Lyn Collingwood
Lyn Collingwood, credited also as Lynn Collingwood, is an Australian actress, writer, theatre director and historian.
She has appeared in television and film roles, as well as worked in theatre as an actress and director. She is best known for her role in the TV series Home and Away as sticky-beak comic character Colleen Smart Stewart, where she became well known for her trademark catchphrase "Yoo Hoo, It's Only Me".
Early life
Collingwood was born in Sydney, New South Wales on 6 September 1936. She attended the University of Sydney, where she first started acting in undergraduate stage productions alongside John Bell and Richard Ward.After graduating from university, Collingwood worked as an English, drama and history teacher for seven years and as a social worker. While teaching, she conducted school plays, before performing in an Australian musical, upon which the director encouraged her to get an agent, which lead to acting work in television commercials.
Career
Acting
Collingwood appeared in a film short in the early 1960s, before appearing in a few TV roles from the late 1970s. One of her early roles was in soap opera Number 96.She became most known however, when she was cast in serial Home and Away as recurring gossip comic character Colleen Smart, in 1988 to 1989. In 1997 she returned for a guest appearance, before returning again in 1999, this time as a regular character, remaining a permanent member of the cast for the next 14 years until leaving in May 2012, to concentrate on writing and directing. She did however make a return to the series in November 2012, before departing again in 2013. She has since stated that she has no intention of returning to Home and Away, feeling she is now too old to do so.
Collingwood has had guest roles in numerous other TV serials including A Country Practice, Rafferty's Rules, E Street, G.P. ''Spellbinder, Murder Call and All Saints. Other small-screen credits include 2015 online sitcom A Shared House and an episode of Remember My Name, playing the role of Grandma Doris.
Collingwood's film credits include Palm Beach, alongside Bryan Brown, ...Maybe This Time, opposite Bill Hunter and Judy Morris, TV movie Chase Through the Night, alongside Nicole Kidman and John Jarratt and A Test of Love, opposite Angela Punch McGregor. Further credits include 1985 family TV film Archer’s Adventure, once again with Nicole Kidman, 1986 dystopian Ozploitation film Dead End Drive-In, and later, a small role in 2009 film The Makeover, opposite her former Home and Away cast mate Martin Dingle-Wall. In 2013, she appeared in short film Worm.
Collingwood has also performed for the stage, joining Sydney's New Theatre in 1980. In 2009, she founded 'Players in the Pub', a company presenting play readings, in which she both acts and directs. She more recently appeared in a production of Marat/Sade'' at New Theatre in 2016.
Publications and other works
Collingwood has also worked in research and was an editor of The Australian Encyclopaedia, as well as a sole updater of the 21st Century Junior World Encyclopedia and the 30-volume Everyman's New Age Encyclopedia. She was also a project developer on the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Australia. Additionally, she worked as a book editor, primarily for publisher Hale & Iremonger, compiling their annual An Australian Woman's Diary.Collingwood is also a historian and writer and member of the Glebe Society. In 2017, she launched a website detailing the history of Sydney's New Theatre.
In 2025, Collingwood wrote a book about the history of Dover Heights, the Sydney suburb where she grew up, titled Dover Heights: Rocks and Sand They Couldn't Sell.
Personal life
Collingwood has one daughter.In 2025, a death hoax rumour started circulating on Facebook, stating that Collingwood had died after a long illness. She later addressed the rumour to New Idea magazine.