Linda Jean Bruno

A performer from a very young age, the film industry first crossed Linda Jean's path in the 1990s when the Australian film Proof (1991) starring Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker, Muriel's Wedding) was filmed in her family's Italian restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. Giving her a first glimpse into the craft both in front of and behind the camera, so began Linda Jean's understanding of and amazement for the world she would go on to become a part of. Years of performance study and independent productions later, Linda Jean's screen debut came in 2002 in the black and white short film The Way Back (2003) by multi-award winning Producer Lizzette Atkins. This went on to win the Golden Gate Award Narrative Short at the San Francisco International Film Festival in the following year. Guest appearances followed on popular Australian series Blue Heelers (1994) , Last Man Standing (2005) and the series finale of The Secret Life of Us (2001) ; the three-time silver Logie Award-winning Australian television drama series set in the beach side suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia which screened in Australia on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK. More recently, Linda Jean was cast in the recurring role of Maria Buraczek on the iconic soap opera Neighbours (1985) in 2017, the longest running drama series in Australian television. 2017 also saw her cast as Italian-speaking immigrant Carmella Colonna in the ABC period drama series The Doctor Blake Mysteries (2013). Requiring that she speak only in Italian, Linda Jean performed alongside talented Actor, Comedian, Director and Producer Frank Lotito (her on screen husband) on the episode "A Good Drop" under the direction of multi award winning director Fiona Banks. This was not the first time Linda Jean had been tasked with bringing her bilingual talent to a role. In 2004, she appeared in the comic role of a Sicilian waitress in the multi-award winning eight part television documentary John Safran vs. God (2004) which was broadcast on SBS TV in Australia. Her introduction to the world of web series was via the key Supporting Role of Chloe in web series Subclass 417 (2013) directed by Max Orter which was produced in conjunction with and distributed by Melbourne Web Series Festival. This production went on to win awards both nationally and internationally, and lead to Linda Jean's casting in a number of other web series, including a surprise cameo co-host gig in Max De Bowen's Inside Web Series (2013). Filmmakers have frequently cast Linda Jean in period pieces of the glamorous 40s, 50s and 60s. She starred in dance-punk duo DZ Deathrays' music video for TripleJ Hottest 100 track, 'Gina Works At Hearts'. Linda Jean's performance in the title role of Gina was reviewed as "seductive, tragic and addictive"; a vision of Director, Noel Smyth, drawing out a nasty twisted tale: "Striking a pose halfway between 40s burlesque and a neon-tinted strip club nightmare, we're first introduced to Gina (played by Linda Jean Bruno) as a talented and beautiful singer, backed by a small jazz band made up of DZ's Simon and Shane. However all is not as it seems, as the video follows the track's titular protagonist and slowly reveals the true sad reality of her life." In 2017, Linda Jean also went on to appear in her first Australian independent feature film The Last Supper Of The Damned, in the supporting role of Diamond. This production won the 2017 Orson Welles award at the California Film Awards. Linda Jean's diverse performance styles and techniques can be attributed to life and training in Europe, the United States and Australia, as well as on set where she is constantly developing her craft. She has trained with renowned Hollywood acting coach Margie Haber, the late Elizabeth Kemp, Abbe Holmes and has practiced extensively with the well-respected screen acting Director, Writer and coach Aleksi Vellis of Film Space. Linda Jean has also frequented courses at Victorian College of the Arts, National Theatre Drama School, Howard Fine Acting Studio and is a regular student at 16th Street Acting Studio in Melbourne. Attending Los Angeles comedy institutes; The Second City, Lesly Kahn and Groundlings has further extended Linda Jean's skills in the realm of comedic improvisation. Talented, skilled and beautiful, Linda Jean was voted as one of the "most beautiful undiscovered Australian actresses" on IMDB in 2012.