After graduating from Victoria University with a BA in English and Maori in the 1960s, Barbara Ewing went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Since then, she has played leads in the theatre all over Great Britain including plays by Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, and many others. Her one-woman-show, "Alexandra Kollontai", about the only woman in Lenin's cabinet in 1917 was a great hit in London and at the Edinburgh and Sydney Festivals. She has had an impressive career on the small screen appearing on many programs including Peak Practice, Casualty, The Bill and Ruth Rendell Mysteries. Barbara Ewing has also written two novels: "The Actresses" and "The Dangerous Vine" (finalist on the long list for the Orange Prize in Great Britain, 2000).