--- name: "Alyssa McClelland" canonical: "https://film.one/person/alyssa-mcclelland" fi1m_id: "alyssa-mcclelland" imdb_id: "nm1046102" tmdb_id: 1245743 wikidata_id: "Q4738769" roles: ["Director"] born: "1 January 1981" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "director" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-17T21:19:01.012279+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Alyssa McClelland ## Identity Alyssa McClelland - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alyssa-mcclelland - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** alyssa-mcclelland - **IMDb ID:** nm1046102 - **TMDB ID:** 1245743 - **Wikidata ID:** Q4738769 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyssa_McClelland, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4738769, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1046102/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1245743 Director. Born 1 January 1981 in Australia. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 1 January 1981, Australia - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alyssa_McClelland, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4738769, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1046102/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1245743 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Amandaland*](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md) (80) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Alyssa McClelland > Alyssa McClelland trusts actors’ timing and gives barbed comedy room to work. We recommend *Amandaland* for its sharp performances, with a reservation about how well its wider ensemble hangs together. In *Amandaland* (2025), Lucy Punch makes a snob’s efforts to remain impressive painfully funny. Alyssa McClelland’s direction, alongside Simon Bird’s, keeps that performance at the centre. It is sharp, assured comedy that trusts its actors to carry it. We laughed hardest at Joanna Lumley’s cruelty; with the actors’ timing doing most of the work, the nastiness lands cleanly. The web series *One Step Closer to Home* (2011) put McClelland on both sides of the camera, directing, co-writing and performing. She also wrote, directed and produced the short *Second Best* (2018). On *Everything Now* (2023), she directed the opening two episodes; on the fourth series of *Sex Education* (2023), she directed the last three. Those assignments involved establishing a programme’s tone and handling emotionally charged scenes within an existing one. That progression makes sense for a director drawn to comedy with some hurt in it. In *Amandaland*, Matthew Wicks’s cinematography serves the exchanges rather than making a separate attraction of the images. Editors Gareth Heal, Lindsey Woodward, Gareth McEwen and Gavin Buckley keep the programme moving through plentiful jokes, even when a relationship feels underdeveloped. Oli Julian and Ethan Jeffrey provide the music, though the performers’ timing does most of the work. That is the right choice for a comedy whose chief pleasure is watching people struggle with one another. The reservation concerns how well the wider ensemble works together. *Amandaland* is less sure of those relationships than it is of the individual comic performances, and brisk editing cannot entirely make up the difference. We would like to see McClelland give a whole group the same assurance she brings to a well-timed exchange, so that the connections between characters become as interesting as their separate efforts to impress. Start with *Amandaland* for Punch and Lumley, with some patience for the less convincing relationships around them. ## Biography Alyssa McClelland is an Australian director, screenwriter, producer and former actress. Born in Sydney in 1981, she studied Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology Sydney, majoring in directing, and trained at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York. She directed all six episodes of the BBC comedy series *Amandaland* (2025), a spin-off of *Motherland*. McClelland has also directed episodes of the Netflix series *Sex Education* and was set-up director on *Everything Now* (2023). Her short film *Second Best* (2018), which she wrote and directed, won the Australian Directors Guild Award for Best Direction in a Short Film as well as awards at Flickerfest, the Milan International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Amandaland* (2025), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md) ## Complete filmography (21) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *My Brilliant Career* (2026), series, Director, Executive Producer - *Amandaland* (2025), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/amandaland.md) - *Everything Now* (2023), series, Director - *Second Best* (2018), Writer, Director, Producer - *The Eleven O'Clock* (2016), as Donna - *Surviving Georgia* (2011), as Sandy - *Rescue: Special Ops* (2009), series, as Beth Robson - *Knowing* (2009), as Flight Attendant - *Restraint* (2008), as Gabrielle - *Canal Road* (2008), series, as Skye Brady - *East West 101* (2007), series, as Vesna Popov - *The Bet* (2007), as Trish - *Second Chance* (2005), as Alyssa Fulham - *Small Claims: White Wedding* (2005), as Kiara Duffy - *Son of the Mask* (2005), as Dream Nurse — Fi1m 20, [page](https://film.one/film/son-of-the-mask.md) - *A Man's Gotta Do* (2004), as Chantelle - *Horseplay* (2003), as Cindy Portman - *Queen of the Damned* (2002), as London Groupie - *Ben* (2001), as Sally - *All Saints* (1998), series, as Zoe Dell - *Water Rats* (1996), series, as Samantha ## Gallery - ![Alyssa McClelland](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-dd9380ea7f5e.jpg) Alyssa McClelland — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Alyssa_McClelland_in_December_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Anchorman 2 The Australian Premiere The Legend Continues (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-3064c074eae2.jpg) Anchorman 2 The Australian Premiere The Legend Continues (2013) — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Alyssa_McClelland_%2811024368513%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Anchorman 2 The Australian Premiere The Legend Continues (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-40eed21e31d3.jpg) Anchorman 2 The Australian Premiere The Legend Continues (2013) — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Alyssa_McClelland_%2811024369343%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Instyle Awards 2015 InStyle and Audi Host Seventh Annual Woman Of Style Awards Red Carpet Gala Event](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-0595a91473de.jpg) Instyle Awards 2015 InStyle and Audi Host Seventh Annual Woman Of Style Awards Red Carpet Gala Event — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Alyssa_McClelland_%2817412925430%29.jpg/1280px-Alyssa_McClelland_%2817412925430%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Alyssa McClelland (born 1981) is an Australian actress and filmmaker. McClelland was educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney. (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-8a50bb665416.jpg) Alyssa McClelland (born 1981) is an Australian actress and filmmaker. McClelland was educated at Newtown High School of the Performing Arts in Sydney. (2013) — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Alyssa_McClelland_%288482056678%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![w:Alyssa McClelland at Star Trek Into Darkness Australian premiere (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/48209/gallery-2e5ef77a2273.jpg) w:Alyssa McClelland at Star Trek Into Darkness Australian premiere (2013) — Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Alyssa_McClelland_%288674147269%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alyssa-mcclelland