letters founding director, said of Amas' poetry: "Her poems have a domestic focus, and are full of wit and thoughtfulness and tenderness, and - as you'd expect from someone with her theatre background – they have perfect pitch and perfect timing." New Zealand Poetry Shelf's Paula Green added: "There is a tenderness, a maternal cord that feeds the poems and ignites every mother cell in your body as you read." Actor Ray Henwood commented on Amas' acting style: "She was able to pick up a character immediately and absorb it from the very first rehearsal."