Gillian Armstrong (b. 1950) studied theatre and film-making at Swinburne Technical College and was a star student at the newly-established Australian Film and Television School in the early 70s. After several shorts and documentaries, in 1976 she released her full-length film, the 16mm The Singer and the Dancer, which won the award for best narrative film at the 1976 Sydney Film Festival. In 1979 Armstrong directed her first feature, the critically-acclaimed My Brilliant Career - winner of seven AFI awards, including those for best picture and best director. In her first American film, Mrs Soffel (1984), she drew acclaimed performances from Mel Gibson and Diane Keaton. After making several further films in Australia, including Hightide (1987) and The Last Days of Chez Nous (1992), she returned to the US to make the highly popular Little Women (1994). She has since made Oscar and Lucinda (1997) and Charlotte Gray (2001), both featuring Cate Blanchett; Death Defying Acts, a drama about Houdini starring Guy Pearce; and the documentaries Unfolding Florence (2006) and Love Lust and Lies (2010).
