Ursula Yovich

Yovich was born in 1977^[1] in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, also growing up there. Her father, Slobodan Jović, was a Bosnian Serb immigrant who anglicised his name to Yovich. Her mother is an Aboriginal Burarra woman from north-west Arnhem Land near the Blyth River, with the closest community being Maningrida.^[2] Raised in Darwin with her Dad, both her parents spoke English as a second language.^[3]

Yovich started singing when she was young, and at the age 13, began formal music training when her father enrolled her in singing classes. She later joined one of the local youth theatre groups.^[3] She eventually left Darwin to study in Perth,^[4] graduating from the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in 1996,^[5] before eventually relocating to Sydney.^[4]

Yovich has appeared in more than 50 theatre and musical theatre productions, including Capricornia, Mother Courage and her Children, The Sapphires, Natural Life, Nailed, The Sunshine Club, Jerry Springer the Opera, Nathaniel Storm, and The Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom.^[6][7][8][9]

Yovich co-wrote the libretto and songs for rock musical Barbara and the Camp Dogs with Alana Valentine, and appeared in the show alongside Elaine Crombie.^[10][11] She wrote and starred in her own one-woman cabaret, Magpie Blues and also wrote The Man with the Iron Neck, which toured Australia from 2018 to 2019.^[12]

Yovich featured in Australia’s first Aboriginal opera, Pecan Summer. She toured both locally and internationally with the musicians of Black Arm Band in Dirtsong. She has also performed in the all-girl group, Barefoot Divas.^[12]

Yovich's film credits include drama Jindabyne (2006), Baz Luhrmann epic Australia (2008), Around the Block (2013), crime thriller Goldstone (2016)^[13][14][15] and romantic comedy Top End Wedding (2019).^[12]

She has appeared in television series' including Redfern Now, season 2 of the crime drama series Mystery Road, and the comedy series Preppers.^[16] Other television credits include Wakefield, Wanted, The Code, The Gods of Wheat Street.^[12] Rake, The Moth Effect, The Twelve, Irreverent, How to Stay Married, Doctor Doctor, Faboriginal and Devil's Dust.^[15]

Yovich is a writer on the NITV animated children’s TV series Little J & Big Cuz, in which she also voiced the characters of Nanna and Levi.^[12] Additionally, she was the subject of an episode of the SBS documentary series Blaktrax.^[16]

In 2019, while filming for Mystery Road, Yovich announced that after 22 years, she was stepping away from the theatre, saying she couldn't pretend that she wanted to pursue theatre any longer.^[17] In 2024, she made a theatre comeback, appearing in The Lewis Trilogy.^[18]

As of 2009^[update] Yovich was married to Stewart O'Connell, a lawyer, and the couple has one daughter.^[29]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	My Bed Your Bed	Della	Short film
2006	Jindabyne	Alice
2008	$9.99	Camille (voice)	Animated film
	Australia	Daisy
2010	Aesop's Way	Adrian's Wife	Short film
2013	Destiny in the Dirt	Danni	Short film
	Around the Block	Chrissie
2014	Spirit Stones	Eva	Short film
2016	Goldstone	Maria
2019	Top End Wedding	Daffy Ford
	Totem and Ore	Testimonies reader	Documentary
2023	The Royal Hotel	Carol
TBA	It Will Find You	Aunty	Completed
TBA	Whale Shark Jack	Hazel	In post-production

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Blue Heelers	Elvira Cook	Episode: "Reflection"
2012	Devil's Dust	Pauline Gordon	Miniseries, 2 episodes
2012–2013	Redfern Now	Nic Shields	Episodes: "Stand Up", "Pokies"
2014	Rake	Holly	Episodes: "3.4", "3.5"
	The Gods of Wheat Street	Eden Freeburn	Regular role, 6 episodes
	The Code	Kitty Boyd	Recurring role, 5 episodes
2017–2021	Little J & Big Cuz	Levi	37 episodes
2018	Wanted	Shirley	Episode: "3.3"
2020	Mystery Road	Pansy	6 episodes
2021	The Moth Effect	Megan	Episode: "Have You Heard of the White Ant?"
	Preppers	Kelly	6 episodes[30]
	Doctor Doctor	Magistrate	Episode: "Reasonable Doubt"
	Wakefield	Maria	1 episode
2022	The Twelve	Hope Saunders	4 episodes
	Irreverent	Grace	6 episodes
2023	Deadloch		6 episodes
	Home and Away	Victoria Hudson	2 episodes
	Faraway Downs	Daisy	6 episodes
2024	Total Control	Robin	Episode: #3.4[31]
	Blakball	Various roles
	Pleasant Avenue	Iris King	Miniseries, 4 episodes
	Troppo	Ronnie	8 episodes
2025	Playing Gracie Darling	Zarah Cusic	1 episode
	Top End Bub	Daffy Ford	8 episodes

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Summarize Timeline Fact Check

As performer

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1999	The Sunshine Club		STC / QTC	[5]
2001	The Small Poppies	Lep	Belvoir, Sydney	[5]
2001–2002	My Girragunji	Various roles	Bell Shakespeare
2002	The Dreamers	Meena	Belvoir, Sydney
	The Anatomy Lesson of De Ryush	Rachel	Vitalstatistix
2003–2004	The Threepenny Opera	Polly	Belvoir, Sydney, Bogata Festival, Columbia
2004	Riverland	Milly	Windmill Theatre Co	[5]
2004–2005	The Sapphires	Julie	MTC, Belvoir, Sydney	[32][1]
2005	Nailed	May	Griffin Theatre Company	[33]
2006	Capricornia	Tocky O'Cannon	Belvoir, Sydney
	Seven Stages of Grieving	Solo show	STC	[5]
	Afternoon of the Elves	Jane	Windmill Theatre Co	[5]
2007	The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom	Ragged Blossom	Belvoir, Sydney / Windmill Theatre Co
2008	Romeo & Juliet	Nurse	STC
	An Oak Tree	Guest	Belvoir, Sydney
2009	Jerry Springer: The Opera	Andrea	Sydney Opera House	[1]
	One Night the Moon	The Tracker's Wife	Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne	[22][34]
	The Wizard of Oz	Dorothy	Sydney Theatre with Windmill Theatre Co and STC	[35]
2009–2010	Magpie Blues		International Cabaret Festival, Adelaide, Darwin Festival, Brisbane Cabaret Festival, Garma Festival, Arnhem Land, Melbourne International Arts Festival	[1]
2010	Waltzing the Willarra	Elsa	Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company, Perth	[1]
	Pecan Summer (opera)	Singer		[1]
2011	Bloodland	Cherish	STC
2012; 2013	Barefoot Divas		Sydney Festival, Queensland Music Festival	[1]
2012; 2014	The Magic Hour	Solo show	Deckchair Theatre, Perth, Australian tour with Performing Lines	[36]
2013	The Secret River	Dhirrumbin	STC	[1]
	Mother Courage and Her Children	Mother Courage	QPAC with QTC	[37][1]
2014	A Christmas Carol	Mrs Cratchett	Belvoir, Sydney	[22]
	20 Questions		Belvoir, Sydney	[38]
	Santos Opening Night Concert	MC	Garmalang Festival, Darwin	[39]
2015	Dirt Song	Performer	NZ tour with Black Arm Band
	Love and Information	Various roles	STC / Malthouse Theatre
	Four Little Birds		Garmalang Festival, Darwin	[39]
2016	The Golden Age	Elizabeth	STC
	Power Plays	TV Producer	STC
	Creature: Dot & the Kangaroo	Kangaroo	QPAC, Brisbane with Stalker Theatre for Out of the Box festival	[22][40]
2017	Heart is a Wasteland	Raye	Brown Cab Productions / Malthouse Theatre
	Diving for Pearls	Barbara	Griffin Theatre Company
	1967: Songs in the Key of Yes		Adelaide Festival, Sydney Opera House for Sydney Festival with Secret Chord	[22][41]
2017; 2019	Barbara and the Camp Dogs	Barbara	Belvoir, Sydney	[42]
2018	The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui	Givola	STC
	Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (development)	Performer	Force Majeure
	Dubboo – Life of a Songman	Artist	Carriageworks, Sydney with Bangarra Dance Theatre
2018–2019	Man with the Iron Neck	Rose	Brisbane Festival, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Darwin Festival with Legs on the Wall	[43][12]
2019	Badu Gili (live music series)		Sydney Opera House	[22]
2020	The 5th Baiame's	Performer	Ngunnhu Festival 2020
2021; 2024	Well-Behaved Women	Ensemble Cast	Neglected Musicals / Belvoir, Sydney	[44]
2022; 2023	An Evening with Ursula Yovich	Solo performer	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney, Sydney Festival	[39]
2023	Aretha: A Love Letter to the Queen of Soul	Performer	Sydney Opera House
2024	The Lewis Trilogy	Norma / Cherry / Malcolm	Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company	[18]
2025	The Black Woman of Gippsland	Auntie Rochelle / Ensemble	MTC	[45]
	Natural Life			[33][1]
	Nathaniel Storm			[33]
	Corrugation Road		Black Swan State Theatre Company	[5]
	Darlinghurst Nights		Darwin Theatre Company	[5]
	Winyanboga Yurringa		Carriageworks, Sydney	[22]
	Red Carpet Cabaret		Darlinghurst Theatre	[22]

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As writer/director

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2017; 2019	Barbara and the Camp Dogs	Playwright	Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney	[46]
2018	The Fever and the Fret (development)	Director	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney	[39][47]
2018–2019	Man with the Iron Neck	Playwright	Brisbane Festival, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival, Darwin Festival with Legs on the Wall	[43][12]
2021	Outdated	Assistant Director	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney	[39][48]
2022	A Letter for Molly	Director	Ensemble Theatre, Sydney
2023; 2024	Tracker	Co-writer	Australian national tour with Australian Dance Theatre & Ilbijerri Theatre Company	[39]

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^[39]

• Sketches EP (2004)
• Ursula Yovich Live (2010)^[39]
• Well-Behaved Women (2023, contributing vocalist)