Deborah Jane Mailman, 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. Mailman first gained recognition for the 1998 film Radiance, for which she won her first AFI award. Mailman played the character Kelly Lewis on the Australian television series, The Secret Life of Us. and current role as Cherie Butterfield in the Australian drama series Offspring. She portrayed the role of Lorraine in the Australian TV series Redfern Now, and Aunt Linda in the television program Cleverman. Mailman is currently the main character in the Australian TV series Total Control. She had roles in Rabbit-Proof Fence, Bran Nue Dae, Oddball, The Sapphires, Paper Planes, Mental, Three Summers, Blinky Bill the Movie, The Book of Revelation, and The Monkey's Mask.
Mailman played the role of Kate in a La Boite Theatre production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in 1994. Other early stage roles include solo show The Seven Stages of Grieving for Kooemba Jdarra, Queensland Theatre Company's 1997 revival of Louis Nowra's play Radiance, and Cordelia in King Lear for Bell Shakespeare in 1998. In 1998, Mailman made her film debut as Nona in the Australian independent filmRadiance, for which she won the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She had role on The Secret Life of Us, for which she was twice awarded Most Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series at the Logies. Mailman was part of the Leah Purcell documentary Black Chicks Talking, where she discussed her Aboriginal heritage. In 2006, she took part in a four-part television documentary series with Cathy Freeman called Going Bush, where the pair set off on a journey from Broome to Arnhem Land spending time with Indigenous communities along the way. She appeared in the Play School TV series and was part of The Actors Company for the Sydney Theatre Company. She appeared in the film Rabbit-Proof Fence. She played a lead role in the 2010 musical film Bran Nue Dae. In the play The Sapphires and the subsequent film of the same name she played the role of singer Gail McCrae. She was awarded an Inside Film Award for her short film Ralph, which starred Madeleine Madden. From 2010 to 2014, she played the role of Cherie Butterfield in Channel Ten's Offspring drama series. In 2012, she starred in Redfern Now, an indigenous mini-series for the ABC. On 29 January 2015, Mailman co-hosted the AACTA Awards with Cate Blanchett. Mailman started as Maureen Prescott in Paper Planes, released 15 January 2015. She then appeared as Mayor Lake in Oddball and the voice of Blinky Bill's mother in Blinky Bill the Movie. On 18 February 2015, Mailman joined the Sydney Opera House Trust. In 2019, Mailman was appointed to a three year term as a member of the Screen Australia Board. In 2019, she starred as politician Alex Irving in the series Total Control, produced by Blackfella Films and screened on the ABC.
