Leah Vandenberg

Last updated
Leah Vandenberg
Born
Occupation(s)Actress (theatre, television and film)
Years active1997–present
Known for

Leah Vandenberg is a New Zealand-born Australian theatre, television, and film actress. She has appeared in many well-known Australian productions, including the award-winning Netflix series The Letdown and SBS drama The Hunting . She received an ASTRA nomination for "Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor-Female" in the comedy series Stupid, Stupid Man . She is a presenter on the long-running ABC television program Play School , a role she maintains today.

Contents

Early life and education

Vandenberg was born in New Zealand to a Sri Lankan father, who had grown up in Fiji, and an Australian mother of Irish and Scottish heritage. [1] She studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, graduating in 1993. [2]

Career

On stage, Vandenberg has performed in Grace (Melbourne Theatre Company), Criminology (Arena Theatre Company), The Country (B Sharp @ Belvoir Street), The Perfumed Garden, The Taming of the Shrew, A Clockwork Orange, and Love and Understanding. [2]

She received a 2007 ASTRA nomination of "Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor – Female" for her role as Anne in Stupid Stupid Man (series 1 and 2). [2]

Vandenberg joined the filming of Netflix series Wellmania in the role of Dr Singh, [3] appeared in ABC drama Savage River (TV series) [4] and was later announced as part of the cast for upcoming Foxtel/Binge drama High Country. [5]

Filmography

Vandenberg has appeared in a wide range of genres in TV series as well as a few feature films, including: [6]

Television appearances

YearTitleRoleNotes
1995–
1999
Blue Heelers Helene LeeTV series; 2 episodes
1996 G.P. Dr. Yasmin RichardsTV series; 12 episodes
1998Never Tell Me NeverPhysiotherapistTV movie
1998–
1999
Wildside Samira NassarTV series; 7 episodes
2000– Play School HerselfTV series; 250+ episodes
2000 The Games LeahTV series; 1 episode
2000–
2003
Grass Roots MeeraTV series; 4 episodes
2002 Short Cuts PsychologistTV series; 1 episode
BootLegWendyTV mini-series; 4 episodes
2002–
2003
MDA Dr. Jane BowenTV series; 2 episodes
2003 Kath & Kim Shop girlTV series; 1 episode
2004 The Brush-Off Claire SuttonTV movie
2006–
2008
Stupid, Stupid Man Anne CassidyTV series; 16 episodes
2008 East of Everything LaraTV series; 3 episodes
Family FootstepsNarratorTV series; 4 episodes
2009 Snake Tales Miranda SailendraTV series; 13 episodes
2010 Sleuth 101 Annie/JessicaTV series; 2 episodes
Tangle Elle RosenthalTV series; 2 episodes
2016 The Wrong Girl MeredithTV series; 8 episodes
2017, 2019 The Letdown MarthaTV series; 13 episodes
2019 The Hunting RavneetTV mini-series; 4 episodes
2022 Savage River Deborah CochraneTV mini-series; 6 episodes
2023 Wellmania Dr. SinghTV mini-series; 7 episodes
2024 High Country Tammy SamsonTV Series; 7 episodes

Film appearances

YearTitleRoleNotes
2023InsideJenny
2022 Here Out West Ashmita
2005JewBoySarita
1999Strange PlanetSarah
Erskineville Kings Lanny

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeanna Walsman</span> Australian actress

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.

Debra Lawrance is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role on Home and Away, as Pippa Ross, which she played from 1990 to 1998 and in a number of subsequent return appearances, the most recent being in 2009.

Anita Hegh is an Australian actress, known for starring in the television series Stingers, Janet King, and the ABC drama Total Control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Bursill</span> Australian actress

Tina Bursill is an Australian actress. She played Louise Carter on the television series Skyways (1979–1981) and Sonia Stevens on Prisoner (1983–1984). She played Meryl Knight in the Nine Network drama series Doctor Doctor. Bursill won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1987 film Jilted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Purcell</span> Indigenous Australian actress, film director and writer

Leah Maree Purcell 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).

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damian Walshe-Howling</span> Australian actor

Damian Walshe-Howling is an Australian actor, well known for his role as Andrew "Benji" Veniamin in the Australian underworld drama, Underbelly, for which he won the Best Supporting or Guest Actor in a Drama Series at the 2008 AFI Awards.

Kate Jenkinson is an Australian actress, known for her various roles on The Wedge, as well as her role of Kendall Quinn on Super Fun Night. She is known for her role as Allie Novak in the Australian TV series Wentworth.

Rosalind Hammond, often credited as Ros or Roz, is an Australian actress and writer who has worked in theatre, film, and television. Hammond's television appearances include the role of Heather in ABC's Bay of Fires, Claudia in The Heights, and ten seasons of Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susie Porter</span> Australian actress

Susie Porter is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She made her debut in the 1996 film Idiot Box, before rising to prominence in films including Paradise Road (1997), Welcome to Woop Woop (1997), Two Hands (1999), Better Than Sex (2000), The Monkey's Mask (2000), Mullet (2001), Teesh and Trude (2002), and The Caterpillar Wish (2006). Porter is also highly recognised for her roles in television series, most notably, as Patricia Wright in East West 101, Eve Pritchard in East of Everything, as Kay Parker in Sisters of War, and as Marie Winter in the prison drama, Wentworth.

Nicholas Bell is an English actor who has worked in Australia for more than 30 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celia Ireland</span> Australian actress

Celia Ireland is an Australian actress. She is best known for her role as Regina Butcher on the television series All Saints and her Logie award winning role as Liz Birdsworth on the prison drama series Wentworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Wyllie</span> Australian stage, film and television actor

Daniel Wyllie is an Australian stage, film and television actor. Wyllie began acting in theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole da Silva</span> Australian actress

Nicole da Silva is an Australian actress, best known for her roles as Stella Dagostino in the series Rush (2008–2011), and as Franky Doyle in the show Wentworth. She has made appearances in series such as Carla Cametti PD (2009) and Doctor Doctor (2016–2021).

Sarah Peirse is a New Zealand actress. She works both on screen and stage, best known for her portrayals of two very different mothers — the kind-hearted yet stricken mother Honora Rieper in Heavenly Creatures, and the disaffected sophisticate Kate in Rain. Later roles include Hilda in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, as well as Dr. Gladys Bell in the television series Sweet Tooth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remy Hii</span> Malaysian-Australian actor

Remy Hii is a Malaysian-Australian actor born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Hii attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art for three years, and appeared in various theatre productions, before being cast in his first television role. Hii starred as Van Tuong Nguyen in the four-part miniseries Better Man and was cast as Hudson Walsh in the soap opera Neighbours in 2013. He is also known as Prince Jingim from the Netflix original series Marco Polo. From 2018 to 2019, Hii played Simon Van Reyk in the Australian television crime drama Harrow. Hii has also appeared in the series Sisters, the romantic comedy film Crazy Rich Asians, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Demetriades</span> Australian actress

Andrea Demetriades is an Australian actress known for her television, theatre and film roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Tapsell</span> Australian actress (born 1987)

Miranda Tapsell is a Larrakia Aboriginal Australian actress of both stage and screen, best known for her role as Cynthia in the Wayne Blair film The Sapphires and her 2015 performance as Martha Tennant in the Nine Network drama series Love Child. In 2016, she portrayed Fatima in the Stan series Wolf Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tess Haubrich</span> Australian actress and model

Tess Haubrich is an Australian actress and model who most recently played Heather in the 2022 Netflix sci-fi film Spiderhead.

Catherine Văn-Davies is an Australian actress of partial Vietnamese descent.

References

  1. Hassall, Greg (10 March 2008). "She'll be white, mate". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Agony Aunts: The aunts: Leah Vandenberg". ABC TV. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  3. "Australian Television: Wellmania: Cast".
  4. Knox, David (8 February 2022). "Cameras roll on Savage River | TV Tonight". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  5. Knox, David (4 May 2023). "More cast added to High Country | TV Tonight". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 4 April 2024.