Date of Birth
18 November ????,
New Zealand
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini Biography
Anna Wilding is the actress,producer and director about whom movie Director Richard Franklin once said in Cannes with humor "I need an entire address book for you Anna".
Wilding won her first acting award, "Best Actress", at the International Theater festival at the age of 19 for a play she Wrote, Directed,Produced. Anna was a professional Theatresports player and won the "Audience Favorite Award". Wilding performed live at the Celebrity West Coast launch of the Tony Awards 2000 in the USA.
Anna is an ex-pat New Zealander. Anna Wilding resides out of the USA Australia, London. Wilding was first noticed by USA Disney's casting directors at the age of 16 in New Zealand. Anna left New Zealand when still a teenager after working in the feature film, television and theater business there.
Very young Anna was on the short list for "An Angel at my Table" but didn't do the final auditions. she left to study acting part time at Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne instead and ended up in New York a few years later doing Shakespeare off-Broadway the day the film opened in New York. Wilding came to live in Los Angeles by herself at the age of 20, at the suggestion of casting directors. Wilding did not have any kind of mentor-ship in Hollywood but made a strong and respectable debut into the American entertainment industry working both behind and in front of the camera. Wilding did returned to LA after the Off Broadway to take up music video contract/s and began her "whiz kid" journey through the freelance and executive ranks of the LA film industry.
Anna completed the indie feature film Buddha Wild (releasing 2006 and 2007), as Narrator/Presenter and Director, Writer and Producer. Her additional responsibilities also included cinematography. The film releasing in Los Angeles, NZ and elsewhere earned Critics Pic in the LA Weekly and was on the Academy eligibility list for 2007 in General Catagories.
In 2005, Anna's "Rebel In Me", (actress, director, producer) (made for the International Songwriter of the Year 2004) was nominated for 2005 Los Angeles Femme Film Festival and played to rapturous applause in a packed house in downtown LA.
Anna has appeared in trade, consumer magazines and newspapers worldwide. Known for being smart, Wilding has several shining talents that are not limited solely to the film business. Twice she has been asked to run for office in NZ.
Anna was an Executive of a couple of "hip" independent film companies including Moving Horse Pictures out of London. she made an industry name in production and in-house producer or Exec positions as a woman in the nineties for 'kicking butt' in the independent feature film scene in LA and London. Casual industry observers and insiders/agents nicknamed her the 'queen of the independents' in the nineties for her quiet but strong contributions to the independent film scene. Not bad considering the male dominated business She started in and helped change. However, as a woman, Wilding was often not paid equally as her male cohorts and she took much time to learn that "credits" were important and to make sure you got them. Still to this day Anna focuses less on the credits and more on the work. She has worked on over twenty feature films.
If one was to compile a lists of films and deals that Anna had pass through her desk worldwide for advice, be it story editing, writing, consulting, casting, finance or otherwise the list would be a venerable list of Award-winning projects, Award-winning talents and indie favs throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Wilding was officially "Thanked for humanitarian work " on all three Lord of the Rings films in 2001-2004 by Mark Ordesky New Line in 2007.
Following her heart and her creative spirit in 1999/2001 Anna made parallel moves back into Acting and Comedy (for which she won awards prior) after a very credible stint in the executive and production end of the business. Anna works mainly in film, however television credits include the first "battered wife",Gail, on the long running NZ prime time serial Shortland St.
Anna has creatively developed, written, produced and consulted and been involved during the production on a range of projects which have been nominated for major Awards around the world.
Anna's had a background in music playing in bands and prior to this, from the ages of 10-15 she was a competitive tennis player. Headlines read at the time, "Wilding Keeps the Flag Flying." Wilding won her first tournament at the age of ten after hitting balls with a stick against a shed in a country paddock. Her family, with an ill parent, could not afford the trip to Florida to train with Bolitteri though it was discussed. Anna still plays tennis. Parents are of English/Scottish/Welsh, French, Swedish, Spanish, German, Polish descent. Father, a former lawyer and prior to that farmer, mother an exhibiting landscape artist (currently). Mother used to model for Vogue in London and was partially handicapped being born with polio.
Trivia
Turned down a modeling contract with three major agencies as a teenager as was already performing professionally as an actor. Models on request only. Was too shy to do swimwear modeling.
A former competitive tennis player sponsored by Adidas as a teenager. Not related to actor Michael Wilding, however, is the closest relative and grand-niece of eight times (singles and doubles) Wimbledon tennis champ and adventurer Anthony Wilding.
Winner Best play at The International Fringe Theatre Festival for "Patience of Silence"
Winner Best Player of the Season: Professional Theatre sports
one of ten public women nominated for New Zealander of the Year 2000 by the public (NZ Herald newspaper nationwide/International poll).
Due to Wilding's generous and extensive consultancy and investigative work on Lord of the Rings, (prior to and then in tandem with the American Humane Association Film Unit) there are now both better general safety regulations and standards, and new animal welfare laws and rules governing the film industry in NZ.
Combined with Rialto Cinemas to donate proceeds from sell out cinema showing of rough cut of Buddha Wild: Monk in a Hut to the tsunami relief appeal in 2005. Later on did an outdoor gala screening in Yosemite Pines Resort Bass Lake United States to benefit Amnesty. Film was formally released in cinemas in 2006 with more releases in 2007.
In France the Anna Wilding fansite was voted in the top ten fansites in the world for three consecutive years.
Wilding is an old English family name meaning Wild Flower.
Has background in music. Performed publicly and recorded with a couple of bands as a young teenager.
Was first written up in the media at age 10 or 12 for sports.
Now I understand even more that there is nothing glamorous about war. Nothing heroic or romantic. All these young men dead, even without names. And this terrible cold. I wonder if it was as cold as this in 1915. - at Flanders 2005.
.JPG)
