Rachael Morelle Blake (born May 26, 1971) is an Australian actress.

Early life

Blake was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. At the age of 18 months, she moved to England with her English parents, only to return to Perth at age 11. Blake was born deaf in one ear, a condition that was rectified by a series of operations undertaken before she was six. To overcome shyness and her hearing problem, her mother enrolled her in elocution lessons, which she continued until age 17. After attending the

John Curtin College of the Arts John Curtin College of the Arts, originally John Curtin High School, is an independent, public co-educational, partially selective high school, located in East Street, , a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The school provides a general and ...

high school in Perth, she applied to Sydney's

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including Cat ...

(NIDA) but was rejected due to her age of 17. She was accepted to NIDA when she was 19.

Acting career

At 13, Blake was cast in a short film. After studying at NIDA, she worked on Australian television shows ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

'' as

Mandy Thomas '' Home and Away'' is an Australian soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1995, by order of first appearance. They were all introduced by the show's then ...

(1995–1997), ''

Pacific Drive ''Pacific Drive'' is an Australian television series made by Village Roadshow in association with New World International for the Nine Network which screened for 390 episodes from 29 January 1996 to December 1997, when it concluded it was show ...

'', and ''

Heartbreak High ''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian television program created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on the ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with so ...

'' (1996). Blake's first feature film role was as Amy in the Australian children's movie ''

Paws A paw is the soft foot-like part of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws. Common characteristics The paw is characterised by thin, pigmented, keratinised, hairless epidermis covering subcutaneous collagenous and adipose tissue ...

'' (1997). In 1997, she took the role of Dr Maxine Summers in the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

crime drama '' Wildside''. She has also starred in several films, including 2001's ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

'' with

Anthony LaPaglia Anthony LaPaglia (, ; born 31 January 1959) is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Jack Malone in the television drama ''Without a Trace'' (2002–2009), for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 2004. LaPaglia won a Prim ...

, as well as 2003's '' Perfect Strangers'' for which she won the Fantasporto Award for Best Actress. Between 2006–2007, she played Hilary Davenport in the British satirical black comedy '' Suburban Shootout''. She played "Belinda" in a British TV movie, ''

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances durin ...

'', in 2007. In 2009, she starred in the

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...

mini-series ''

False Witness ''False Witness'', also known as ''The Diplomat'' internationally, is a two-part Australian television mini-series, produced by Screentime Australia, and broadcast simultaneously on the Australian subscription television channel UKTV (Australia ...

''. She also played a main role in ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

''. In 2010, she portrayed

Hazel Hawke Hazel Susan Hawke, AO (née Masterson, 20 July 192923 May 2013) was the first wife of Bob Hawke, the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. She married him in 1956, and supported him throughout his prime ministership (1983–1991); they divorced in ...

in the telemovie '' Hawke''. Blake played the character of Clara in the erotic drama ''

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

''. In 2012, Blake portrayed Kris Perry in the theatre production of '' 8'' in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2013, she portrayed Lady Tuckworth in the HBO Asia series ''

Serangoon Road ''Serangoon Road'' is an Australian-Singaporean television drama series which premiered on 22 September 2013 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and HBO Asia. It is a detective noir drama set in the 1960s, revolving around Serango ...

''. She played a main role in the 2014 drama film ''

Melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

'', for which she has received recognition (see below). She appeared in the 2016 film ''

Gods of Egypt Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural fo ...

''.

Awards and honours

Blake won the Silver Logie Award for 'Most Outstanding Actress' at the

Logie Awards The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

(1999). She was nominated four times at the Australian film Institute (since 2011 called the

AACTA The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is a professional organisation of film and television practitioners in Australia. The Academy's aim is "to identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements i ...

Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) and won the award for 'Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama' for Wildside in 1998 and 'Best Actress for a Supporting role' for

in 2001. She received the Montréal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her portrayal, in the title role, in the 2014 drama film ''

'' (2014). In 2004, she won the Best Actress (Melhor Actriz) - Directors' Week Award at

Fantasporto Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to Fantasy film, fantasy/Science fiction film, science fiction/Horror film, horror-oriented commercial fe ...

film festival (2004) and the Best Actress Award at

Pacific Meridian Pacific Meridian (russian: Меридианы Тихого; abbreviated as IFFV) is an International Film Festival of the Asian-Pacific region, which has been held every September since 2003 in Vladivostok, Russia. Every year it brings together fil ...

film festival, Vladivostok for Perfect Strangers (2003). In 2018, she was part of the ensemble cast that won the 'Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Series in a Drama Series' by

Equity Ensemble Awards The Equity Ensemble Awards (or Equity Awards) are an Australian awards system, that is an accolade presented by The Equity Foundation, the performers branch of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). The awards have been presented annu ...

2018 for

Cleverman A cleverman is a traditional healer and keeper of culture in many Aboriginal cultures of Australia. The roles, terms for, and abilities of a cleverman vary between different Aboriginal nations. Some clevermen heal bodily injuries and illnesses ...

(2016)

Personal life

In 2003, she married '' Wildside'' co-star Tony Martin. They later starred together in ''

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Rachael Australian people of English descent 1971 births Living people Australian film actresses Australian television actresses Actresses from Perth, Western Australia People educated at John Curtin College of the Arts National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni Best Supporting Actress AACTA Award winners 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses