Justine Clarke

Justine Clarke (born 1971) is an Australian actress, singer, author and television host.

Clarke has been acting since the age of seven and has appeared in some of Australia's best known television shows. She is best-known for her portrayal as Roo Stewart on the soap opera Home and Away (1988–1989), as Ally Kovac on the drama series Tangle (2009–2012), and as a presenter on the Australian children's show Play School, a role which she has held since 1999. She is also a film and stage actor, and won the Best Actress Award at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina in 2006 for her role in independent film Look Both Ways. She has won two ARIA Awards.

Early life and education Clarke was born in Sydney, New South Wales to Beverley (née Levine), an actress and singer and Leonard Clarke, a singer. They separated when Clarke was eight-months old after which she was raised by her mother.

At the age of seven, while attending Woollahra Public School with other up and coming talents like Mouche Phillips and Deni Hines, she began appearing in television commercials, one of which was Arnott's Humphrey B. Bear biscuits. At eleven, she played the role of Brigitta in the stage musical, The Sound of Music.

Film and television Clarke's first significant acting role was as the character Anna Goanna in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The same year, she appeared in the TV series The Maestro's Company and featured in the 1986 mini-series Professor Poopsnaggle's Steam Zeppelin. The following year, she made appearances in A Country Practice and Willing and Abel.

Clarke appeared in a telemovie Touch the Sun, by the Australian Children's Television Foundation

Following her departure from Home and Away in 1989, Clarke appeared in the short-lived series Family and Friends before going on to act in several mini-series including Come In Spinner and Golden Fiddles.

Clarke's film Turning April in 1996 was followed by Blackrock in 1997, in which Heath Ledger played his first credited feature film role. More recently she has starred in the films Danny Deckchair and Look Both Ways. The role of Meryl Lee in Look Both Ways scored Clarke a nomination for an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Lead Actress award in 2005.

In 1999, Clarke became a presenter on long-running ABC Kids television program, Play School. The first time I stepped onto that set I felt like I was a child again and I had climbed into the television! I remember feeling slightly nervous about meeting old pros like Jemima and Big Ted, but they were very warm and welcoming and just the same as they are on the show.|Justine Clarke|on becoming a Play School presenter Eve in House Husbands in 2016, and as Noelene Hogan in Hoges.

In 2010, Clarke starred in the short film Peekaboo.

Clarke created and starred in the popular children's television series The Justine Clarke Show!.

On September 19, 2024, Clarke was announced as part of the cast for the ABC comedy series Fisk.

On 17 April 2025, Clarke was named as part of the extended cast for ABC series Return To Paradise.

Theatre An experienced stage actor, Clarke has worked with the Sydney Theatre Company in productions such as A Man with Five Children, Trelawny of the Wells, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Herbal Bed, Hedda Gabler, Stiffs and Muriel's Wedding.

In February–March 2022, Clarke starred in Dennis Kelly's one-woman play, Girls & Boys. The play is staged by State Theatre Company South Australia at the Odeon Theatre, Norwood in Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Festival, and directed by the artistic director of STCSA, Mitchell Butel.

In 2023 and 2024, she performed the almost-solo play Julia, about the life of Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, receiving high praise from critics. On 25 September, it was announced that Clarke would again perform as Julia for the 2025 Queensland Theatre season.

Music

In the 1990s, Clarke performed in a number of bands with fellow Australian thespians, including Loene Carmen and Noah Taylor. These groups included the country and western combo The Honky Tonk Angels; punk band The White Trash Mamas; and the avant-garde Cardboard Box Man. In the late '90s, she was a backing vocalist in the Sydney band Automatic Cherry, which also featured The Cruel Sea guitarist James Cruickshank. The band released the album Slow Burner in 1997.

Clarke has released multiple albums through ABC Music and has twice won the ARIA Award for Best Children's Album, in 2013 for A Little Day Out With Justine Clarke and in 2018 for The Justine Clarke Show!.

In 2014, Clarke teamed up with Tex Perkins for series of shows paying tribute to Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.

In 2016, Clarke collaborated with singer-songwriter Josh Pyke on 'Words Make The World Go Around', a song to celebrate, promote and raise funds for the work of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Clarke's first-ever, career-spanning greatest hits collection, Everybody Roar! The Best of Justine Clarke, was released in November 2019. In 2019, she released her first ever original Christmas song, "Here Comes a Merry Christmas", written with longtime collaborators Peter Dasent and Arthur Baysting.

Clarke is also a jazz vocalist and cabaret singer, popular on the Sydney club circuit.

Released: 2008 Label: ABC Music (301457-2) Format: CD, digital download ARIA: Gold

Filmography Film

Television

Theatre Year Title Role Venue / Company 1982 The Sound of Music Brigitta 1991 Home and Away: The Musical Roo Stewart UK tour 1992 Murderer Karnak Playhouse 1996 Live Acts on Stage Stables Theatre 1996 Stiffs Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 1997 The Herbal Bed Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 1999 Cyrano de Bergerac Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2000 Trelawny of the Wells Playhouse, Melbourne & Sydney Opera House for Sydney Theatre Company 2002 A Man with Five Children Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2003 Dreaming Transportation Lennox Theatre, Parramatta 2004 Fast Mitchell Centre, Darwin 2004 Hedda Gabler Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2005 Parramatta Girls Belvoir Street Theatre for Company B's Winter Play Reading Series 2005 Colder Than Here Belvoir Street Theatre 2005 Love Letters Parade Theatre 2006 Hedda Gabler Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for Sydney Theatre Company 2006 Jackie Orszaczky's Sunday Skool Abby Dobson Sydney Opera House 2006 Reunion / A Kind of Alaska Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2007 I Like to Sing with Justine Clarke Self Sydney Opera House 2007 Toy Symphony Belvoir St Theatre for Company B 2008 Gala Southbank Theatre 2009 The Wonderful World of Dissocia Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2012 Les Liaisons Dangereuses Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company 2012 Justine Clarke: Pop Up Tour Self Sydney Opera House 2014 Children of the Sun Sydney Opera House 2017 Justine Clarke's Look! Look! It's a Gobbledygook Self Sydney Opera House 2017-18 Muriel's Wedding Betty Heslop Roslyn Packer Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company & Global Creatures 2018 Justine Clarke Silly Songs Self Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, Regal Theatre, Perth, Canberra Theatre, QPAC, Thebarton Theatre 2022 Girls & Boys Woman Odeon Theatre, Norwood at Adelaide Festival for State Theatre Company South Australia 2023–presentJuliaJulia GillardAus tour

Awards and nominations Music ARIA Music Awards 2006 I Like to Sing

2008 Songs to Make You Smile 2010 Great Big World 2013 A Little Day Out with Justine Clarke 2016 Pyjama Jam 2018 The Justine Clarke Show! 2025 Mimi's Symphony

AIR Awards 2026 Mimi's Symphony Best Independent Children's Album or EP

Acting 2005 Look Both Ways AFI Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama 2006 Look Both Ways Mar del Plata International Film Festival Best Actress Award 2012 Les Liaisons Dangereuses Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play