Seeing Barbara D'Alterio's name listed on the call sheet would always make me smile the night before I'd turn up for work. Not because she's funny, and not because I find amusement in her, although she is funny, and without a doubt amusing. I would smile because it meant I could look forward to my day's work.

When I first met Barbara at a casting session way back in September (2005), I knew I had found my favourite actress. She was warm and sensitive, immensely smart and incredibly adept at what she does, enabling her most important quality to show through immediately; which is that you could fall in love with her.

As a writer you work in paper and ink, so it's very difficult to envision character and trait until it's been given a physical form. Of all the female character's portrayed in 'The Wedding Ensemble,' Veronica Deates is the most complex.she's neither nice nor nasty, loveable or luscious. She is, quite simply, deadly.and I was very worried, that I would not find an actress capable of portraying that.but I did, instantly.

The thing about Barbara, is she's a genius with her art.she knows what she wants to do, and she does it, she takes direction fluidly.she asks questions and she listens to your answers. She is also brave about her performance, and isn't afraid to tell you if she thinks you're wrong.

I could not have asked for a greater person to fill the shoes of a role that was by definition, beyond explanation.

Barbara was the first actress I auditioned for the role of "Amy" in my film The Occupier but she might as well have been the last - she completely blew me away at her reading and continued to do so throughout its hectic two week shooting period. Barbara added a depth of character to her role which even I didn't know existed - and I wrote its script!

By the conventional measure of volume of dialogue, Barbara's character should've played a secondary part in the film's narrative. However, her reaction to the madness going on around her is key in guiding my audience's reaction to the film, and thus key to the film's success or failure. As a result, Barbara had to do a great deal of work in both the background and foreground of scenes with only a few lines of dialogue to help its audience pay attention to her.

Barbara was never less than a breath of fresh air on set in what were permanently testing circumstances, up until the penultimate day of production when she sided with her co-stars to demand bangers 'n' mash followed by chocolate cake for lunch on the final day. With Barbara on their side how could I refuse?

I love Barbara - both her performance and her professionalism - and I could only have made my film as a result of her, and the many wonderful people like her, who colluded to make my debut feature film such a fantastic, and successful, experience.