Kerry Walker

Kerry Walker
Born	Kerry Ann Walker (1948-02-29) 29 February 1948 (age 77) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Education	National Institute of Dramatic Art (1974) [1]
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present

Kerry Ann Walker AM (born 29 February 1948) is an Australian actress. ^[2] She has had a lengthy career on both stage and screen. ^[3] She was nominated for the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role three times, in 1985 for Bliss , 1986 for Twelfth Night ^[4] and in 1993 for The Piano . ^[5]

Early life

Walker studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), ^[6] graduating in 1974. ^[1] Upon graduation, she was told she would "not succeed as an actor because of her looks." ^[7]

Career

Theatre

Walker made her professional theatre debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet with The Australian Ballet. ^[6] After a stint with the Melbourne Theatre Company’s Theatre-in-Education program, she spent 1976 with the newly-formed Hunter Valley Theatre Company. She ultimately returned to Sydney, continuing her stage career with performances at Marian Street Theatre, Jane Street Theatre, the Old Tote Theatre Company and Nimrod. ^[6]

After being cast in the lead of 1977 film The Night the Prowler in 1977, Walker became the muse of writer Patrick White’s muse, (Australia's only recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature), ^{[6] [8]} She was in the original cast of three of his plays, Signal Driver (1982), Netherwood (1983), and Shepherd on the Rocks (1987), which he wrote specifically for her. ^{[8] [6]} The first two plays debuted with the State Theatre Company of South Australia, where Walker was a member of Jim Sharman’s Lighthouse ensemble ^[6] from 1982 to 1983. ^[9] White also cast her in major revivals of The Ham Funeral and A Cheery Soul and wrote an unperformed play sequence for her, entitled Four Love Songs. ^[8]

More recently, Walker has performed in Life Without Me (2010) The Man from Mukinupin (2009), The Hypocrite (2008), The Madwoman of Chaillot (2007), A Hard God (2006) and The Unexpected Man (2000).

She has served on the boards of Belvoir Street Theatre / Company B. ^[6]

Film and television

Walker's film credits include 1985 arthouse classic Bliss , Jane Campion’s award-winning 1993 period drama The Piano , opposite Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel, and 1996 comedy drama Cosi (based on Louis Nowra’s play of the same name), alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths. ^[6] At the turn of the century, she appeared in the historical comedy drama The Dish with Sam Neill, and coming-of-age film Looking for Alibrandi with Anthony LaPaglia and Pia Miranda. ^[6] Next came Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical spectacle Moulin Rouge! (2001), opposite Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, followed by The Home Song Stories (2007) and Luhrmann epic Australia (2008), alongside Kidman ^[6] and Hugh Jackman.

Walker's numerous television credits include the 1990 miniseries Come in Spinner (based on the 1951 novel of the same name by Dymphna Cusack), and the 1991 Australian-British co-produced miniseries The Leaving of Liverpool . ^[6] She had a regular role in Grass Roots in 2003 and also appeared in Rake (2008) with Richard Roxburgh. ^[6]

Depictions in art

Stuart Campbell's photographic portrait of Walker is held in the National Portrait Gallery. ^[10]

Awards and accolades

Walker has been the recipient of numerous awards and nominations. These include Green Room Awards for Best Actress for Pack of Lies and Knuckledusters: The Jewels of Edith Sitwell (the latter of which she both wrote and performed) and several AFI Awards. She was also granted an Australian Artists Creative Fellowship. ^[6]

Walker was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1994 for her "service to the performing arts". ^[11]

Awards, nominations and honours

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1985	Bliss	AFI Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1986	Twelfth Night			Nominated
	Pack of Lies	Green Room Awards	Best Actress	Won
1989	Knuckledusters: The Jewels of Edith Sitwell			Won
1993	The Piano	AFI Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
1994	Kerry Walker	Member of the Order of Australia	Service to the Performing Arts	Honoured
2012	Killing Time	Equity Ensemble Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Miniseries or Telemovie	Nominated

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	The Singer and the Dancer	Rose Buckley
1978	The Night the Prowler	Felicity Bannister
1983	Double Deal	Sibyl Anderson
1985	Bliss	Alice Dalton
1986	Twelfth Night	Feste
1987	Bullseye	Mrs Gootch
1990	Wendy Cracked a Walnut (aka Almost)	Deirdre
1992	The Girl Who Came Late (aka Daydream Believer)	Aunt Vera
1993	The Piano	Aunt Morag
1994	Talk	Voice of the Witnesses
1995	Babe	Sheep (voice)
1996	Cosi	Sandra
1997	Road to Nhill	Alison
1998	A Little Bit of Soul	Eugenie Mason
1999	Holy Smoke!	Puss
2000	Looking for Alibrandi	Sister Louise (Nun)
	The Dish	Pearl
2001	Moulin Rouge!	Marie
2002	Sway	Greta
2003	Peter Pan	Miss Fulsom
2006	Solo	University Supervisor
2007	Lens Love Story	Susan	Short film
	The Home Song Stories	Norma
2008	Australia	Myrtle Allsop
2011	A Heartbeat Away	Dawn
2014	Cut Snake	Mrs Farrell
2015	Holding the Man	Librarian in lift

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Studio 86		1 episode
1987	Poor Man's Orange	Miss Moon	Miniseries, 2 episodes
	Vietnam	Dinner guest	Miniseries, 1 episode
1988	Australians	Mrs Darcy	Miniseries, 1 episode
1990	Come in Spinner	Mrs Molesworth	Miniseries, 4 episodes
	Winners	Mrs Marsland	1 episode
	The Ham Funeral	Alan Lusty	TV movie
1991	The Last Crop	Ann Sweeney	TV movie
1991; 1992; 1996	G.P.	Lorraine Ferguson / Joan Brodie	3 episodes
1993	Under the Skin		1 episode
	The Leaving of Liverpool	Mrs Dunne	TV movie
1994	Heartland	Sylvia	2 episodes
1996	After the Beep	Mary Donnelly	7 episodes

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1974	Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be		NIDA	[12]
	The Merchant of Venice			[12]
	The Miser			[12]
1975	Theatre-in-Education (collection of three plays)	Member of ensemble	MTC	[12]
	What Means These Bones?	Various characters	Australian Theatre	[12]
1976	A Happy and Holy Occasion	Brenda Mulcahy	Hunter Valley Theatre Company	[13] [12]
	Four on the Floor	Cabaret		[12]
	Bedfellows	Carol Cummins		[12]
	Hamlet on Ice	Hamlet		[12]
	Equus	Hesther Salomon		[12]
	The Floating World	Irene Harding		[14] [7] [12]
	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield		[12]
1977	The Alchemist	Dame Pliant	NIDA Parade Theatre, Sydney with Old Tote Theatre Company	[15] [12]
	Confusions	Various characters	Marian St Theatre, Sydney	[12]
1978	As You Like It	Audrey / Le Beau	Jane St Theatre, Sydney	[12] [13] [15]
	Gone with Hardy	Nellie	Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney	[12] [13]
	Mother Courage and Her Children	Mother Courage	Jane St Theatre, Sydney	[12]
1978–1979	Romeo and Juliet	The Nurse	Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney, University of Western Australia	[7] [12]
	On Our Selection	Mother Rudd / Mrs White	Australian National Playwrights Conference, Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney with NIDA / Jane St Theatre	[16] [12]
1979	Upside Down at the Bottom of the World	Freida Lawrence	Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney	[12]
	Britannicus	Agrippina	Seymour Centre, Sydney	[15] [12]
	Beauty and the Beast	Felicity	STC	[13] [12]
1980	Measure for Measure	Isabella	A Shakespeare Company	[7] [12]
	The Two Gentlemen of Verona	Speed		[12]
	The House of the Deaf Man		Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney	[12]
1981	Lulu	Countess Geshwitz	STC / STCSA	[12] [13] [15]
	Pinball	Miriam / Vandaloupe	Nimrod St Theatre, Sydney	[12]
	The Eyes of the Whites	Moira		[15] [12]
1982	The Prince of Homburg	The Electress of Homburg	STCSA	[12]
	Spellbound	Margaret Mitchell		[12]
	Royal Show	Member of ensemble		[12]
	Mother Courage and Her Children	Mother Courage		[12]
	Silver Lining	Olga		[12]
	Signal Driver	Ivy Vokes / Second being	Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA/ Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney	[13] [7] [12]
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Tom Snout / Moth	STCSA	[12]
1983	The Blind Giant is Dancing	Eileen Fitzgerald	Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA / Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney	[12] [13] [9] [15]
	Pal Joey	Gladys Bumps	STCSA	[12]
	The Marriage of Figaro	Marcelline		[15] l [12] [9]
	Blood Wedding	Mother-in-law		[15] [12]
	Sunrise	Peg Sheldon		[12]
1983; 1984	Twelfth Night	Feste	STCSA & Sydney Festival	[12]
	Netherwood	Mog Figg	STCSA & Sydney Festival	[15] [7] [12]
1984	Pack of Lies	Barbara	Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC	[17] [12]
	The Threepenny Opera	Pirate Jenny	Playhouse Theatre, Melbourne with MTC	[14] [12]
	Henry and Peter and Henry and Me	Louisa Lawson	Australian National Playwrights Conference & American International Playwright's Conference, Connecticut	[13] [12]
1985	Signal Driver	Ivy Vokes	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B	[12]
	Visions	Madame Lynch	MTC	[13] [12]
	Your Tribe and My Tribe	Narrator	Sydney Opera House	[12]
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Titania / Hippolyta	MTC / STCSA	[12] [13]
1987	The Country Wife	Lady Fidget	Sydney Opera House with STC	[13] [15] [12]
	Shepherd on the Rocks	Queenie	STCSA for Adelaide Festival	[13] [12]
	The Popular Mechanicals	Tom Snout	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B	[13] [15] [12]
1988	My Sister in This House	Madame	Seymour Centre, Sydney with Wilson Morley	[12] l [13]
	Serious Money	Marylou Baines / Mrs Etherington / Dolcie Starr	Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC, Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[9] [12]
1989	The Ham Funeral	Alma Lusty	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[15] [7] [12]
	Knuckledusters: The Jewels of Edith Sitwell	Edith Sitwell	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B with Sydney Festival, Russell St Theatre, Melbourne with MTC	[13] [12]
1990	Rome Tremble—Crumbs from a Feast of Callas	Evangelica Callas / Elsa Maxwell / Tina Onassis / Annina	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[12]
	The Development Site	Various characters	STC	[12]
1991	Furious	Alison / Bonny / Kathleen / Delegate	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[12]
	The Government Inspector	Anna Andreyevna	Sydney Opera House with STC	[12]
	The Royal Commission into the Australian Economy	Clerk of the court	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B	[15] [12]
1992	The Girl Who Saw Everything	Liz	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[12]
	The Popular Mechanicals	Tom Snout / Duchess of Shafton	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B	[12]
1993	Top Girls	Isabella Bird / Joyce / Mrs. Kidd	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[12] [15]
	The Visit	Professor	Sydney Opera House with STC	[12] [15]
1994	Furious	Alison / Bonny / Kathleen / Delegate	STC, The Space, Adelaide for Adelaide Festival, Playbox Theatre, Melbourne	[12] [18] [15]
1995	The Blind Giant Is Dancing	Eileen Fitzgerald	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B	[12]
1996	Wasp	The Cowboy / Mom / The Magician's Assistant		[12] [15]
	Riders in the Chariot	Mrs. Jolley		[12]
1997	Jerusalem	Vivien Rickman	Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne, Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[12] [19]
	The Tempest	Gonzalo	Canberra Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Atheneum with Bell Shakespeare	[15] [12]
1998	The Mirage		STC	[12]
1999	The Talented Mr Ripley	Emily Greenleaf / Aunt Dottie	Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC	[20] [12]
	Thunder Rock	Miss Kirby	STC	[12]
	Pride and Prejudice	Mrs. Bennet	Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC, Sydney Opera House with STC	[ [15] [12]
2000	Blithe Spirit	Madame Arcati	Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA	[12] [21]
	The Unexpected Man	Marthe	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B, Victorian Arts Centre with MTC for Melbourne International Arts Festival	[9]
2000–2001	A Cheery Soul	Mrs. Hibble / Mrs. Bleeker	Sydney Opera House with STC, Australian National Playwrights Conference	[12]
2001	Holy Day	Nora	Merlyn Theatre, Melbourne, STCSA	[9] [22] [12]
2003	A Derelict Woman	Derelict Woman	The Studio / New Music Network	[12]
2004; 2005	The Spook	Trixie / Phyllis	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney with Company B, Glen St Theatre, Sydney, QTC	[23] [12]
2006	StickybrickS	Member of ensemble	Sydney Festival with Big hART
	A Hard God	Monica Cassidy / Sophia Cassidy	Wharf Theatre, Sydney with STC	[24] [12]
	Radio Holiday		Melbourne International Arts Festival / Big hART	[12]
2007	Drive In Holiday	Betty / Crystal / Musician	Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania / Big hART	[12]
	The Madwoman of Chaillot	Josephine	Playhouse, Melbourne with MYC	[24] [12]
2008	The Wiredancer's Waltz	Inga Heffernan	National Play Festival, Brisbane	[12] [24]
	Australian Gothic	Sonya August	National Play Festival	[12]
	The Hypocrite			[24]
2009	The Man from Mukinupin	Edie Perkins	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney / MTC	[25]
2010	Life Without Me			[13]

References

1. "The Threepenny Opera". Theatregold. 7 September 2025.
2. Kent, Simon (26 May 1991), "Oh, but it's good to be back home", Sun Herald
3. Hallett, Bryce (21 March 2009), "Never far from home", The Sydney Morning Herald
4. Eccles, Jeremy (27 January 1988), "Rejecting the sins of typecasting", The Sydney Morning Herald
5. Barber, Lynden (29 July 1993), "Piano dominates AFI list", The Sydney Morning Herald
6. "Kerry Walker AM b. 1948". National Portrait Gallery . Retrieved 7 September 2025.
7. Pender, Anne (2012). "Kerry Walker, Patrick White and the Faces of Australian Modernism". www.revistes.ub.edu.
8. Yeo, Samuel. "People and pets". Patrick White Catalogue. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
9. "Serious Money". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
10. "Kerry Walker, c. 1979". National Portrait Gallery . Retrieved 29 November 2020.
11. "Kerry Ann Walker". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
12. "Walker, Kerry 1948-". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
13. "Knuckledusters". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
14. "The Threepenny Opera". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
15. "Pride and Prejudice". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
16. "On Our Selection". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
17. "Pack of Lies". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
18. "Furious". Malthouse Theatre . Retrieved 8 September 2025.
19. "Jerusalem". Malthouse Theatre . Retrieved 8 September 2025.
20. "The Talented Mr Ripley". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
21. "Blithe Spirit". Theatregold. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
22. "Holy Day". Malthouse Theatre . Retrieved 8 September 2025.
23. "The Spook". Theatregold. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
25. "The Man from Mukinupin". Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney . Retrieved 8 September 2025.

External links

• Kerry Walker at IMDb