Bio.

Andi Snelling is a multi-award-winning performer, writer, director and dramaturg. She is a gifted physical performer known for her raw honesty, quirky humour and no-holds-barred performance style. Andi was an Australia Council for the Arts Future Leader 2022 and is a highly sought-after speaker and facilitator. She runs her own arts mentoring business, Kick Up The Arts.

Andi has been on stage her entire life, growing up as a gymnast/dancer competing at national level. She was 3x Australia Junior Sport Aerobics Champion as a teenager. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (French & German) and Diploma in Creative Arts (Theatre Studies) from The University of Melbourne, completed on a scholarship program at the Freie Universität Berlin (2005), where she lived for 3 years and also trained in contemporary dance and contact improvisation.

Andi studied a Masters in Performance (Acting) at prestigious London drama school, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (2008), under Dame Judi Dench as president. She worked prolifically as an actor for 4 years in the UK before returning home to Melbourne where she has made a name for herself. Andi has continued to train extensively across many artistic forms including clowning, bouffon, puppetry, physical theatre, dance and improv comedy. She has undertaken acting programs at The Actors’ Temple London, Howard Fine Acting Studio Melbourne, and with Clown Master Giovanni Fussetti.

Andi’s acting highlights include: Edith in Picnic at Hanging Rock (BBC), Brinda (recurring role 2017-2019) in Neighbours (Fremantle Media), Ensemble in Crazy for You (London Palladium), Ellie in Gleisdreieck (Cannes Film Festival finalist), Inflight Voice for Qatar Airways, and her many appearances on Channel 31 comedy shows.

Andi’s directing credits include: Sheltered by Kathryn Hall (winner Best Theatre Weekly Award and Access Award, Adelaide Fringe 2023, nominated Best Theatre Award and Access & Inclusion Award, Melbourne Fringe 2023) and Same-Same 2.0 by No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability (nominated Best Ensemble, NZ Fringe 2022).

Andi has an outstanding reputation as a boundary-pushing theatre-maker with a passion for the human condition. She has a strong track record of selling out all four of her solo shows, with a fifth, Accidental Radical - a 1970s spy-thriller with fully embedded access - currently in development. Her physical theatre show exploring her chronic illness, Happy-Go-Wrong (2019) has garnered standing ovations, a slew of 5-star reviews, won 5 awards, received two Green Room Award nominations for Best Performer and Best Writing, and was named a “highlight of the year” by The Age and came in at #4 of the Top 10 Theatre Shows of 2022 in South Australia by The Barefoot Review. Happy-Go-Wrong continues to tour to main stages, with a recent season at Adelaide Festival Centre. Andi’s hit new one-on-one performance art experience, type-a-poet (2022) was named a Top Pick of Melbourne Fringe 2022 by The Age, was nominated for Best in Experimental Award and is currently touring major festivals across Australia, with a recent season at Brisbane Festival 2023. She is currently in a rework development of her gothic dance-theatre show, Déjà Vu (And Other Forms of Knowing).

Andi is particularly passionate about the intersection of art and health following her personal journey with chronic illness after developing Lyme disease. Her work champions the idea that life is precious and we all matter in the shared fabric of humanity. Andi is a respected voice in the disability arts community, and is regularly engaged to speak and teach on access and theatre-making, including for Arts Access Victoria, Drama SA, and the Victorian College of the Arts. She is an ambassador for the Lyme Disease Association of Australia, a founding member of the Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Wellbeing Advisory Group and works as a Disability Inclusion Facilitator for Purple Orange. She previously served as a board member for No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. Andi has 10+ years' experience in facilitating Empathy in Medicine training within the medical sector and has written an academic paper on the subject. She is also an experienced improviser, MC, published poet and translator (French-English & German-English).

Skills.

Singing: Alto

Dance: Aerobics, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Contact Improvisation, Street, Rock 'n Roll, Polka, Waltz, Folk Dance, Social & Period Dance

Languages: English (native), French (fluent), German (fluent), Mandarin (beginner)

Accents: Australian (native), English (RP), French, German, Southern American, Standard American, Russian

Sports: Gymnastics, Yoga, Pilates, 3 x Australian Junior Sport Aerobics Champion, 15+ years national competitive Calisthenics (ballet/gymnastics), Netball, Basketball, Cricket

Other: Puppetry, Commedia Dell' Arte, Clowning, Physical Theatre, Stage Combat (UK Accreditation), Presenter, Autocue, Spoken Word/Performance Poetry, Voice-Over, Costume Character/Skins Work, Mask Work, Translation, Teaching, Audio Typing, Australian Driving Licence (car), Working with Children Check, First Aid Level 2, Animal Handling Level 1