Rachel Ward

Rachel Claire Ward^{[citation needed]} was born in 1957 or 1958 in England, the eldest daughter of Claire and Peter Alistair Ward, who was the son of the William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley. Her younger sister is environmental campaigner and former actress Tracy Louise Ward, Duchess of Beaufort. She grew up in Cornwell Manor, in Cornwell, Oxfordshire,^[1] which her parents bought in 1959, and remains in the hands of the Ward family as of January 2026^[update].^[2]

Ward's parents divorced when she was twelve, and both remarried. Her father had two^[1] or three more sons, one of whom inherited the manor;^[2] the girls were not mentioned in the will, after their father died in 2009.^[1] Her mother became the long-term partner of Lord Lambton, a Conservative Party MP whose career ended when he was embroiled in a scandal with prostitutes.^[1]

Ward attended Hatherop Castle School, Hatherop, Gloucestershire.^[1] then the Byam Shaw School of Art in Kensington, West London. She left school at age 16 to become a fashion and photography model.^[3]

During her modelling career, Ward was featured on the covers of Vogue, Harper's & Queen, and Cosmopolitan magazines.^{[citation needed]} After moving to the United States in 1977, she appeared in television advertisements such as the Lincoln Mercury "Cougar Girl"^[4] and Revlon's "Scoundrel Girl".^[5] Time referred to her as "the face of the 80s".^[6].

In 1981, she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for "New Star of the Year" for her role in the crime drama film Sharky's Machine starring with Burt Reynolds.^{[citation needed]} The following year, she starred in the comedy Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin.^{[citation needed]} Her big break came in 1983, when she starred opposite Richard Chamberlain as the lead role portraying Meggie Cleary in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. Ward assigns much of the credit for this breakthrough performance to acting coach Sandra Seacat, first for simply helping her get the job (after her disastrous first reading)^[7] and then for the quality of the finished performance, assembled over the course of a gruelling five-month shooting schedule, while undergoing a simultaneous and no less gruelling makeover programme at the hands of Seacat.^[8] Also in 1983, U.S. audiences voted Ward one of the world's 10 most beautiful women.^[9] In 1984, she played Jess in the film noir remake Against All Odds, with Jeff Bridges and James Woods.^{[citation needed]} After filming Fortress in 1985, Ward then disappeared from film for a few years to study acting.^{[citation needed]}

She reappeared in 1987 playing opposite her husband, Bryan Brown (whom she met on the set of The Thorn Birds), in The Umbrella Woman.^{[citation needed]} In 2001, she was again nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for her role in On the Beach (2000).^{[citation needed]} Also in 2001, Ward won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Fiction Film for The Big House,^[10] 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 2006, Ward acted in Kevin Connor's mini-series Blackbeard, made for the Hallmark Channel.^[11]

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.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, she directed her first feature-length film titled Beautiful Kate, which she adapted from a 1982 Newton Thornburg novel. It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Film. It subsequently earned Ward AACTA Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Screenplay.

Ward runs a farm with her family in rural New South Wales.^[12] The farm was the subject of a 2023 documentary, Rachel's Farm, which Ward co-directed.^[12]

In 2003, a portrait of Ward by artist Jan Williamson won the Packing Room Prize at the Archibald Prize competition.^[13]

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".^[14]

As a young woman, Ward briefly dated David Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy.^[9] Ward married Australian actor Bryan Brown in 1983. They have three children: Rosie, Matilda and Joe.^[15][16]

She became an Australian citizen around 1986.^[17]

Actress

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Type
1981	Night School	Eleanor Adjai
	Sharky's Machine	Dominoe
1982	Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid	Juliet Forrest
1983	The Final Terror	Margaret	Filmed in 1981
1984	Against All Odds	Jessie Wyler
1987	Hotel Colonial	Irene Costa
	The Umbrella Woman	Marge Hills
1989	How to Get Ahead in Advertising	Julia Bagley
1990	After Dark, My Sweet	Fay Anderson
1992	Christopher Columbus: The Discovery	Isabella I of Castile
	Double Obsession	Grandmother
1993	Wide Sargasso Sea	Annette Cosway
1994	The Ascent	Patricia
2007	Shotgun! [An Opening Sequence]	Adrianna	Short film
2011	Free Rain	Herself	Documentary
2013	The Last Impresario	Interviewee
2016	The Death and Life of Otto Bloom	Dr. Ada Fitzgerald
2018	Peter Rabbit	Josephine Rabbit (voice)
2020	I Am Burt Reynolds	Herself	Documentary
2023	Rachel’s Farm		Documentary; also director

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Christmas Lilies of the Field	Jenny	TV movie
1981	Dynasty	Edna Macready	Episode "The Dinner Party"
1983	The Thorn Birds	Meghan 'Meggie' Cleary	Miniseries
1985	Fortress	Sally Jones	TV movie
1988	Mike Willessee's Australians	Vivian Bullwinkel	Episode "Vivian Bullwinkel"
1989	Shadow of the Cobra	Chris Royston	Miniseries
1991	And the Sea Will Tell	Jennifer Jenkins	TV movie
1992	Black Magic	Lillian Blatman
	Double Jeopardy	Lisa Burns Donnelly
1996	Twisted Tales	Sara	Episode "Third Party"
1997	My Stepson, My Lover	Caitlin Cory / Wife	TV movie
1999	Seasons of Love	Kate Linthorne	Miniseries
2000	On the Beach	Moira Davidson	TV movie
2001	And Never Let Her Go	Christine Sheve
2002	Bobbie's Girl	Roberta Langham
	Johnson County War	Queenie
2006	Blackbeard	Sally Dunbar	Miniseries
	Monarch Cove	Arianna Preston	14 episodes
2007	Rain Shadow	Kate McDonald	6 episodes
2022	Darby and Joan	English Sat Nav	1 episode

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Filmmaker

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Notes
2000	Blindman's Bluff	Yes	Yes	Short film
2001	The Big House	Yes	Yes
2003	Martha's New Coat	Yes	No
2009	Beautiful Kate	Yes	Yes
2019	Palm Beach	Yes	Yes
2023	Rachel’s Farm	Yes	Yes	Documentary

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Notes
2006	Two Twisted	Episode: "Heart Attack"
2006	Knot at Home Project	Documentary series
2010	Rake	Episodes: "R vs Dana", "R vs Lorton"
2011	My Place	3 episodes
2012	The Straits	3 episodes
2013	An Accidental Soldier	TV movie
2014	Devil's Playground	3 episodes

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Ward's stage performances include:^[18]