Vikki Blanche (born 1966 or 1967) is an Australian actress and director. She made her television debut in the children's series Home in 1983, followed by a role in the ABC drama The Keepers. Shortly after graduating from the National Theatre in late 1984, Blanche was cast as Julie Robinson in the soap opera Neighbours, which began airing in March 1985. She received praise for her performance from critics, but after seven months she decided to leave the serial so she would not be typecast in the future. Blanche joined the cast of The Flying Doctors as Paula Patterson in 1988. She also appeared in the sitcom Col'n Carpenter and the 1991 miniseries Rose Against the Odds. Blanche then spent 18 months living and studying acting in New York City. Upon her return to Australia, Blanche was cast as Senior Detective Chris Faithful in the second season of the ABC police drama Phoenix. After an appearance in the 1997 feature film Road to Nhill, Blanche wrote and directed The Other Days of Ruby Rae, which earned her a nomination for Best Screenplay in a Short Film at the 2000 AFI Awards. Blanche has since gone on to direct television commercials.
Career
Blanche's passion for acting began when she was around eight years old. She made her television debut in the 1983 ABC children's series Home. The following year, Blanche appeared alongside Bill Hunter and David Cameron in the nine-part ABC drama series The Keepers. The show focuses on the lives of Fisheries and Wildlife officers in a small community. Blanche plays Kim, daughter of Catherine Wilkin's Aggie French. She also guested in The Young Doctors. Blanche graduated from the National Theatre in November 1984.
Blanche's breakthrough role was that of Julie Robinson in the soap opera Neighbours. Blanche admitted to not taking the audition seriously, as she had only just graduated from school and did not think she would win the role. She was cast in December 1984, started filming in January 1985, and made her debut in the first episode on 18 March 1985. Neighbours initially focussed on three households, and the cast was made up of new, young actors and well-known veterans. Margaret Koppe of TV Radio Extra described Blanche's character as complex. Julie appears to be helpful and caring, but she often interferes and schemes. Marie McNamara of The Age praised Blanche for her performance, while a reporter for the Aberdeen Press and Journal said she made Julie "one of the most popular characters in the Australian soap." Blanche dated her co-star David Clencie during her time in the serial and the couple lived together for six months. After seven months playing Julie, Blanche left Neighbours before the end of her contract. She admitted that she did not want to stay in the same role for a long time and end up typecast.
Following her departure from Neighbours, Blanche worked at the St Martin's Theatre in Melbourne and had a guest role in an episode of The Flying Doctors. In 1988, she re-joined the cast of The Flying Doctors in the bigger role of Paula Patterson. Alongside her Flying Doctors co-star Liz Burch and singer Neil Finn, Blanche appeared in Nine Network's A Chance for the Children programme in 1990, which highlighted the need for water, health care and education in third world countries.
Blanche starred as Julia in the Network Ten sitcom Col'n Carpenter for a year. She also filmed a role as Jenny Rose in the 1991 miniseries Rose Against the Odds, which tells the story of Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose. Blanche met with the real Jenny Rose to talk about her life and relationship with Lionel. Blanche later felt that working on both productions simultaneously made her lose respect for her job because of the scheduling, so she decided to go overseas to study acting in order to stay challenged. Blanche spent 18 months living and working in New York City. She studied acting at the HB Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and chose not to attend auditions or seek roles. She worked as a waitress in order to pay her rent.