Biography
Deborah Jane Mailman, AM (born 14 July 1972) is an Aboriginal Australian television and film actress, and singer. She was the first Aboriginal actress to win the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and has gone on to win four more both in television and film. The awards are now known as the AACTA Awards.
Known For
Complete Filmography
Kangaroo
2025
as Rosie
Ex TV personality, Chris Masterman, becomes stranded in an Outback town outside Alice Springs. There, he teams up with 12-year-old Indigenous girl Cha...
Runt
2024
as Bernadette Box
In the Australian town of Upson Downs, ten-year-old Annie and Runt, her stray dog, attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog ...
Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back
2024
as Maggie Diggins (voice)
When the promise of living in a perfect digital world traps the citizens of Sanctuary City online, Combat Wombat and Sweetie must return to save the d...
Scarygirl
2023
as Treedweller (voice)
As her world is shrouded in darkness, a young girl must overcome her fears and travel to a mysterious city of light, save her father from a dangerous ...
The New Boy
2023
as Sister Mum
In 1940s Australia, a nameless nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery overseen by a renegade nun, where hi...
Looking Black
2022
as Self
Looking Black explores the impact of Indigenous storytelling at the ABC, and how it has created deep and honest conversations about the experience of ...
H Is for Happiness
2021
as Penelope Benson
A twelve-year-old girl with boundless optimism and a unique view of the world is inspired by the strange new boy at school, and sets out to mend her b...
Combat Wombat
2020
as Maggie Diggins (voice)
Maggie Diggins, a wombat turned Wonder Woman, unintentionally becomes the city's superhero after she begrudgingly saves a rookie superhero sugar glide...
2067
2020
as Regina Jackson
A lowly utility worker is called to the future by a mysterious radio signal, he must leave his dying wife to embark on a journey that will force him t...
Total Control
2019
as Alex Irving
Alex Irving, an Indigenous woman, gets media attention after her heroic action. Her life then changes when the prime minister recruits her as a senato...
Three Summers
2017
as Pam
Set over three summers at The Westival, a fictional West Australian rural folk festival redoubtable local radio personality ‘Queenie' describes as "Au...
A Few Less Men
2017
as Sergeant Simpson
Travel plans for three men in ill-fitting wedding tuxedos goes horribly wrong.
Oddball
2015
as Mayor Lake / Narrator
An eccentric chicken farmer, with the help of his granddaughter, trains his mischievous dog Oddball to protect a penguin sanctuary from fox attacks in...
Blinky Bill the Movie
2015
as Blinky's Mother (voice)
Blinky Bill is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of leaving the little town of Green Patch and following in his...
Redfern Now: Promise Me
2015
as Lorraine
Two young women are raped on their way home. The story follows the lives of both women and the different ways they deal with the crime.
Paper Planes
2014
as Maureen
Dylan discovers he has a talent for making paper planes. He has a chance to compete in a world championship, but he'll have to face bullies and self-d...
Jack Irish: Dead Point
2014
as Cynthia
Jack Irish is thrown into a world of club owners, drug dealers and killers when he is hired by a judge to find a mysterious red book.
The Darkside
2013
as Pamela
Writer and Director Warwick Thornton has assembled a collection of the most poignant, sad, funny and absurd ghost stories from around Australia. He wi...
Mental
2012
as Sandra
A charismatic, crazy hothead transforms a family's life when she becomes the nanny of five girls.
The Sapphires
2012
as Gail
It's 1968, and four young, talented Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when they entertain the US troops in Vietnam as ...
Mabo
2012
as Bonita Mabo
The remarkable life story of Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo; a Torres Strait Islander who left school at the age of 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge t...
The Graduate From Sudan
2009
as Self - Narrator
Victoria Achut battled her way through medical school and escaped a civil war in Sudan, but her biggest struggle yet has been re-starting life in the ...
Bran Nue Dae
2009
as Roxanne
In the Summer of 1965 a young man is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome - fishing, hanging out with his mates and his girl. ...
Lucky Miles
2007
as Lisa (voice)
It's 1990 and an Indonesian fishing boat abandons Iraqi and Cambodian refugees in a remote part of the Western Australia. Although most are quickly ca...
The Book of Revelation
2006
as Julie
An erotic mystery about power and sex, the entanglement of victim and perpetrator, and a man's struggle to regain his lost self.
The Archive Project
2006
as Herself
In the context of Australia's cold war a 'hidden history' of Melbourne's Realist film movement (1945-1959) is explored through the first person accoun...
Black Chicks Talking
2002
as Herself
Performer and writer Leah Purcell talks with five dynamic Indigenous women - Rosanna Angus, Kathryn Hay, Deborah Mailman, Cilla Malone and Tammy Willi...
Australian Rules
2002
Thanks
Friends Gary Black (Nathan Phillips) and Dumby Red (Luke Carroll) are on the same football team in their coastal Australian town. But to local racists...
Rabbit-Proof Fence
2002
as Mavis
In 1931, three Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their homes to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a trek across the Outback.
Play School: Nursery Rhymes
2001
as Deborah
For over 30 years, Play School has been entertaining and teaching thousands of young Australians with its innovative and creative program style. Encou...
The Monkey's Mask
2001
as Lou
A lesbian private detective dives head first into murder, manipulation and the consuming power of sex.
The Third Note
1999
as Tina
A blind woman and her neighbour discover a common bond after battling each other with sound.
Dear Claudia
1999
as Cathy
Radiance
1998
as Nona
After the death of their mother, three estranged sisters return to their childhood home.
Wolfram: A Sequel to Sweet Country
N/A
Four years after the events of “Sweet Country” and revolving around David Tranter’s Alyawarra family history, three irrepressible kids who escape from...