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Deborah Mailman

Acclaimed Australian actress Deborah Mailman has performed primarily for theater and screen productions in her own homeland, her most notable crossover success being the 2002 feature "Rabbit-Proof Fence." Born to a Maori mother and an Aboriginal rodeo-riding father, Mailman grew up in Mount Isa, Queensland, before studying drama at Queensland University of Technology's Academy of the Arts. Soon after graduation, she landed parts in several Shakespearean plays and performed in a one-woman show, "Seven Stages of Grieving," that she co-created. For her performance in her first feature, "Radiance," a drama about reunited sisters mourning the loss of their mother, she became the first Aboriginal woman to win the Australian Film Institute's award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. More film roles followed, though she garnered more attention for her role on "The Secret Lives of Us," a dramatic series about the relationships and romances between friends in the same apartment building. She reached a larger international audience in "Rabbit-Proof Fence," a drama about three girls who escape a re-education camp and embark on a long journey home. She has, nevertheless, remained a bigger star at home, starring in many films and as a regular on the dramatic comedy series "Offspring," which concerns an obstetrician and her surrounding family and friends.