Alyssa McClelland

Alyssa McClelland (born 1981) is an Australian director, writer and actress. Early life and education McClelland was educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney and was Dux in her final year. She attended the University of Technology Sydney where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in Media Arts and Production, majoring in film. From the age of fifteen she trained and performed in productions with the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney until she received a scholarship that enabled her to study abroad with the Atlantic Theater Company in New York. Career McClelland's most recent short film Second Best won the Dendy Live Action Short Award at the Sydney Film Festival, the Australian Directors' Guild Award for Best Direction in a short film, Best Short Film at the Milano Film Festival, Best Foreign Film at Lake Shorts Film Festival, the Youth Award at 20MinMax Film Festival and Best Direction at Flickerfest</ref>. McClelland directed, wrote and produced the cult hit web series One Step Closer to Home seasons 1 and 2 and the short film Nic and Shauna which was a finalist in Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival. McClelland is a respected international commercial director, having won awards such as the Black Pencil at the D&AD Awards and Best Direction in the London International Awards. She was the recipient of the InStyle Magazine Woman of Style Scholarship for her work as a Filmmaker in Australia.