Jacqueline McKenzie

This was the first time Saint Joan had been staged in Australia since the Zoe Caldwell production in 1962.

Regarded as one of "the most revealing tests of an actress", and as "the female Hamlet", Edwards' production was both a critical and box office sensation with McKenzie's performance unanimously acclaimed: "This play stands or falls on the performance of St Joan and McKenzie is simply superb."

"From the moment she enters, she sets the stage ablaze. McKenzie is a Joan to make the theatrical heavens rejoice... McKenzie offers us Joan in all her innocence, ignorance, joyful goodness that seems to light her from within and, almost until the end, a youthful sense of fun. Her slight stature can seem waif thin, piteously vulnerable; but raging into battle she's tough and sturdy, a young woman of intense and convincing action. Always in focus, like an unwavering flame, is McKenzie's Joan the Maid" and "Here is a Joan with such fortitude and faith that seems hardly possible to exist within such a delicate frame. McKenzie's waif-like image conceals remarkable strength, and an almost inexhaustible supply of emotion. It is a Joan to inspire the tamest among us to stand up as individuals, and listen to the voices inside of us. Shaw himself would have been reluctantly impressed."

Described by head of NIDA, John Clarke, as "A chameleon" "one of the most talented actresses we have produced... she's an absolute dynamo, a powerhouse," McKenzie had fast earned a reputation as one of the most versatile actresses of her generation, taking on varied and often difficult roles.

Jacqueline Susan McKenzie (born 24 October 1967) is an Australian film and stage actress.

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, McKenzie attended Wenona School in North Sydney until 1983 then moved to Pymble Ladies' College, where she graduated in 1985 with her Higher School Certificate.

Known at school for her fine singing voice, McKenzie was cast as Nancy in Oliver! then in Godspell (both a co-production with Shore School) and later in Brigadoon (a co-production with Knox Grammar School), sharing the stage with Hugh Jackman, who was a student at Knox at the time.

McKenzie studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of New South Wales.

While at university, she began modelling.

Represented by Cameron's Management, she worked in both print and television media.

She also took regular singing lessons with Australian vocal coach Bob Tasman-Smith.

In 1987, McKenzie was cast as the lead in the pilot of television series All The Way alongside Ben Mendelsohn, Robert Mammone, Rowena Wallace and Martin Sacks.

During this time, she came to the attention of casting agent Liz Mullinar, who had cast Judy Davis in My Brilliant Career and Nicole Kidman in Dead Calm.

Following advice from Mullinar, McKenzie auditioned for the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and was accepted.

Opting out of both her arts degree and All The Way, McKenzie attended NIDA in 1988.

She graduated in December 1990.

In 1991, McKenzie was awarded "Best Newcomer Award" from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle, which recognised her chameleon-like ability and her consistently high-calibre work in theatre productions Child Dancing (as Julie-Ann), The Master Builder (as Kaja), Twelfth Night (as Viola) and Rebecca (as Mrs de Winter).

During rehearsals for Rebecca, director George Ogilvie allowed McKenzie time off to audition for a new Australian Independent feature film called Romper Stomper set to star Russell Crowe.

She was subsequently cast in the film and went on to win Best Actress award at the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

Russell would later say "Jacqui's range as an actor disappears over the horizon. And I'm not sure it can actually be defined. When I first saw her, in the play Rebecca, I saw an actor whom I thought was blowing me on the skin from the inside. She is an actor who is both delicate and magical."

In her "nothing short of stunning" film debut in Romper Stomper, McKenzie was described as "especially shining in her courage, truth and skill."

The role garnered her attention overseas, where she won Best Actress at the 1992 Stockholm International Film Festival for her "stark and non-sentimental portrayal of a young woman whose life has turned into a desperate chase for all she has lost: love, serenity, identity. Her character plays an essential part in creating the inexorable force and impact of the film."

Over the next couple of years, she came to be regarded as one of Australia's most promising young actresses of stage and screen, showcasing a "phenomenal emotional range".

Equally adept in drama or comedy, she was described as the "Judy Davis of her generation (or funnily enough, the green eyed American actor Meg Ryan)" In 1992, Ben Elton cast her as the lead role of "Rachel", the feisty environmentalist, in the television adaptation of his hit novel Stark.

The mini-series was a BBC/ABC comedy, was directed by Nadia Tass and co-starred Ben Elton and Colin Friels.

McKenzie received an Australian Film Institute Award nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries for the role.

The same year (1993), she scored a Best Actress in a Feature Film nomination for her comedic turn in the indie comedy, This Won't Hurt a Bit, playing Vanessa Presscott, a nerdy English ingénue with a speech impediment.

In 1994, McKenzie starred alongside David Wenham, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Roxburgh in Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Neil Armfield, for Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney.

This sellout production was a critical, award-winning success with McKenzie's performance "so exquisitely pitched it could have shattered glass".

"Jacqueline McKenzie's fragile Ophelia, dressed in cottontails and a tail-coat, turning the stage into a mind-state of shattered glass. Her presence awesomely palpable because of its sheer intangibility."

The production went on to tour to Melbourne but McKenzie was unable to continue due to other work commitments.

(Cate Blanchett took over the role of Ophelia for the tour).

McKenzie's performance in Hamlet was followed by her role as Joan of Arc in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, directed by Gale Edwards for the Sydney Theatre Company at the Sydney Opera House.

In 1994, McKenzie reunited with director George Ogilvie (who had directed her in Rebecca and Twelfth Night) to play the lead role of Dancy Smith in the adaptation of Kylie Tennant's famous depression-era drama The Battlers.

The mini-series co-starred Gary Sweet and played on the Seven Network.

McKenzie was nominated again for Best Actress in a TV Drama at the Australian Film Institute 1994 awards.

That same year, McKenzie was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the feature film Traps, directed by Pauline Chan.

Playing the French girl living in Colonial Vietnam, McKenzie got to showcase her versatility by speaking in both French and Vietnamese for the role.

In 1995, McKenzie made Australian Film Institute history by winning the Beyond Best Actress in a Leading Role for Angel Baby and the Beyond Best Actress Award in a TV Drama for Halifax f.p.: Lies of the Mind.

She also won the Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actress at the Logie Awards for her role in Halifax f.p. It was for playing the young lover Kate, opposite John Lynch's Harry in the Michael Rymer–helmed drama Angel Baby, that McKenzie received international acclaim: The LA Weekly reviewed: "McKenzie is a find. Whether using answers on the Wheel of Fortune as a kind of daily horoscope, or cringing in terror as the upright legs of chairs in an empty restaurant seem to whisper at her, she is blazingly equal to the extremes of animal panic and hyperconscious insight that are the north and south of this movie's humane compass."