Nanette Ackerman was born in Cambridge in 1945. She attended stage school as a young girl, was on the stage at five and later spent a brief spell as a professional singer. Many years later, after training as a nurse, she studied for a diploma at the Hartley-Hodder School of Speech and Drama in Clifton, Bristol. As a Licentiate of LAMDA, in addition to performing, she has worked as a director and speech and drama teacher, helping many young actors with their career in theatre and film, and is a former speech and drama examiner.
Nanette loves animals, nature and literature – particularly Shakespeare and the great poets. She attempted her first play at the age of ten. She subsequently wrote and produced plays in the West Country – including the Little Theatre – Bristol, the Playhouse – Weston-Super-Mare, the Rondo – Bath and the Curtain-Up – London fringe. Her spectacular children’s play, Perils of the Pond, starred Tom O’Connor in 1991. In addition, she has given regular readings on behalf of her father, Charles Ackerman Berry, (author of ‘the evocative’ Gentleman of the Road, 1978, Constable and Co.), whose tragic childhood is remembered in her book, Alias Richard Lee: Pictures of a Chaplin Actor – Redliffe Press, which was also the subject of her play, Dick and Daisy, performed on the London Fringe, in which she played her own grandmother. Poems from my Aunt: Touching another World, telling the story of her mysterious nature sonnets, was published recently by the Wolfenhowle Press.
The Nurse-keeper is based on her play, The Plague and the Rose, performed once in Bath, attracting the review: ‘Must be seen again.’ But the cast proved too large. Nanette is kept busy writing and reading her work, and her favourite pastime is walking her dog.