Deborra-Lee Furness

Deborra-Lee Furness, (born 30 November 1955) is an Australian actress and producer. Furness was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2022.

Early life

Furness was born in Annandale, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, and raised in Melbourne, Victoria. At the age of 18, Furness attended secretarial school to learn shorthand and typing after her mother advised her to have a back-up career if her acting ambitions didn't come to fruition. In 1974-1975 Furness regularly appeared as 'Debbie', an office girl at Channel 12 in the soap opera The Box. The role was minor, often uncredited and typically non-speaking and usually saw Furness in the background in cafe and bar scenes, often in the company of 'Chris - Office Boy' (Chris Hopley). She also appeared - once again as an office girl, this time unnamed - in an episode of Division 4 screened in mid-1975.

She then got a job as the assistant to John Sorell, the news director at Channel 9. Despite describing herself as "such a bog secretary", Furness has said she thoroughly enjoyed the urgency, the fast action and the high energy of the newsroom. After working in the newsroom for a year, in 1975 Furness was asked to work on No Man's Land, the station's daytime current affairs program which was produced exclusively by women and hosted by Mickie de Stoop. Furness started working on the show as a researcher before becoming an on-air reporter. After her work at Channel 9, Furness then travelled through Europe for one year.

She studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, where she graduated in either 1981 or 1982. She performed on the stage in New York and played Kathleen, the Australian wife of Cole Gioberti (Billy Moses) on the television series Falcon Crest before returning to Australia to continue her acting career.