fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Leah Maree Purcell AM (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as, Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).

Leah Purcell AM
Purcell at the premiere of The Sapphires in 2012
Born	(1970-08-14) 14 August 1970 (age 52) Murgon, Queensland, Australia
Occupation	Actress film director Playwright Novelist
Years active	1996–present
Notable work	Redfern Now (2012–2013) Janet King (2016) Wentworth (2018–2021) The Drover's Wife:The Legend of Molly Johnson (2022)
Partner	Bain Stewart
Children	1

In 2014, Purcell wrote and starred in the play, The Drover's Wife, based on the original story by Henry Lawson. In 2019, she went on to write the bestselling novel, The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which was adapted for the screen when Purcell made her directorial debut in the acclaimed film of the same name in 2022, for which she had also written, produced and starred as the titular character. For her work, she has won several awards, including a Helpmann Award, AACTA Award, and Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury Grand Prize.

Purcell is notable for her roles in several television drama series', including, Police Rescue (1996), Fallen Angels (1997), Redfern Now (2012–2013), which earned her an AACTA Award, Janet King (2016), and perhaps her most recognisable television role being that of her AACTA and Logie Award-nominated performance as Rita Connors in the Foxtel prison drama series, Wentworth (2018–2021).

Early life and education

Leah Purcell was born on 14 August 1970[1][2] in Murgon, Queensland, and she was the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal (Goa–Gunggari–Wakka Wakka Murri[3]) and white Australian descent.[2][4] Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer.[5]

After a difficult adolescence, looking after her sick mother, Florence, who died while Leah was in her late teens, as well as problems with alcohol and teenage motherhood, Leah left Murgon and moved to Brisbane and became involved with community theatre.[2]

Career

In 1996 she moved to Sydney to become presenter on a music video cable television station, RED Music Channel.[6] This was followed by acting roles in ABC Television series Police Rescue and Fallen Angels.[7][8]

Together with Scott Rankin she co-wrote and acted in a play called Box the Pony, which played at Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, the 1999 Edinburgh Festival and in 2000 at the Barbican Theatre in London.[9] She then wrote and directed the documentary film Black Chicks Talking, which won a 2002 Inside Film award.[10] She appeared as Claudia in the Australian film Lantana for which role she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by Sydney-based Film Critics Circle of Australia; she lost to Daniela Farinacci. She appeared on stage in The Vagina Monologues.[11] She went on to appear in three 2004 films, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne, as well as playing the role of Condoleezza Rice in David Hare's play, Stuff Happens in Sydney and Melbourne.[12]

Wentworth

In 2018, Purcell joined the cast of Foxtel drama series Wentworth as Rita Connors, a role originally portrayed by Glenda Linscott in Prisoner. It was announced that she was one of three new leading cast members to join the series for its sixth season, alongside Susie Porter and Rarriwuy Hick. She first appeared in the first episode of season six, broadcast on 19 June 2018.[13] Following her appearances in seasons six and seven, it was announced in October 2018 that she would be reprising her role for the eighth season, which premiered in 2020.[14]

The Drover's Wife

Purcell developed stories in three different media based on the short story by Henry Lawson published in 1892,[15] which Purcell recalls her mother reading to her.[16] She began writing her version of the story in around 2014, giving the woman a name, Molly Johnson, something that Lawson did not do. Purcell's versions centres around Molly, who is left alone on their remote homestead while heavily pregnant and having to care for her four children while her husband is away droving cattle. She meets an Aboriginal man fleeing police, called Yadaka, and a personal drama evolves. She says that "The essence of the Henry Lawson short story and his underlining themes of racism, the frontier violence and gender violence are [in her story]". However, she has added stories from her own Indigenous family as well as incorporating her own extensive historical research, which included talking to Aboriginal elders and owners of property in the Snowy Mountains, where the story is set.[3] She has said of the development of the stories:[17]

My DNA is within it. And I've sung up business on it. I sung up the play, I sung up the novel, I sung up the movie. And in cultural ways you have that thread of a Songline which connects you to country, to family, to culture.

• She wrote and starred in the play The Drover's Wife, performed at the Belvoir in 2016.[18] The play won multiple awards, including Book of the Year at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, overall Victorian Prize for Literature at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards,[19][20] two Helpmann Awards,[21] the Major AWGIE Award and several other awards.[22]
• She penned a best-selling novel titled The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, published in 2019.[23]
• Purcell was lead actor, writer, director and co-producer of a film adaptation, also titled The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2021,[24] released on Australian screens on 5 May 2022, after a two-year delay owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her husband Bain Stewart is lead producer and executive producer on the film, and Rob Collins plays Yadaka.[3]

Recognition, awards and honours

Purcell was recipient of the Balnaves Fellowship in 2014,[25] which allowed her to develop her play, The Drover's Wife, to be performed at the Belvoir in 2016.[3]

In the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, Purcell was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the performing arts, to First Nations youth and culture, and to women".[26][17]

At the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards held in November 2021, she was awarded the Jury Grand Prize for her film The Drover's Wife,[27] "not just for her singular vision in writing, directing, producing and starring in the film but for the journey to bring this remarkable story, viewed through the lens of a First Nations woman to the screen in its entirety".[28]

Purcell has appeared twice on ABC Television's Australian Story, once in 2002[5] and once in June 2022.[17][29]

In June 2022, Purcell was honoured with a star on Winton's Walk of Fame, which was unveiled during The Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival.[30]

Personal life

Purcell's partner is Bain Stewart, who is also her business partner in Oombarra Productions. She has a daughter and two grandchildren.[31] She believes that Stewart has been "a gift from the ancestors", as he has been such an important support to her through difficult times.[17]

Filmography

Acting

Film

Year	Title	Role
1999	Somewhere in the Darkness	Lulu
2001	Lantana	Claudia
2002	Beginnings	Police Officer
2003	Lennie Cahill Shoots Through	Doctor
2004	Somersault	Diane
2005	The Proposition	Queenie
2006	Jindabyne	Carmel
2014	My Mistress	Audrey
2015	Last Cab to Darwin	Sonya
2022	The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson	Molly Johnson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	G.P.	Lauren	Season 8 (guest, 1 episode)
1996	Police Rescue	Constable Tracey Davis	Season 5 (main, 9 episodes)
1997	Fallen Angels	Sharon Walker	Season 1 (main, 20 episodes)
1998	Water Rats	Sarah Lane	Season 3 (guest, 1 episode)
2000–01	Beastmaster	The Black Apparation	Seasons 1–3 (recurring, 5 episodes)
2001	The Lost World	Witch Doctor	Season 2 (guest, 1 episode)
2002	Bad Cop, Bad Cop	Lorraine Simpson	Season 1 (guest, 1 episode)
2007	Love My Way	Caroline Syron	Season 3 (recurring, 3 episodes)
2007	The Starter Wife	Hannah Sprints	Miniseries (recurring, 2 episodes)
2008	McLeod's Daughters	Terri Barker	Season 8 (guest, 1 episode)
2009	My Place	Ellen	Season 1 (guest, 1 episode)
2012–13	Redfern Now	Grace	Seasons 1–2 (main, 2 episodes)
2015	House of Hancock	Hilda Kickett	Miniseries (guest, 1 episode)
2015	Mary: The Making of a Princess	Toni Klan	TV movie
2015–16	Love Child	Daisy	Seasons 2–3 (recurring, 3 episodes)
2016	Janet King	Heather O'Connor	Season 2 (main, 8 episodes)
2016–18	Black Comedy	Guest Performer	Seasons 2–3 (recurring, 3 episodes)
2018–21	Wentworth	Rita Connors	Season 6–8 (main; 37 episodes)
2021	All My Friends Are Racist	Justice Janelle Ray AO
2022	The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart	Twig	Upcoming

Other

Year	Title	Notes
2004	Black Chicks Talking	Director; documentary
2009	Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun	Director; short film
2009	My Place	Writer; episode: "2008 Laura"
2012	She Say	Director / Writer; video short
2012	Redfern Now	Director; episode: "Sweet Spot"
2016	The Secret Daughter	Director; episode: "Flame Trees"[32]
2019	My Life Is Murder	Director; episodes: "The Boyfriend Experience"; "Lividity in Lycra"
2022	The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson	Director, writer and producer
2022	The Twelve	Writer (2 episodes)

Awards and nominations

This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2019)

In 2006 Purcell was the recipient of the Bob Maza Fellowship, which recognises emerging acting talent and support professional development for Indigenous actors.[33]

Year	Ceremony	Category	Title	Work
1997	Australian Film Institute Awards	Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama	Fallen Angels	Nominated
1999	Deadly Awards 1999	Female Artist of the Year	herself	Won
1999	NSW Premier's Literary Awards	Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting	Box the Pony	Won
2000	Queensland Premier's Literary Awards	Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Best Play	Box the Pony	Won
2001	Helpmann Awards	Best Female Actor in a Play	Box the Pony	Nominated
2006	Helpmann Awards	Best Female Actor in a Play	Stuff Happens	Nominated
2008	Helpmann Awards	Best Female Actor in a Play	The Story of the Miracle at Cookie's Table	Won
2013	AACTA Awards	Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama	Redfern Now	Won
2013	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Actress	Redfern Now	Nominated
2016	AACTA Awards	Best Performance in a Television Comedy	Black Comedy	Nominated
2017	Helpmann Awards	Best Female Actor in a Play	The Drover's Wife	Nominated
2017	Helpmann Awards	Best New Australian Work	The Drover's Wife	Won
2017	NSW Premier's Literary Awards	Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting	The Drover's Wife	Won
2017	NSW Premier's Literary Awards	Book of the Year	The Drover's Wife (book)	Won
2017	NSW Premier's Literary Award	Indigenous Writers Prize	The Drover's Wife	Won
2018	AACTA Awards	Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama	Wentworth	Nominated
2018	National Dreamtime Awards 2018[34]	Female Actor of the Year		Won
2019	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Actress	Wentworth	Nominated
2020	Davitt Award[35]	Best debut crime book	The Drover's Wife (book)	Nominated
2021	Asia Pacific Screen Awards[27]	Jury Grand Prize	The Drover's Wife (film)	Won
2022	NSW Premier's Literary Award[36]	Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting	The Drover's Wife (film)	Nominated

References

External links

• Leah Purcell on Twitter
• Leah Purcell at IMDb

На других языках

---

[de] Leah Purcell

Leah Maree Purcell AM[1] (* 14. August 1970 in Murgon, Queensland) ist eine australische Schauspielerin, Sängerin, Schriftstellerin und Dramatikerin.

---

- [en] Leah Purcell

---

---