Speakers Profile - Miranda Tapsell










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Miranda Tapsell is a proud Larrakia and Tiwi Woman from Darwin who grew up in Kakadu National Park and began performing at the age of seven. Miranda graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in 2008 and since graduating, has built a strong ascending career in film, television and theatre.

Miranda has most recently celebrated the huge success of Top End Wedding, a movie Miranda produced, co-wrote and starred in. Filmed in Northern Territory and Tiwi Islands, it premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, was released theatrically in Australia in May 2019 and is now available via streaming service, Hulu in USA. She was last seen in the Australian animation The Wishmas Tree (as the voice of the ringtail possum) and in The Dry alongside Eric Bana and will next be seen in Netflix�s star studded cast Back to The Outback out 2021.

Miranda is well known for her performance in the multi-award winning feature film The Sapphires, playing one of four lead characters. Her portrayal of the feisty �Cynthia� resonated with international audiences with the film receiving many accolades on the festival circuit, as well as her Deadly Award nomination for Female Actor of the Year.

Miranda is also renowned for her role in Channel Nine�s drama Love Child, in which Miranda played �Martha�. A career highlight saw Miranda cast as a host of the perennial favourite children�s series, Play School and had the honour of introducing an indigenous doll, Kiya in a very special episode as part of 2019 NAIDOC week. She has had various roles on many much loved Australian TV including Channel 9�s Doctor Doctor, ABC�s comedy Get Krack!n�, legal drama Newton�s Law for ABCTV, Foxtel�s Secret City, ABCTV�s Cleverman and Stan�s Wolf Creek.

Miranda starred in Season 1 of the popular ABCTV series Redfern Now and Black Comedy. Other television credits include Mabo for Blackfella Films and Logie Award winning Little J and Big Cuz for ABCTV, which is currently in production for Season 3.

Miranda was last seen on the stage in Black is the New White, a play written by Nakkiah Lui, which toured to sold out crowns every night in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. She�s also been seen in The Literati at The Stables and has appeared in two Belvoir Street Theatre productions, A Christmas Carol and Radiance. Other remarkable stage career performances include Sydney Theatre Company�s production of The Secret River for which she received a Helpmann Award Nomination for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play; I Am Eora for Sydney Festival; Rainbow�s End for Riverside Theatre; Mother�s Tongue for Yirra Yakin Theatre Company; Yibiyung (Lead) for Belvoir Street Theatre.

2020 saw Miranda team up again with her best friend, Nakkiah Lui as they showcased their podcast Debutante exploring beauty, race and class. Miranda and Nakkiah look at how the �Debutante Ball� began and how women of colour around the world today have reclaimed and reshaped a tradition that once would have excluded them. The podcast was recently nominated for the very prestigious Walkley Award�s.

Miranda received two Logie Awards for her role in�Love Child: Most Popular New Talent and The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer. At the 2019 AACTA Awards, she was nominated three times - Best Film (Top End Wedding), Best Lead Actress (Top End Wedding) and Best Performance in TV Comedy (Get Krack!n).

Miranda�s first offering as an author � a memoir, �Top End Girl� was released in April 2020 and her latest, a kids book, �Aunty�s Wedding� is out now.