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Leah Purcell

リア・パーセル

Ria Pāseru

Aliases: Leah Maree Purcell

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1970-08-14 （Murgon, Queensland, Australia）
Nationality
Australia
Languages
English
Residence History
Murgon, Queensland → Brisbane → Sydney

Career

Occupations
Actress, Film director, Novelist, Playwright
Active Years
1994-2024
Affiliations
Oombarra Productions
Nominations
Logie Awards Most Outstanding Actress (Redfern Now, 2013), AACTA Award Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama (Wentworth, 2018)

Awards

Helpmann Awards
2017
Work: The Drover's Wife
Category: Best New Australian Work
Organization: Helpmann Awards
Result: Won
NSW Premier's Literary Awards
2017
Work: The Drover's Wife
Category: Book of the Year
Organization: NSW Premier's Literary Awards
Result: Won
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
2017
Work: The Drover's Wife
Category: Prize for Literature
Organization: Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
Result: Won
AACTA Awards
2013
Work: Redfern Now
Category: Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama
Organization: Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts
Result: Won
Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury Grand Prize
2021
Work: The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson
Organization: Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Result: Won
Member of the Order of Australia
2021
Organization: Australian Honours
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Drover's Wife

2016 Play

A one-woman play reimagining Henry Lawson's classic short story from an Indigenous woman's perspective, centering on Molly Johnson facing challenges on a remote homestead.

Indigenous perspectiveRacismFrontier violenceGender violenceSurvivalFamily
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson / Leah Purcell (2022)

The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson

2019 Novel

Bestselling novel adaptation expanding the play, depicting an Indigenous woman's struggle in 19th-century frontier Australia.

Indigenous cultureHistorical violenceFemale strength

Box the Pony

1997 Play

Co-written with Scott Rankin, a one-woman autobiographical play.

Indigenous identityFamily

Black Chicks Talking

2002 Documentary film

Documentary featuring Aboriginal Australian women sharing their stories; directed and written by Purcell.

Voices of Indigenous women

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Powerful first-person narrativeIntegration of cultural songlinesRaw dialogue
Recurring Motifs
Indigenous resilienceFrontier isolationMotherhood and survival

Health

  • Alcohol issues
    青少年期
    Contributed to difficult adolescence, caring for sick mother, teenage motherhood

Legacy

Pioneering Aboriginal Australian artist in theatre, novels, and film, addressing racism, gender violence, and Indigenous issues; recipient of major literary, theatre, and film awards including Member of the Order of Australia.

In Popular Culture

  • Known for iconic role as Rita Connors in Wentworth

Quotes

  • 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.
    Source: ABC News interview (2022)

Trivia

  • Goa–Gunggari–Wakka Wakka Murri Aboriginal descent. Youngest of seven children. Father was a butcher and boxing trainer.