Ursula Yovich


Ursula Yovich is an Aboriginal Australian actress and singer. She is known for numerous stage appearances, for co-writing and appearing in the rock musical Barbara and the Camp Dogs, and several film and TV appearances.

Early life and education

Yovich was born in 1977 in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, also growing up there. Her father, Slobodan Jović, was a Bosnian Serb immigrant who anglicised his name to Yovich. Her mother is an Aboriginal Burarra woman from north-west Arnhem Land near the Blyth River, with the closest community being Maningrida. Raised in Darwin with her Dad, both her parents spoke English as a second language.
Yovich started singing when she was young, and at the age 13, began formal music training when her father enrolled her in singing classes. She later joined one of the local youth theatre groups. She eventually left Darwin to study in Perth, graduating from the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts in 1996, before eventually relocating to Sydney.

Career

Yovich has appeared in more than 50 theatre and musical theatre productions, including Capricornia, Mother Courage and her Children, The Sapphires, Natural Life, Nailed, The Sunshine Club, Jerry Springer the Opera, Nathaniel Storm, and The Adventures of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie and Little Ragged Blossom.
Yovich co-wrote the libretto and songs for rock musical Barbara and the Camp Dogs with Alana Valentine, and appeared in the show alongside Elaine Crombie. She wrote and starred in her own one-woman cabaret, Magpie Blues and also wrote The Man with the Iron Neck, which toured Australia from 2018 to 2019.
Yovich featured in Australia’s first Aboriginal opera, Pecan Summer. She toured both locally and internationally with the musicians of Black Arm Band in Dirtsong. She has also performed in the all-girl group, Barefoot Divas.
Yovich's film credits include drama Jindabyne, Baz Luhrmann epic Australia, Around the Block, crime thriller Goldstone and romantic comedy Top End Wedding.
She has appeared in television series' including Redfern Now, season 2 of the crime drama series Mystery Road, and the comedy series Preppers. Other television credits include Wakefield, Wanted, The Code, The Gods of Wheat Street. Rake, The Moth Effect, The Twelve, Irreverent, How to Stay Married, Doctor Doctor, Faboriginal and Devil's Dust.
Yovich is a writer on the NITV animated children’s TV series Little J & Big Cuz, in which she also voiced the characters of Nanna and Levi. Additionally, she was the subject of an episode of the SBS documentary series Blaktrax.
In 2019, while filming for Mystery Road, Yovich announced that after 22 years, she was stepping away from the theatre, saying she couldn't pretend that she wanted to pursue theatre any longer. In 2024, she made a theatre comeback, appearing in ''The Lewis Trilogy.''

Personal life

Yovich was married to Stewart O'Connell, a lawyer, and the couple has one daughter.

Discography

  • Sketches EP
  • Ursula Yovich Live
  • ''Well-Behaved Women''