Rachel Claire Ward, AM (born 12 September 1957) is a British
actress, columnist, film
director and screenwriter who has
primarily pursued her career in Australia.
Early life
Ward was
born at Chipping Norton
, Oxfordshire, England
, the
daughter of Claire Leonora (née Baring) and the Hon.
Peter Alistair Ward. Her grandfathers were
William Ward, 3rd Earl of
Dudley and the cricketer
Giles
Baring; Ward is also the great-granddaughter of
William Ward, 2nd Earl of
Dudley,
Governor-General of Australia
1908–11, and sister of environmental campaigner and former actress
Tracy Louise Ward.
She attended the
Byam Shaw School
of Art
in London
before
leaving at 16 to become a top fashion model. She briefly
dated
David Kennedy, son of
Robert F. Kennedy.
In 1983 she was voted one of the 10 most
beautiful women in the United States
.
Career
She became well known when she starred opposite
Richard Chamberlain as the lead role
portraying
Meggie Cleary in the
television mini-series
The Thorn Birds (1983)
for which she was
nominated
for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television
Film. In 2001 she was
nominated for the same award for
her role in
On the
Beach (2000). She also received a
Golden Globe Award nomination (New Star
of the Year) for her role in the film
Sharky's Machine (1981) with
Burt Reynolds. Other notable films
from that period include
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(1982) with
Steve Martin and
Against All Odds (1984)
with
Jeff Bridges.
Ward then disappeared from film for three years to study acting.
She reappeared in 1987 playing opposite her husband,
Bryan Brown (whom she met on the set of
The
Thorn Birds), in
The
Umbrella Woman. Married since 1983, they have three
children: Rose (Rosie), Matilda (who has followed her parents into
the acting profession), and Joe.
In 2001, Ward won the
Australian Film Institute Award
for Best Short Fiction Film for
The Big House., and Best
Australian Film at
Flickerfest. The film
also won the
Film
Critics Circle of Australia Award, as did her 2003 film
Martha's New Coat. That film also won the 2003
ATOM Award
In 2003, a
portrait of Rachel Ward by artist
Jan Williamson won the
Packing Room Prize at the
Archibald
Prize competition. In 2005, Ward was made a Member of the
Order of Australia "for service
to raising awareness of social justice through lobbying, mentoring
and advocacy for the rights of disadvantaged and at-risk young
people, and support for the Australian film and television
industry."
In 2007, Ward returned to television, headlining the new
ABC drama
Rain Shadow. She played a
country veterinarian named Kate McDonald, a free spirit who
confronts personal and professional obstacles in a rural,
drought-affected town. In June 2009 her first
feature-length film
Beautiful
Kate, adapted by Ward from a 1982
Newton Thornburg novel, premiered at the
Sydney Film Festival.
Filmography
Actress
Director
Writer
- The Big House (2000)
- Blindman's Bluff (2000)
- Beautiful Kate (2009)
Self
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
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