Victoria Thompson was born in Alexandria, of French, Italian, Spanish and English parentage. In Australia, she trained as an actress and worked in film, television and theatre. She left acting to study psychology and became a psychotherapist. Her memoir, Losing Alexandria (Picador), was a literary success, appearing on The Age best-seller list. City of Longing, launched at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival in 2011, was optioned when still in manuscript form by a film producer.