Background
Downey grew up a middle-class Catholic family in the Melbourne suburb of East Malvern in an eight-child family. Her father worked as a chartered accountants
Downey grew up a middle-class Catholic family in the Melbourne suburb of East Malvern in an eight-child family. Her father worked as a chartered accountants
She attended Sacré Cœur School with fellow comedian Jane Turner in Glen Iris, and then studied Arts/Law at the University of Melbourne, where she resided at Newman College.
At university, she began to perform in university revues, and auditioned for performing arts courses at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Melbourne, but was not successful in gaining entry to any of them. Downey first rose to prominence in the sketch comedy program The Doctorate-Generation on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the late 1980s. In these, she was known for her portrayals of a news anchor, a stern Business School presenter and for her spot-on impression of current affairs host Jana Wendt.
Her spoof of "The What"s On Business School Presenter" satirised the eccentricity of Business School programming, displaying grim masochistic determination to "not miss a moment of this scintillating entertainment".
In 2005, Downey was cast as a regular player in Seven"s live comedy sketch show Let Loose Live, but the show was cancelled after just two episodes due to low ratings. The following year, she appeared in the sketch show Magda"s Funny Bits alongside Magda Szubanski.
In this show, she recreated her role as infomercial host Janelle, first developed on Fast Forward. Downey"s television roles are often authority figures or professional women with slightly eccentric personalities, such as the relationship-counsellor she played in comedy series Kath & Kim.
On Fast Forward, Marg Downey appeared in a lot of sketches with Steve Vizard, such as Eyeball News, The Midday Show, Candid Camera, The Cosby Show and Get Smart.
Downey also played Clancy in the Skippy send-up, and appeared in send-ups of I Dream Of Jeannie, Mr Editor and Bewitched.
She subsequently appeared in later sketch comedy series with other members of The Doctorate-Generation, including Fast Forward, Full Frontal and Something Stupid.