THE RARE BIRD

She dazzled the screen world with an AACTA-winning performance in The Nightingale. Now, actor MAGNOLIA MAYMURU has set her sights on reframing perceptions

- RACHEL SHARP

MEET MAGNOLIA

On the day Australia’s answer to the Oscars revealed their 2019 award short-list, Maminydjama Maymuru, 23, was oblivious to the fact her name appeared. She was unaware she’d been nominated for the Best Supporting Actress AACTA award—alongside Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Hotel Mumbai star Tilda Cobham-Hervey, no less—as she was off-grid, hunting in remote East Arnhem Land.

“I knew The Nightingale was up for 14 awards but had no idea I was part of it until my ‘brother’ Josh Bond, who’s the manager of [Indigenous dance troupe] the Chooky Boys, phoned me at 9 pm,” says Maymuru. She went on to win for her heart-wrenching depiction of an Indigenous Tasmanian woman treated horrifically by British officers in the early 1800s. Her screen time in the film, directed by Jennifer Kent and co-produced by Bruna Papandrea, is relatively short but shockingly graphic. Even so, she’s captivating.