Heather Mitchell
Heather Lee Mitchell is an Australian actress, who has appeared in Australian stage, television, and film productions. She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s television show Spellbinder. More recently, she appeared as Anita in the series Love Me, and as Margaux in the Paramount Plus series Fake. She has a role in the miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Mitchell is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, and has performed on stage since 1975, including collaborations with dance company Force Majeure. In 2022, she played U.S. justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the play RBG: Of Many, One, for Sydney Theatre Company.
Early life and education
Heather Lee Mitchell attended Camden High School in Camden, New South Wales, between 1971 and 1976, and was school captain in her final year. She took the leading role of Judith Bliss in the 1976 school production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever.Career
Television
Mitchell is well known internationally for her performance as Ashka in the Australian/Polish co-productions of Spellbinder, and Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord. The series was a popular children's fantasy program, first broadcast in 1995.Other television productions she has appeared in include: the miniseries Bodyline, Land of Hope, Embassy and A Country Practice. In 1998, she starred in the miniseries drama The Day of the Roses, in which she played a victim of the 1977 Granville rail disaster. She has also appeared in episodes of Five Mile Creek, Rake, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, and Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. In 2021, she played Birdie in The Unusual Suspects.
In 2024, Mitchell was named as one of the cast for the miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and she played Margaux in the Paramount Plus series Fake. Mitchell was also named in the ABC series The Role of a Lifetime. On 22 June 2025, Mitchell was announced as part of the cast for Paramount+ series Two Years Later. On 22 September 2025, it was announced that Mitchell was in the cast for Stan series ''The Killings: Parrish Station.''
Stage
Mitchell is a foundation director and board member of the Sydney Theatre Company. She first appeared at the STC in 1981, performing scenes of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 with Andrew Tighe for a workshop.She has since appeared in dozens of productions for several Australian theatre companies, and has contributed to Terence Crawford's 2005 book Trade Secrets: Australian Actors and Their Craft.
Never Did Me Any Harm, exploring parenting, was a joint production between STC and dance company Force Majeure. It starred Mitchell, Marta Dusseldorp, and Vincent Crowley, with a solo dance performed by dancer Sarah-Jayne Howard.
Mitchell co-wrote the script of Force Majeure's You Animal, You with artistic director Danielle Micich, which explored the sense of smell. She also starred in the performance, which premiered at the Sydney Festival in January 2018.
In 2022, it was announced that Mitchell would play the late justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the theatre production RBG: Of Many, One. In 2024, Mitchell again played Ginsburg for the 2024 Black Swan State Theatre Company season. Critics called Mitchell's performance as Ginsburg as a "tour de force". Mitchell would again reprise Ginsburg for the 2025 Sydney Theatre Company season.
Filmography
Film
| Not yet released |
Television
Other appearances
Stage
Mitchell's stage performances include:| Year | Play | Role | Notes |
| 1975 | 1 Double-D | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1976 | Hay Fever | Judith Bliss | School production |
| 1978 | Gammer Gurton's Needle | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1979 | The Seagull | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1979 | Lower Depths | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1979 | The Caucasian Chalk Circle | Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 1979 | The Fire Raisers | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1979 | Beyond Mozambique | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1979 | Saved | Jane Street Theatre with NIDA | |
| 1980 | The Women Pirates Ann Bonney and Mary Read | NIDA Theatre, University of Newcastle, Playhouse, Canberra | |
| 1980 | Strife | NIDA Theatre | |
| 1981 | Henry IV, Part 1 | STC workshop with Andrew Tighe | |
| 1981 | Roses in Due Season | Nimrod Theatre Company | |
| 1981 | Rare Words - Brave Deeds | Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 1981 | The Revenger's Tragedy | Court Lady | Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 1981 | No End of Blame | Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA | |
| 1982 | The Suicide | Nimrod Theatre Company | |
| 1982 | You Can't Take It with You | Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 1982 | Macbeth | Witch | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1982 | Sydney Opera House with STC | ||
| 1983 | The Fields of Heaven | Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 1983 | The Cherry Orchard | Vanya | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1984 | The Lady from the Sea | Bolette | Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 1984 | Private Lives | Amanda Prynne | Araluen Arts Centre & Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 1985 | The Doll Trilogy: Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Kid Stakes & Other Times | Nancy | Sydney Opera House & Melbourne Athenaeum with STC & MTC |
| 1986 | No Worries | Wharf Theatre with STC, Playhouse, Adelaide | |
| 1986 | She Stoops to Conquer | Kate Hardcastle | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 1986 | Pravda | Rebecca Foley | Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 1987 | Hamlet / Henry IV Part 1 | STC | |
| 1987 | No Exit: No Exit, The Lady Aoi, Hanjo from Five Modern Noh Plays | Wharf Theatre with STC | |
| 1987 | Pericles | Wharf Theatre with STC | |
| 1987 | Blood Relations | Cathy / Tessa | Sydney Opera House with STC & Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 1988 | 1841 | Sydney Opera House & Playhouse, Adelaide | |
| 1989 | A Dream Play | Playhouse, Adelaide & Sydney Opera House with STC & STCSA | |
| 1989 | Major Barbara | Playhouse Adelaide & Suncorp Theatre, Brisbane with STCSA & Queensland Theatre | |
| 1989 | All My Sons | Wharf Theatre with STC | |
| 1989 | Ring Round the Moon | Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA | |
| 1990 | The Secret Rapture | Isobel Glass | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 1990 | Burn This | Anna | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 1991 | Uncle Vanya | Yelena | Russell Street Theatre with MTC |
| 1991 | Morning Sacrifice | Miss Gwyn Carwithen | Russell Street Theatre with MTC |
| 1991 | Hay Fever | Myra Arundel | Playhouse, Melbourne with MTC |
| 1992 | The Homecoming | Wharf Theatre with STC | |
| 1993 | Two Weeks with the Queen | Playhouse, Adelaide with STC | |
| 1993 | Coriolanus | Virgilia | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 1995 | Scenes from a Separation | Nina Moss | Fairfax Studio with MTC |
| 1997 | The Winter's Tale | Hermione | Canberra Theatre, Sydney Opera House & Melbourne Athenaeum with Bell Shakespeare |
| 1998 | A Delicate Balance | Sydney Opera House with STC | |
| 2000 | The White Devil | Theatre Royal, Sydney with STC | |
| 2001 | Bye Bye Birdie | ||
| 2003 | The Real Thing | Charlotte | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2007 | Self Esteem | Wharf Theatre with STC | |
| 2008 | Tender | Yvonne | The Butter Factory Theatre, Wodonga, Stables Theatre, Sydney & Belvoir Street Theatre with HotHouse Theatre & Griffin Theatre Company |
| 2008 | Hamlet | Gertrude | Sydney Opera House & Playhouse, Melbourne with Bell Shakespeare |
| 2008 | Ghosts | Helene | Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide with STCSA |
| 2010 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania | Sydney Symphony Orchestra |
| 2010 | True West | Mom | STC |
| 2011 | Neighbourhood Watch | Christina | Belvoir Street Theatre |
| 2012 | Never Did Me Any Harm | Wharf Theatre with STC Force Majeure | |
| 2012 | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Madame Volanges | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2012 | Signs of Life | Georgie Jutland | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 2013 | The History Boys | Mrs Lintott | Sydney Opera House with Peach Theatre Company |
| 2013 | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Gertrude | Sydney Theatre with STC |
| 2014 | Strictly Ballroom | Shirley Hastings | Sydney Lyric Theatre, Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne & Lyric Theatre, Brisbane |
| 2016 | Hay Fever | Judith Bliss | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 2016 | The Hansard Monologues: Age of Entitlement | Seymour Centre, Bruce Gordon Theatre, Wollongong, Glen Street Theatre & Old Parliament House, Canberra | |
| 2017 | Away | Gwen | Sydney Opera House & Malthouse Theatre with STC |
| 2017 | Cloud Nine | Edward / Betty | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2017–18 | You Animal, You | Mum | Track 12 at Carriageworks with Force Majeure |
| 2018 | Top Girls | Pope Joan / Louise | Sydney Opera House with STC |
| 2018 | Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story | Cate McGregor | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2018 | The Harp in the South, Part One and Part Two | Eny Kilker | STC |
| 2019–20 | The Iliad - Out Loud | Odysseus / Hera / Hecuba | Belvoir Street Theatre, Scott Theatre, Adelaide |
| 2020 | Escaped Alone | Belvoir Street Theatre | |
| 2020 | Away | Online with Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne & STC | |
| 2021 | Playing Beatie Bow | Granny | Wharf Theatre with STC |
| 2022-present | RBG: Of Many, One | Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Wharf Theatre, Sydney Opera House & Playhouse, Brisbane with STC |