A regular fixture on stage and off as a theatre director and producer, he also has a long small screen career.

Bio from the Listener in 1981:

If there's one thing Bruce Allpress isn't likely to suffer from as an actor, it's type- casting. In recent months he has played a number of roles and they've all been unique.

He began professional acting 20 years ago in radio and then as a dancer on television's In The Groove. His stage work was done mostly at Auckland's Central Theatre but now he works almost exclusively in television and film.

He was in Hunter Gold and Beyond Reasonable Doubt. Allpress played Sparky in the Mortimer's Patch episode "Fighting Johnny Fuller", by Maurice Gee, which has been nominated for an Emmy Award; he plays Scungie in the children's serial Sea Urchins; In the film Scarecrow he is Uncle Apple "with my teeth out again"; in Bad Blood he is a police inspector. And of course, he plays the shady Fletcher Martin in Close to Home and the title role in JOCKO (9.05). Says Allpress: "Jocko and Fletch are similar because they're both a bit footloose." But that's about as far as it goes.

Close to Home is put on video tape in the studio at Avalon; JOCKO was filmed entirely on location, though never more than an hour's drive from Avalon's home base.

Allpress recently appeared in Circa Theatre's production of Greg McGee's Foreskin's Lament, the first time he'd been onstage for 12 years. He loved it and is looking forward to doing more stagework when he finishes in Close to Home at Christmas. The thrill of working on location, in the studio and on the stage may seem very glamorous but forme Dunedinite Allpress has set up home in Auckland and for 18 months he's hardly been home for more than two nights in succession.

Small screen appearance include: