Actress, screenwriter, director and playwright, Sally McLean began her work in the entertainment biz as an actor in her mid-teens and has since performed leading roles in numerous Australian and British film, theatre and television productions.
In addition to her own acting work, she recently produced the Melbourne and regional seasons of her play "Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords)" as writer/director, starring Bridget Neval and Jennifer Hansen and is currently producing two independent feature films - "Water Deep" (working title) and "Dalny" (working title) (for which she is also the screenwriter).
Sally has written and produced four film projects to date, one in the UK ("A Little Rain Must Fall (1997)" - selected to screen at the Cannes Film Festival) and two in Melbourne (which she also directed) ("fixNATION (2003)" - screened on Foxtel, "Brigit & Benny (a modern faerietale) (2005)" - 2005 Cannes Film Festival entrant) and "Why Must The Show Go On? (2010)" (currently being developed as a TV series for broadcast). As a playwright, in addition to writing and directing her first play, "Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords)", she has also written and directed the WW2 play "P.S I Love You" (workshop version), and is at present immersed in her current work-in-progress "Bayonets and Bully Beef", excerpts from which were performed under her direction at the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne in July 2005.
Sally began her obsession with the written word at the age of 15 when she won a local poetry competition. This genre of writing continues to be a distraction and sometimes very cheap therapy! She has been published in various anthologies in Australia, the UK, US and Canada, culminating in being named an International Poet of Merit for 2002. She branched out to short story and children's tales in 2000, again being published in magazines and anthologies in Australia, Canada and the UK, and is currently working on her first short story collection for publication.
Sally's other obsession is her work as a performer. A graduate of The Actors Institute, London, she has played lead, guest and support roles on numerous UK and Australian television series including "Flying Doctors", "Bingles", "The D-Generation", "Totally Full Frontal", "Neighbours", "Acropolis Now!", "Comedy Inc., "Blue Heelers", "The Bookworm", "Poetry Nation" and the BBC mini-series "Bootleg".
She has played lead roles in over fifty UK and Australian theatre productions, her most notable being "Annabel's Requiem", "Hamlet", "Lovepuke", the professional Australian premier of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", "The Auxilary", "Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords)", "PS I Love You" and the all-female "Macbeth", described as " an utterly convincing performance as the old Scottish King, belying the fact that McLean is not only young and a woman, but also Australian." - Time Out, London.
Film work includes "A Little Rain Must Fall" (UK), "Sleeper", "Just Move Your Lips", "The Return", "Life of Death" and "Dancing With Delight", amongst others.
When not on stage or screen, Sally has worked as a Casting Assistant with Prototype Casting and a Theatrical Agency Assistant with Barry Michael Artists in Melbourne, as well as three years in production with the BBC in London. Since her return to Australia, she has worked in production for Channel 9, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Endemol Southern Star and Grundy Television.
In the late 1990's, she created her own feature film, theatre and television production outfit, Incognita Enterprises (formally Salmac Productions), under the patronage of respected British actor, Sir Nigel Hawthorne, known internationally for his starring role as "Sir Humphrey Appleby" in "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" and his Oscar nominated performance in the title role of "The Madness Of King George". Her association with Sir Nigel continued until his passing in 2001.
As a writer, she is currently working as writer/producer on two new Australian sitcoms and as writer/director for a docu/drama - both for television broadcast, as well as adapting her play "P.S. I Love You" for web TV series broadcast under the title "'Till The Boys Come Home".
To learn more about Sally's career to date, visit her official website: www.sallymclean.com or view her IMDB listing: www.imdb.com/name/nm0572643/
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