Heather Mitchell | |
---|---|
Education | National Institute of Dramatic Art (BFA) |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1981–present |
Website | heathermitchell.com.au |
Heather Lee Mitchell AM is an Australian actress, who has appeared in Australian stage, television, and film productions. She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s television show Spellbinder . More recently, she appeared as Anita in the series Love Me , and as Margaux in the Paramount Plus series Fake . She has a role in the upcoming miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North .
Mitchell is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, and has performed on stage since 1975, including collaborations with dance company Force Majeure. In 2022, she played U.S. justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the play RBG: Of Many, One, for Sydney Theatre Company.
Heather Lee Mitchell[ citation needed ] attended Camden High School in Camden, New South Wales, between 1971 and 1976, and was school captain in her final year. She took the leading role of Judith Bliss in the 1976 school production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever .[ citation needed ]
Mitchell is well known internationally for her performance as Ashka in the Australian/Polish co-productions of Spellbinder (1995), and Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord (1997). The series was a popular children's fantasy program, first broadcast in 1995.[ citation needed ]
Other television productions she has appeared in include: the miniseries Bodyline (1984), Land of Hope (1986), Embassy (1992) and A Country Practice . In 1998, she starred in the miniseries drama The Day of the Roses, in which she played a victim of the 1977 Granville rail disaster.[ citation needed ] She has also appeared in episodes of Five Mile Creek (1984), Rake (2010), Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2013), and Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries (2019).[ citation needed ] In 2021, she played Birdie in The Unusual Suspects .[ citation needed ]
In 2024, Mitchell was named as one of the cast for the miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, [1] , and she played Margaux in the Paramount Plus series Fake . [2]
Mitchell is a foundation director and board member of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC). [3] She first appeared at the STC in 1981, performing scenes of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 with Andrew Tighe for a workshop. [4]
She has since appeared in dozens of productions for several Australian theatre companies, and has contributed to Terence Crawford's 2005 book Trade Secrets: Australian Actors and Their Craft. [5] [6]
Never Did Me Any Harm (Sydney Festival, January 2012), exploring parenting, was a joint production between STC and dance company Force Majeure. It starred Mitchell, Marta Dusseldorp, and Vincent Crowley, with a solo dance performed by dancer Sarah-Jayne Howard. [7] [8]
Mitchell co-wrote the script of Force Majeure's You Animal, You with artistic director Danielle Micich, which explored the sense of smell. She also starred in the performance, which premiered at the Sydney Festival in January 2018. [9]
In 2022, it was announced that Mitchell would play the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the theatre production RBG: Of Many, One. [10] In 2024, Mitchell again played Ginsburg for the 2024 Black Swan State Theatre Company season. [11] Critics called Mitchell's performance as Ginsburg as a "tour de force". [12] Mitchell would again reprise Ginsburg for the 2025 Sydney Theatre Company season. [13]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Hoodwink | Nurse 2 | Feature film |
1985 | I Can't Get Started | Jill | TV film |
1986 | Malcolm | Barmaid | Feature film |
1987 | The Place at the Coast | Margot Ryan | Feature film |
1988 | The Everlasting Secret Family | Wife | Feature film |
1989 | The Water Trolley | TV film | |
1991 | Proof | Martin's Mother | Feature film |
1994 | Muriel's Wedding | Bridal manageress #1 | Feature film |
1995 | Bathing Boxes | 1st woman | Short film |
1996 | Children of the Revolution | Mrs. Savage | Feature film |
1997 | Thank God He Met Lizzie | Melanie | Feature film |
1998 | A Little Bit of Soul | Grace Michael | TV film |
2000 | On the Beach | British anchorwoman | TV film |
The Love of Lionel's Life | Det Sgt | TV film | |
2002 | Black and White | Roma Chamberlain | Feature film |
2003 | Travelling Light | Betty Ferris | Feature film |
2004 | The Brush-Off | Fiona Lambert | TV film |
2005 | Hell Has Harbour Views | Anne | TV film |
Da Kath & Kim Code | Heather | TV film | |
2006 | The Society Murders | Sally Honan | TV film |
Irresistible | Rina | Feature film | |
Mohammad Hossain's Intensive Care | Herself – Narrator | Documentary film | |
2007 | Romulus, My Father | Television presenter | Feature film |
Rogue | Elizabeth Smith | Feature film | |
2008 | Three Blind Mice | Kathy | Feature film |
Seize the Day | Valentine | Short film | |
Emerald Falls | Catherine Reid | TV film | |
2009 | A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne | June Dally-Watkins | TV film |
2010 | A Love Story | Julia | Short film |
The Wedding Party | Rose | Feature film | |
Griff the Invisible | Bronwyn | Feature film | |
2011 | The Moment | Narrator (voice) | Short film |
Afterglow | Kate Whitcomb | Short film | |
The Eye of the Storm | June | Feature film | |
Snobs | Mother | TV film | |
Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away | Rose McMillan | TV film | |
2012 | The Fort | Joanna | Short film |
Census | Sue | Short film | |
The Red Valentine | The Mother | Short film | |
Sanctuary | Aunty / Nurse | Short film | |
Jack Irish: Bad Debts | Mrs. Vane | TV film | |
2013 | Ravage | Clare | Short film |
The Great Gatsby | Daisy's Mother | Feature film | |
The Fragments | Heather | Short film | |
2014 | Maya the Bee | Thekla the Spider / The Nurse (voice) | Animated feature film |
Love Is Now | Evelyn | Feature film | |
2015 | Drown | Helen | Feature film |
2016 | Unified | Janet Boyce | Short film |
2017 | Lets Get Marriage Equality in Australia | Herself | Short film |
2018 | Riot | Joan / Checkerboard Interviewer | TV film |
Dots | The Lady | Short film | |
Loud Thoughts | Valerie | Short film | |
Pimped | Sophia Hanson | Feature film | |
2019 | Palm Beach | Eva | Feature film |
2021 | Daddy's Perfect Little Girl | Fay Broward | TV film |
2022 | Bosch and Rockit | Wendy | Feature film |
Blaze | Jackie Stevens | Feature film | |
2023 | Jones Family Christmas | Heather Jones | TV film |
2024 | Ricky Stanicky | Leona | Feature film |
200% Wolf | Lady Hightail (voice) | Animated feature film | |
TBA† | Wedding of the Year | Eleanor | Pre-production |
† | Not yet released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | Cop Shop | Michelle Beasley | TV series, 1 episode |
Ratbags | Various characters | TV series, 1 episode | |
1982 | A Country Practice | Peggy | TV series, 2 episodes |
1984 | Five Mile Creek | Jocelyn | TV series, 1 episode |
Bodyline | Edith Clarke | Miniseries | |
1986 | Land of Hope | Helen Davies | Miniseries |
The Fast Lane | Eileen | TV series, 1 episode | |
1989-95 | G.P. | Julia / Bianca Resteghini | TV series, 3 episodes |
1991 | Boys from the Bush | Joyce | TV series, 1 episode |
1992 | Embassy | Gillian | TV series, 1 episode |
1993 | Seven Deadly Sins | TV anthology series, 1 episode | |
A Country Practice | Dr. Simone Fox | TV series, 2 episodes | |
Clowning Around | Sarah Gunner | TV series, season 2 | |
1994 | The Ferals | Crystal | TV series, 1 episode |
Cody: A Family Affair | Inspector Genevieve Simmonds | TV film | |
Cody: The Tipof | |||
Cody: Bad Love | |||
1995 | Spellbinder | Ashka | TV series, 24 episodes |
1996 | Mercury | Erica Boyer | Miniseries, 1 episode |
1997 | Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord | Ashka | TV series |
1998 | The Day of the Roses | Margaret Shuttler | Miniseries |
2002 | All Saints | Louise Malloy | TV series, 1 episode |
2003 | Snobs | Mary | TV series, 1 episode |
2004 | Jessica | Ada Thomas | Miniseries |
2007 | Rain Shadow | Sarah Balfour | TV series (main role) |
2008 | Blue Water High | Heather | TV series, 1 episode |
2009 | Rogue Nation | Elizabeth Macarthur | TV series, 1 episode |
Chandon Pictures | Agent | TV series, 1 episode | |
All Saints | Gemma McKenzie | TV series, 1 episode | |
2010 | Satisfaction | Georgia | TV series, 1 episode |
The Pacific | Mrs. Keller | Miniseries, 1 episode | |
Rake | Jan Chandler | TV series, 1 episode | |
2011 | Killing Time | Judge Hale | TV series, 2 episodes |
Crownies | Judge Walker | TV series, 8 episodes | |
Spirited | Helen Payne | TV series, 8 episodes | |
2012 | Dance Academy | Robyn | TV series, 1 episode |
2013–18 | A Place to Call Home | Prudence Swanson | TV series, 22 episodes |
2013 | Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War | Gretel Packer | Miniseries |
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Madame Fleuri | TV series, 1 episode | |
2014–2017 | Janet King | Justice Victoria Walker | TV series, 4 episodes |
2014–2017 | Starting From... Now! | Elizabeth Peters | TV series, 2 episodes |
2015 | Pypo | Web series, 1 episode | |
Shit Creek | Helen | Web series, 2 episodes | |
2016 | Molly | Pat Hatcher | Miniseries, 1 episode |
2017 | Newton's Law | Caroline Gale | TV series, 1 episode |
2018 | Away | Gwen | TV play |
2019 | Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries | Edwina Maddox | TV series, 1 episode |
Harrow | Louise Whitehall | TV series. 3 episodes | |
Reef Break | Maeve Devlin | TV series, 4 episodes | |
The Strange Chores | Inspector (voice) | TV series, 1 episode | |
2019, 2021 | Upright | Jen Flynn | TV series |
2020 | Grey Nomads | Ingrid | Web series |
The Secrets She Keeps | Jenny | Miniseries, 3 episodes | |
Operation Buffalo | Caroline Syddell | TV series, 2 episodes | |
2021 | Wakefield | Belle Knight | TV series, 2 episodes |
Homespun | Pamela Monterra | Miniseries | |
The Unusual Suspects | Birdie | Miniseries, 4 episodes | |
2022 | Darby and Joan | Rosemary | TV series, 3 episodes |
2022-23 | Love Me | Anita | Miniseries |
2023 | Gold Diggers | Colleen | TV series, 3 episodes |
2024 | Pleasant Avenue | Carolyn | TV series, 5 episodes |
Fake | Margeaux | TV series, 8 episodes | |
2025 | The Narrow Road to the Deep North | Older Ella | Miniseries |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Today Extra | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
2023 | Luxury Escapes | Herself | TV series, 1 episode |
News Breakfast | 2 episodes | ||
Today Extra | TV series, 1 episode | ||
Australian Story | TV series, 1 episode | ||
2012 | Agony Aunts | Herself | TV series, 3 episodes |
1998 | Good Morning Australia | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
FCTV | Guest | TV series, 1 episode |
Mitchell's stage performances include: [14]
Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Afterglow (short film) | NYC International Film Festival Award for Best Lead Actress | Won | [18] |
2012 | The Red Valentine (short film) | NYC International Film Festival Award for Best Lead Actress | Won | [18] |
2014 | Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War (for 'Part 1') | AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama | Nominated | [19] |
2014 | Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War (for 'Part 1') | Equity Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Miniseries or Telemovie | Nominated | |
2019 | Significant Service to the Performing Arts, and to the Community | Member of the Order of Australia (AM) | Won | [18] |
2022 | Love Me | Silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress | Won | |
2022 | Love Me | AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama | Nominated | |
2022 | Homespun | Septimus Award for Best Oceanian Actress | Nominated | |
2023 | RBG: Of Many, One (as Ruth Bader Ginsberg) | Sydney Theatre Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role in a Mainstage Production | Won | [20] |
2024 | Love Me | AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama | Won | [21] |
Mitchell met cinematographer Martin McGrath on a film set in Broken Hill in 1989. They were engaged in the following year and married in February 1992. [22] The couple have two adult children and as of 2021 [update] reside in Sydney. [22]
Mitchell was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for "significant service to the performing arts, and to the community." [23]
Hugo Wallace Weaving is a British-Australian actor. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. Born in Colonial Nigeria to British parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career.
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including several AFI and AACTA Awards, Logie Awards, and Helpmann Awards.
Esther "Essie" Davis is an Australian actress and singer, best known for her roles as Phryne Fisher in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and its film adaptation, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, and as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook. Other major works include a recurring role as Lady Crane in season six of the television series Game of Thrones, Sister Iphigenia in Lambs of God, and the role of Ellen Kelly in Justin Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang.
Leeanna Walsman is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Zam Wesell in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), and for her roles in the 2000 film Looking for Alibrandi and the television series Wentworth. She was nominated for both AACTA and Logie awards for her role in Emmy Award-winning series Safe Harbour.
Linda Cropper is an Australian actress, primarily known for her role as Geraldine Proudman in the TV series Offspring and as Dame Nellie Melba in the television series Melba. A shortened version of Melba was selected for screening as a film at a Royal Command Performance before Queen Elizabeth II in London.
Simon Gareth Burke is an Australian actor, active in films, television and theatre.
Kate Champion is an Australian choreographer and artistic director. Since 2022 and as of 2024 she is artistic director of Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth, Western Australia. She was the founding artistic director/CEO of Force Majeure dance company in Sydney, from 2002 to 2015, where she co-devised and directed such works as Same, Same But Different and Not in a Million Years. She also created and performed the critically-acclaimed solo shows, Face Value and About Face, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including three Helpmann Awards.
Ewen Leslie is an Australian actor.
Susan "Suzie" Miller is an Australian playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and lawyer. She has written over 40 plays, first coming to notice in 2008 for Reasonable Doubt, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Her most well-known play is being Prima Facie, which was staged in a West End theatre in London starring Jodie Comer in April 2022, a production which won two Olivier Awards, three years after a highly successful run in Sydney in 2019.
Jacqueline Ruth Weaver is an Australian theatre, film, and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as Stork (1971) for which she won AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Alvin Purple (1973), and Petersen (1974). She later starred in Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Caddie (1976) for which she won the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress in Film, Squizzy Taylor (1982), and a number of television films, miniseries, and Australian productions of plays such as Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Elizabeth Debicki is an Australian actress. Born in Paris and raised in Melbourne, she studied acting at the University of Melbourne, and made her film debut in the comedy A Few Best Men (2011). She gained wider recognition with her performances in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (2013)—which won her the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress—and as Ayesha in the Marvel films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). Debicki's profile grew with roles in the limited series The Kettering Incident and The Night Manager and in Steve McQueen's heist thriller Widows (2018), and in 2019, she received the Cannes Trophée Chopard.
Celia Pacquola is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter and actor who performs predominantly in Australia and the United Kingdom.
Kip Williams is an Australian theatre and opera director. Williams is the current Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company. His appointment at age 30 made him the youngest artistic director in the company's history.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in 52 Tuesdays, a critically-acclaimed independent film directed by Sophie Hyde, and has also appeared on stage. She appeared in the 2018 film Hotel Mumbai, and starred as feminist icon Helen Reddy in the 2019 biopic I Am Woman. In 2023 she starred in the Amazon Prime TV series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
Tom Wright is an Australian theatre writer, mostly known for his adaptations and translations.
The Sydney Theatre Awards are annual awards to recognise the strength, quality and diversity of professional theatre in Sydney, Australia. They were established in 2005 by a group of major Sydney theatre critics. The awards recognise mainstage and independent plays and musicals.
Eamon Farren is an Australian actor. Following starring roles in the films X: Night of Vengeance (2011) and Chained (2012), he came to prominence for portraying Richard Horne in the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks. He also won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) award for Best Guest Or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama in 2015 for his role in the television film Carlotta (2014). Farren has since had film roles in Winchester (2018) and appeared in the series The ABC Murders (2018) and The Witcher (2019–present).
Annie Byron is an Australian film, stage, and television actress best known for Wolf Creek 2, Fran, Muriel's Wedding, and Doing Time for Patsy Cline.
Force Majeure is a contemporary dance and dance theatre company based in Sydney, Australia, resident at Carriageworks cultural precinct. As of 2024 its artistic director and CEO is Danielle Micich.
Roz Hervey was an Australian dancer, choreographer, director and theatrical producer. She was known for roles as co-founder of and associate artist with Sydney dance-theatre company Force Majeure, as director of the Adelaide Fringe parade from 2013 until 2016, and finally, from around 2013, as creative director of Restless Dance Theatre in Adelaide, South Australia. She also worked with many other theatre and dance companies, as well as festivals and other events.