Mercia Deane-Johns | |
|---|---|
| Born | 21 February 1958 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1973 – present |
| Known for | Pro-choice ...campaigns for Indigenous rights, ... civil rights, gay marriage, ... freedom of choice, ... and supports Julian Assange. Also strong on environmental issues. Campaigned for the environment and carried what was then called the sex party banner |
| Notable work | Won Best Actress award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival 2017 for the film Throbbin' 84 |
| Children | One daughter Natasha |
Mercia Deane-Johns is an Australian actress of film, stage and television. She is also a writer, singer, and stand-up comedian. She has played a wide array of characters since she was 12 years old and has appeared in many film roles and TV series on Australian screens.
Born in Melbourne on 21 February 1958, Mercia Deane-Johns trained at a Television and Film Course at Crawford Productions, 1974. She plays Classical Piano at Sixth Grade Level and she has studied ballet at the Gertrud Bodenwieser Dance Centre, Sydney. Deane-Johns has a diploma in classical singing and theory of music from the London College of Music, Ealing, London. She is an Associate of the London College of Music (A.L.C.M) which qualification she obtained in 1975.
She was on a twelve-month contract at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1978.
She has studied Tai Chi and had private lessons with the late Tennyson Yui [1] for one year, 1980.
Deane-Johns attended Southern Cross University during 2006–2010 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in writing and communication. [2]
Deane-Johns was in the Australian TV series Homicide in 1975 and 1976. She performed in the TV series Bluey as Debbie Morley in 1976. In 1977, she was in Cop Shop , a long running police drama series.
In 1981, she appeared in Heatwave and Winter of Our Dreams . [3] Heatwave, directed by Phillip Noyce was based on the Juanita Nielsen disappearance case of the 1970s. Winter of Our Dreams was an award-winning drama written and directed by John Duigan. In 1982, she was in Winner Take All – Downside Risk, [4] a TV series about the fast-paced world of big business. In 1985, she was in Winners – The Other Facts of Life. [5] In 1991 Deane-Johns appeared in What's Cooking? an Australian cooking television series. [6]
In 1991 Channel 9 introduced a new series called Chances , based around a family who won AUD$3 million in a lottery and the effect it had on their lives. Deane-Johns played the part of Sharon Taylor, a good time girl who made a living as a hairdresser. Chances was discontinued in 1992 after a run of 127 hour-long episodes.
Deane-Johns was in the television film McLeod's Daughters in 1996 with Jack Thompson, Tammy MacIntosh and Kris McQuade. She was in the long-running Home and Away from 1997 to 2001, playing Melanie Rainbow. In 2002, she was in the Canadian-Australian co-production of Guinevere Jones , a teenage fantasy series where she played the part of evil witch Morgana. In 2007, she appeared in Unfinished Sky a story about a farmer who takes in an Afghan woman who has fled from a brothel.
In 2014 she had a supporting role in the film Last Cab to Darwin . [3] In 2017 she played the part of Bulldozer in Throbbin' 84. [7] The film takes its name from the 1984 Australian compilation music album Throbbin' '84.
Deane-Johns appeared in two seasons of The Other Guy in 2018 and 2019. She performed in season two of the comedy drama series Mr Inbetween in 2019. She was also in the documentary series Location Scout which was about the making of the Australian comedy film Top End Wedding , which was filmed around Darwin in 2018.
She has worked with some of Australia's best-known actors [8] including John Hargreaves, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman, Charles Bud Tingwell, John Meillon and Alwyn Kurts.
As well as acting, Deane-Johns has done voiceovers including four episodes of Persons of Interest in 2014. [9]
Deane-Johns is also a writer and has kept an anecdotal record of her thespian experiences in a series of articles called Mercia's Missives. She describes the difficulties in working with misogynistic directors, unsympathetic make-up artists, bitchy co-stars and young actors who think they are God's gift to women. [10]
Deane-Johns wrote for the (now defunct) Australian Playboy magazine for four years in the 1980s. As she relates in her cogitations Mercia's Missives: "I spent a lot of time in my room, writing a column for Playboy magazine, simply entitled Women. Peter Olszewski, also known as JJ Mc Roach, the founder of the Marijuana Party was the editor at the time. I enjoyed writing for Playboy. I had a lot of material around me at the time for inspiration. Things were fine".
As well as singing and acting Deane-Johns has done stand-up comedy and has ambitions to appear at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe one day. She appeared with co-star and fellow Australian singer and actress Anne-Maree McDonald in Caliente [11] in 2011. This was a one-hour stand-up comedy routine which they performed at The El Rocco Room, in Sydney's Kings Cross.
When pregnant with her daughter Natasha, Mercia was the first pregnant woman in the world to be photographed for Playboy.
Having a diploma in music Deane-Johns has worked extensively with the recently deceased Damien Lovelock. She toured with the Celibate Rifles in 1990 on their world tour and sang in Damien's band Wigworld singing Patti Smith songs amongst others. In 1990 she performed in Damien Lovelock's promo-video for the single 'Disco Inferno' (April, 1990), taken from the 1988 album 'It's A Wig Wig World'. [12]
She has sung in many jazz trios and duos and also cover bands for Woodstock and Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and Fleetwood Mac.
The administrations of Australian Prime Ministers John Gorton (1968–1971) and Gough Whitlam (1972–1975) put considerable extra funding into the Australian film industry which led to the 'New Wave' of the late 1970s and early 1980s. [13] There were many productions like Picnic at Hanging Rock with Helen Morse and Anne-Louise Lambert, My Brilliant Career with Judy Davis, Wendy Hughes and Sam Neill released in August 1979, Summerfield with Nick Tate, John Waters and Elizabeth Alexander made in 1977 and The Plumber with Judy Morris and Ivor Kants directed by Peter Weir in 1979. [14] Other famous films of that time include Gallipoli (1981) and Crocodile Dundee (1986).
Mercia Deane-Johns featured in three films of the Australian New Wave Winter of Our Dreams (1981) Heatwave (1982) and Going Down (1982).
| Year | Title | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Alvin Purple (aka The Sex Therapist) | Small role (uncredited) | Feature film [15] |
| 1975 | The Box | Typist | Feature film [16] |
| 1980 | Breaking Point | Performer | Short Film documentary |
| 1981 | Winter of Our Dreams | Angela | Feature film [17] |
| 1982 | The Applicant | Role unknown | Short film |
| 1982 | Heatwave | Secretary | Feature film [18] |
| 1982 | Going Down | Ned | Feature film [19] |
| 1983 | Molly | Talent Agent | Feature film [20] |
| 1987 | Pandemonium | Morticia | Feature film |
| 1999 | Erskineville Kings | Barmaid | Feature film [21] |
| 2007 | Unfinished Sky | Barbara | Feature film [22] |
| 2012 | The One Who Broke Your Heart | Sean's Mum | Short film [23] |
| 2014 | Last Cab to Darwin | Fay | Feature film [24] |
| 2015 | The Immortality of the Bounty Hunters | The Book Critic | Short film |
| 2017 | Throbbin' 84 | Bulldozer | Film [25] (Won award at Melbourne Underground Film Festival) |
| 2018 | Edge of the Earth | Mother | Short film - post-production [26] |
| Title | Year | Role | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974; 1975 | Division 4 | Girl 2 / Maureen / Rita | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1975 | Matlock Police | Gail | TV series, episode 177: "The Hill" |
| 1975; 1976 | Homicide | Maureen Wilson | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1976 | Alvin Purple | Daisy | TV series, episode 5: "The Postman" |
| 1976–1977 | Bluey | Debbie Morley | TV series, 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Homicide | Brenda Lukins | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1977 | The Sullivans | Timna | TV series, 20 episodes |
| 1977 | Young Ramsay | Eleanor | TV series, episode 1. "Story of a Shaggy Dog" |
| 1977–1979 | Cop Shop | Andrea Williams / Jan / Gina Valente | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1978 | Demolition | (uncredited) | TV movie |
| 1979 | Skyways | Susan Masters | TV series, episode 6: "Coming of Age" |
| 1979 | Twenty Good Years | Ruth Cohen | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1980 | The Restless Years | Pat | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1982 | Winner Take All | TV series, 10 episodes | |
| 1984 | Conferenceville | TV movie | |
| 1984 | Crime of the Decade | TV movie [27] | |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Molly | TV series, episode 35: "Suzie's War" |
| 1985 | Double Sculls | Melanie Atkins | TV movie |
| 1985 | Winners - The Other Facts of Life | Policewoman | TV movie series, 1 episode [28] |
| 1985 | Winners - Room to Move | Janet | TV movie series, 1 episode [29] |
| 1986 | Body Business | Judy | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Vietnam | Linda Aarons | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Harbour Beat | Secretary | TV movie pilot [30] |
| 1991–1992 | Chances | Sharon Taylor | TV series, 127 episodes |
| 1995; 1999; 2003 | Blue Heelers | Marcia Hyland / Raelene Stevens / Jan Bayliss | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1996 | McLeod's Daughters | Rosa | TV movie pilot [31] |
| 1996 | Twisted Tales | Woman | TV movie series, 1 episode |
| 1997; 2001 | Home and Away | Melanie Rainbow | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1998 | Water Rats | Guest role: Cheryl Voss | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1999 | Airtight | Ma Lucci | TV movie [32] |
| 2000 | Above The Law | Joan Bartlett | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2000 | All Saints | Mary Constantine | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2001 | Home and Away | Kerry | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002 | The Secret Life of Us | Clairvoyan | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002 | Guinevere Jones | Morgana Le Fay | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | The Saddle Club | New Owner | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | White Collar Blue | Connie Ciric | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2009–2011 | Packed to the Rafters | Grace Barton | TV series, 10 episodes |
| 2012 | Tricky Business | Vera Stanic | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2014 | Persons of Interest | Narrator | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 2016 | The Secret Daughter | Poppy | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2017; 2019 | The Other Guy | Bev / Cashier | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Harrow | Sofia Calanna | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2018 | Location Scout | Herself | TV series |
| 2019 | Mr Inbetween | Steph | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2021 | Back to the Rafters | Mrs. Spade | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2023 | While The Men Are Away | Mrs. Whitmore | TV series, 4 episodes |
| Year | Production | Role | Company/Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Meanwhile Back on Planet Earth | Musical about Liza Minnelli at the Bondi Pavilion [2] | |
| 1986 | Bloody Poetry | Precious Theatre Company. at The Stables by Mary Shelley [33] | |
| 1984 | The Blind Giant is Dancing | ACT Theatre Company [34] | |
| 1989 | George and Mildred | Australian tour with the Elizabethan Theatre Company [2] | |
| 1978 | The Playboy of the Western World | Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) [35] | |
| 1978 | Electra | Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) [36] | |
| 1978 | Once a Catholic | The Actors' Company Theatre [37] | |
| 1978 | The Happy Apples | The Actors' Company Theatre [38] | |
| 1976 | Spats – Back in Business | The Speakeasy [39] | |
| 1975 | Two and Two Make Sex | Australian tour with Patrick Cargill [40] |
She won an award at the 18th Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2017 for Throbbin' 84. [41]