About

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 that year and is available via streaming services internationally; Hulu (USA), Netflix (AU) and Amazon Prime Video (UK). She was last seen in the Australian Animation The Wishmas Tree (as the voice of the ringtail possum), The Dry alongside Eric Bana, in Netflix’s star studded cast of the animated family movie, Back to The Outback and most recently in ABC’s Summer Love, where she also wrote an episode with her husband, James Colley. Miranda starred in the hilarious Christmas movie, Christmas Ransom for Stan last year and will shortly star in the Disney+ series, The Artful Dodger out Nov 29, which she not only acted in but also was part of the writing team.

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 audiences everywhere, with the film receiving many accolades on the festival circuit, as well as a 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 she had the honour of introducing an indigenous doll, Kiya in a very special episode as part of 2019 NAIDOC week. Equally as impressive, Miranda featured in the ‘Turtleboy’ episode of ABC’s Bluey, playing ‘Dougie’s mum’. Dougie is profoundly deaf and uses Auslan to communicate with his hearing mum, who signs and speaks. 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 one 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 three.

Miranda was last seen on the stage in Black is the New White, a play written by Nakkiah Lui, which toured to sold out crowds 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 nominated for a Walkley Award.

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). She was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress (The Dry) at 2021 AACTA Awards.

Miranda’s first offering as an author – a memoir, “Top End Girl” was released in 2020, as was a children’s book she co-wrote, “Aunty’s Wedding”.