Leah Purcell

Indigenous Australian actress, film director and writer

Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) 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). In 2014, Purcell wrote and starred in the play, The Drover's Wife, based on the original story by Henry Lawson. In 2019, she went on to write the bestselling novel, The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which was adapted for the screen when Purcell made her directorial debut in the acclaimed film of the same name in 2022, for which she had also written, produced and starred as the titular character. For her work, she has won several awards, including a Helpmann Award, two AACTA Awards, and Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury Grand Prize. Purcell is notable for her roles in several television drama series, including Police Rescue (1996), Fallen Angels (1997), Redfern Now (2012–2013), which earned her an AACTA Award, Janet King (2016), and perhaps her most recognisable television role being that of her AACTA and Logie Award nominated performance as Rita Connors in the Foxtel prison drama series, Wentworth (2018–2021), the Amazon miniseries The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (2023), and currently the Binge series, High Country (2024).

Leah Purcell was born on 14 August 1970 in Murgon, Queensland, and she was the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal (Goa–Gunggari–Wakka Wakka Murri Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer. After a difficult adolescence looking after her sick mother, Florence, who died while Leah was in her late teens, as well as problems with alcohol and teenage motherhood, Leah left Murgon and moved to Brisbane and became involved with community theatre. This was followed by acting roles in ABC Television series Police Rescue and Fallen Angels. Together with Scott Rankin 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 film Black Chicks Talking, which won a 2002 Inside Film award. She appeared as Claudia in the Australian film Lantana for which role she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress by Sydney based Film Critics Circle of Australia; she lost to Daniela Farinacci. She appeared 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.

In 2018, Purcell joined the cast of Foxtel drama series Wentworth as Rita Connors, a role originally portrayed by Glenda Linscott in Prisoner. It was announced that she was one of three new leading cast members to join the series for its sixth season, alongside Susie Porter and Rarriwuy Hick. She first appeared in the first episode of season six, broadcast on 19 June 2018. Following her appearances in seasons six and seven, it was announced in October 2018 that she would be reprising her role for the eighth season, which premiered in 2020.

Purcell developed stories in three different media based on the short story by Henry Lawson published in 1892, which Purcell recalls her mother reading to her. She began writing her version of the story in around 2014, giving the woman a name, Molly Johnson, something that Lawson did not do. Purcell's versions centres around Molly, who is left alone on a remote homestead while heavily pregnant and having to care for her four children while her husband is away droving cattle. She meets an Aboriginal man fleeing police, called Yadaka, and a personal drama evolves. She says that "The essence of the Henry Lawson short story and his underlining themes of racism, the frontier violence and gender violence are [in her story]". However, she has added stories from her own Indigenous family as well as incorporating her own extensive historical research, which included talking to Aboriginal elders and owners of property in the Snowy Mountains, where the story is set. The play won multiple awards, including Book of the Year at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, overall Victorian Prize for Literature at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, two Helpmann Awards, the Major AWGIE Award and several other awards. She penned a best selling novel titled The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, published in 2019. Purcell was lead actor, writer, director and co producer of a film adaptation, also titled The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2021, released on Australian screens on 5 May 2022, after a two year delay owing to the COVID 19 pandemic. Her husband Bain Stewart is lead producer and executive producer on the film, and Rob Collins plays Yadaka. In late 2022 it was confirmed that Purcell was writing the follow up to The Drover's Wife as a series set sometime in the future, with Danny as a adult leading the story.

In 2023 Purcell was announced as part of the cast Foxtel/Binge drama High Country as the lead character Andrea Whitford, Purcell revealed in the Something to Talk About podcast that she also served as the series cultural consultant. Purcell would also appear in Amazon Prime drama The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

Purcell's partner is Bain Stewart, who is also her business partner in Oombarra Productions. She has a daughter and two grandchildren. She believes that Stewart has been "a gift from the ancestors", as he has been such an important support to her through difficult times.

Year Title Role NotesRef 1996 G. P. Lauren Season 8 (guest, 1 episode) Police Rescue Constable Tracey Davis Season 5 (main, 9 episodes) 1997 Fallen Angels Sharon Walker Season 1 (main, 20 episodes) 1998 Water Rats Sarah Lane Season 3 (guest, 1 episode) 2000–01 Beastmaster The Black Apparation Seasons 1–3 (recurring, 5 episodes) 2001 The Lost World Witch Doctor Season 2 (guest, 1 episode) 2002 Bad Cop, Bad Cop Lorraine Simpson Season 1 (guest, 1 episode) 2007 Love My Way Caroline Syron Season 3 (recurring, 3 episodes) The Starter Wife Hannah Sprints Miniseries (recurring, 2 episodes) 2008 McLeod's Daughters Terri Barker Season 8 (guest, 1 episode) 2009 My Place Ellen Season 1 (guest, 1 episode) 2012–13 Redfern Now Grace Seasons 1–2 (main, 2 episodes) 2015 House of Hancock Hilda Kickett Miniseries (guest, 1 episode) Mary: The Making of a Princess Toni Klan TV movie 2015–16 Love Child Daisy Seasons 2–3 (recurring, 3 episodes) 2016 Janet King Heather O'Connor Season 2 (main, 8 episodes) 2016–18 Black Comedy Guest Performer Seasons 2–3 (recurring, 3 episodes) 2018–21 Wentworth Rita Connors Season 6–8 (main; 37 episodes)2019Wentworth: Behind the BarsSelfTV Special2020Wentworth: Behind the Bars 2 2021 All My Friends Are Racist Justice Janelle Ray AO 1 episodeWentworth: UnlockedSelfTV Special2022 Childish DeanoMrs Narkle1 episode (voice) Krystal Klairvoyant Deborah 3 episodes (Tik Tok series) 2023 The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Twig Miniseries2024High Country Andrea Whitford8 episodes