Belinda Giblin

Giblin was born in Tamworth, New South Wales to Phyllis and Ted; she has two older brothers Ted Jn. and Graham, and a younger sister Allison. Her father Ted was a doctor at the Tamworth Base Hospital. Her mother ran the dramatic society, and acted and directed in productions.^[1] She died of breast cancer when Belinda was 23; her father died when he was 83.^[2] Giblin later recalled that her first stage role was playing Buttons in Cinderella, a school play. 'It was the first in a string of boy roles I played throughout my childhood.'^[3] She was offered a scholarship to the Australian Ballet School when she was 17, but chose to study arts at the University of Sydney. She then studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, before leaving after a year to practise her craft.^[4] In 2015 she told Cassie Tongue at AussieTheatre.Com that 'the first professional acting work I did was playing young boy roles for ABC radio.'^[3]

She appeared in the risqué, satirical 1970s soap opera The Box as Kay Webster,^[1] and in the 1980s melodrama Sons and Daughters as Alison Carr. The Alison Carr character was revealed to be the post-plastic surgery incarnation of the show's original and much vaunted villain, 'Pat the Rat' – Patricia Hamilton,^[5] originally played by Rowena Wallace. Giblin was cast in the role because of her resemblance to Wallace.^[6]

Giblin appeared in numerous series made by Crawford Productions over a 12-year period early in her career. These included Matlock Police,^[2] Division Four, Homicide, The Sullivans,^[1] Bluey (1976) and Skyways,.^[1] Aside from Crawford shows, she has been seen in Alvin Purple (1976), Heartbreak High, and Good Guys, Bad Guys, as well as Home and Away in which she played Cynthia Ross in 1991 and Martha Stewart, the first wife of regular Alf Stewart, from 2018.^[7]

Since 2013, she has also guest starred in The Horizon, a gay shortform web-series on YouTube, as Wilma (the drag queen's) mother.^[8]

In 2015, she received acclaim and a nomination as Best Actress as the Sydney Theatre Awards for her role as Stella Goldschlag in Blonde Poison in a range of performances across Australia Sydney.^[9] The Gail Lowe play is a one-woman show about a Jewish woman who became a Nazi collaborator during World War II.^[5]

In 2017, she appeared in Bent 101 as Babs DeVure in an Australian short form comedy series that was on the Seven Network.^[1]

She also works as a corporate trainer.^[1]

Giblin has been married to Axel Bartz (a set designer) since around 1984. She was performing in a theatre production Bedroom Farce when it came to Adelaide and Bartz was the resident designer of the Adelaide Theatre Company.^[2] She has two children, Romy and Nicholas, and lives in Leichhardt.^[5] Her father-in-law was in the German music corps.^[2]

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