Sue Belinda Giblin (born 2 March 1950) professionally billed as Belinda Giblin, is an Australian actress who has played prominent roles in theatre and television soap operas, and several feature films.
Giblin's television roles include Kay Webster in The Box (1974-1975); Sister Sue Marriott in The Sullivans (1977–1978); and Alison Carr in Sons and Daughters (1985-1987). She has also had two stints in Home and Away, first as Cynthia Ross in 1991, then as Martha Stewart, the long-presumed-dead wife of Alf Stewart, a role she played on a recurring basis from 2018 to 2022.
Early life
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.'[5]
Career
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,[6] originally played by Rowena Wallace. Giblin was cast in the role because of her resemblance to Wallace.[7]
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[10]. The Gail Lowe play is a one-woman show about a Jewish woman who became a Nazi collaborator during World War II.[6]
In 2017, she appeared in Bent 101 as Babs DeVure in an Australian short form comedy series that was on the Seven Network.[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.[6] Her father-in-law was in the German music corps.[2]
^"Alf's wife returns". Soap World. No. 307. May 2018. p. 14. Actress Belinda has previously appeared in Home and Away in 1991, in the role of Cynthia Ross, the first wife of regular character Michael Ross
