Leah Purcell (born 1970) is an Indigenous Australian actress, director
and writer. She is a Helpmann Award and AACTA Award winner.Leah
Purcell was born in Murgon, Queensland, and she was the youngest of
seven children of Aboriginal and white Australian descent. Her father
was a butcher and a boxing trainer. After a difficult adolescence,
looking after her sick mother who died while Leah was in her late
teens, problems with alcohol and teenage motherhood, Leah left Murgon
and moved to Brisbane and became involved with community theatre.In
1996 she moved to Sydney to become presenter on a music video cable
television station, RED Music Channel. This was followed by roles in a
place called ABC television series Police Rescue and Fallen Angels.
She co-wrote and acted in a play called Box the Pony, which played at
Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, the 1999
Edinburgh Festival and in 2000 at the Barbican Theatre in London. She
then wrote and directed the documentary Black Chicks Talking, which
won a 2002 Inside Film award. She appeared in the acclaimed Australian
film Lantana and on stage in The Vagina Monologues. She went on to
appear in three 2004 films, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne
as well as playing the role of Condoleezza Rice in David Hare's play,
Stuff Happens in Sydney and Melbourne.
and writer. She is a Helpmann Award and AACTA Award winner.Leah
Purcell was born in Murgon, Queensland, and she was the youngest of
seven children of Aboriginal and white Australian descent. Her father
was a butcher and a boxing trainer. After a difficult adolescence,
looking after her sick mother who died while Leah was in her late
teens, problems with alcohol and teenage motherhood, Leah left Murgon
and moved to Brisbane and became involved with community theatre.In
1996 she moved to Sydney to become presenter on a music video cable
television station, RED Music Channel. This was followed by roles in a
place called ABC television series Police Rescue and Fallen Angels.
She co-wrote and acted in a play called Box the Pony, which played at
Sydney's Belvoir Street Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, the 1999
Edinburgh Festival and in 2000 at the Barbican Theatre in London. She
then wrote and directed the documentary Black Chicks Talking, which
won a 2002 Inside Film award. She appeared in the acclaimed Australian
film Lantana and on stage in The Vagina Monologues. She went on to
appear in three 2004 films, Somersault, The Proposition and Jindabyne
as well as playing the role of Condoleezza Rice in David Hare's play,
Stuff Happens in Sydney and Melbourne.
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