Legendary n actress Leah Purcell has revealed she once considered quitting the fickle showbiz industry to get a more stable job cleaning toilets.
Speaking to New Idea magazine this week, the Wentworth star, 53, admitted that she recently almost called time on her acting career, but changed her mind when she was offered a dream role in Binge drama series High Country.
‘I was just about to retire. But what keeps me going is the passion, this is probably all I’m good at so gotta stick at it,’ she explained.
After being offered the lead role of Detective Andrea Whitford in High Country, Purcell immediately felt her passion for performing was reinvigorated.
‘It made me think I can do this for another 33 years! I’m just getting started.’
Legendary n actress Leah Purcell, 53, (pictured) has revealed she once considered quitting the fickle showbiz industry to get a more stable job cleaning toilets
She added her role in the mystery series – in which her character investigates a number of missing persons in a small Victorian town – has helped her fully appreciate her job as an actress.
‘As actors we have a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of hard work. It’s an amazing job and something I pride myself in. Through art you can change people’s lives.’
Purcell has starred in a number of renowned n TV shows and movies, including Wentworth, Lantana and McLeod’s Daughters.
Speaking to New Idea magazine this week, the Wentworth star, 53, admitted that she recently almost called time on her acting career, but changed her mind when she was offered a dream role in Binge drama series High Country. (Pictured in Wentworth)
She began her acting career in 1996 with guest roles on the shows G.P. and Police Rescue, and has since appeared in many popular productions, including The Proposition, Jindabyne and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
In 2019, Purcell spoke about how her acting roles honour her indigenous heritage, particularly her mother and grandmother.
In an interview with Stellar magazine, the TV star spoke candidly about how her craft intersects with her family’s past.
‘I was just about to retire. But what keeps me going is the passion, this is probably all I’m good at so gotta stick at it,’ she explained
‘[Indigenous stories] didn’t have a voice,’ she said adding that her grandmother was part of the stolen generation.
‘I was born at the right time and I’m in an industry where I [do], and people listen. I feel if I wasn’t justifying my talents, then what my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother had gone through is a waste.’
Aside from acting, Purcell is also a playwright and runs her own independent film studio.
After being offered the lead role of Detective Andrea Whitford in High Country, Purcell immediately felt her passion for performing was reinvigorated. (Pictured in a promo image for High Country)