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. Since 2022, she has 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. She is ethnically Jewish.

Career Television Mitchell is well known internationally for her performance as Ashka in the Australian/Polish co-productions of Spellbinder (1995), and Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord (1997). The series was a popular children's fantasy program, first broadcast in 1995.

Other television productions she has appeared in include: the miniseries Bodyline (1984), Land of Hope (1986), Embassy (1992) 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 (1984), Rake (2010), Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2013), and Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries (2019). 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 at Parrish Station.

On 23 April 2026, Mitchell was named in the extended cast for Paramount+ series Dalliance.

Stage Mitchell is a foundation director and board member of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC). 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 (Sydney Festival, January 2012), 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 (adapted into a film in 1994) 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(h) 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 (also producer) 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 2022-26 RBG: Of Many, One Ruth Bader Ginsburg Wharf Theatre, Sydney Opera House & Playhouse, Brisbane with STC, Black Swan Theatre, Auckland Theatre

Awards and nominations YearWorkAwardResultRef 2011 Afterglow (short film) NYC International Film Festival Award for Best Lead Actress 2012 The Red Valentine (short film) NYC International Film Festival Award for Best Lead Actress 2014 Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War (for 'Part 1') Equity Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Miniseries or Telemovie 2019 Significant Service to the Performing Arts, and to the Community Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 2024 Love Me AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama

Publications Heather Mitchell (2023) Everything and Nothing

Personal life Mitchell met cinematographer Martin McGrath on a film set in Broken Hill in 1989. They were engaged in the following year and married in February 1992. The couple have two adult children and, , reside in Sydney.