Ginette McDonald

Ginette McDonald was born by the sea in Wellington. From a large noisy Irish/French family, her independent spirit was nurtured by her parents, her convent school and the prevailing ‘can do’ Kiwi attitude. She began acting professionally at the age of 14 at Wellington’s Downstage Theatre.

Her gum-chewing, vowel-challenged alter ego Lyn of Tawa was born two years later. Lyn of Tawa, with her enthusiastic promotion of Kiwi products has become, in her own words, ‘Cultural Ambassador and Certifiable Living Treasure’.

Ginette McDonald’s career has spanned over 30 years including a five year stint in England in the 1970’s. As an actress, she has also done an enormous amount of theatre, television and radio in both countries.

For many years she worked for Television New Zealand as a drama producer and director. She has written articles, opinion columns, reviews, after dinner speeches and debates. She has won numerous awards for acting, producing and public speaking. Ginette’s television roles have included hosting the garden makeover show ‘Ground Force’, the light-hearted ‘PA for a Day’ and she was one of the participants in TV One’s ‘The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee’. She appeared in the documentary ‘Dunnies Down Under’, plumbing the depths of New Zealanders’ lavatory habits, and also on a documentary ‘Warts ‘n All’.

Ginette McDonald has appeared at Wellington’s Circa Theatre in ‘A Passionate Woman’ playing the title role. Most recently she won the International Best Performance at the Worldplay Radio Drama conference in Dublin.

Ginette was a nominee for Best Presenter in the TV Guide TV Awards 2000. She is an avid consumer of Kiwi Product – particularly the food and can still deliver the goods because “I can honestly say I’ve got everything I had 20 years ago…it’s just all a bit lower”.