Natasha Wanganeen

Natasha Wanganeen (born 20 June 1984) is an Aboriginal Australian actress. She is known for her starring role in the 2002 feature film Rabbit-Proof Fence and numerous television roles. She made her debut as co-writer and co-producer in a 2022 short film, an Indigenous sci-fi drama entitled Bunker: The Last Fleet, about an alien invasion of Australia. She also played the lead in the film.

Early life Wanganeen was born in Point Pearce, South Australia, moving to Port Adelaide when she was five years old. She is a Ngarrindjeri, Narungga, Kaurna and Noongar woman. and the made-for-TV film Jessica directed by Peter Andrikidis and released in 2004.

In 2017, she starred as a zombie-killer Also in 2017, she played the role of Gilyagan in Kate Grenville's play The Secret River presented during the Adelaide Festival in March, having previously played a different role in the 2015 two-part TV series of the same name. and in the same year played a ghoul in the horror film Dark Place.

Television roles include playing Mary Ann Bugg, a late 19th-century bushranger, in Drunk History Australia (Network 10, 2020) and a chef in Aftertaste (Closer Productions/ABC Comedy, 2021). She plays a government official in 2067, a sci-fi thriller feature film directed by Seth Larney released in 2020.

Originally intended as a sci-fi series, was inspired by Afrofuturism. The film was filmed entirely in the South Australian desert. As the first Aboriginal sci-fi move, it is described as a "cheeky take on the First Fleet in Australia".

Filmography Films

Television Year Title Role Type2004 Jessica Mary Simpson Miniseries Through My Eyes Interpreter Miniseries, 2 episodes 2007 Sacred Ground Narrator Documentary 2013 Redfern Now Emily TV series, 1 episode 2015 The Secret River 2017 Lost in Pronunciation Woman in pub TV series, 1 episode 2018 Sisters Online miniseries 2019 Lucy and DIC Christina TV series, 8 episodes 2020 Drunk History Australia Mary Ann Bugg TV series, 1 episode 2021 Aftertaste Line Cook TV series, 1 episode 2021-22 Firebite Rona TV series, 8 episodes 2022 The Tourist CCTV Gift Shop Employee TV series, 2 episodes MaveriX Trish Peterson TV series, 6 episodes The Australian Wars Enslaved Woman Miniseries, 1 episode

Theatre Year Title Role Venue 2017 The Secret River Gillyagan Adelaide Festival

Awards 2004 – AFI Young Actor's Award, for Jessica

Activism In 2018, Wanganeen advocated for greater cultural diversity in Australian screen culture, saying "There are not enough black faces on our screens and talking about it is a constructive conversation that we need to have". She expressed her pleasure at the portrayal of Aboriginal people in Cargo (2017) as "living free and strong on the land".

Wanganeen was one of the organisers of the Black Lives Matter protest in Adelaide on 6 June 2020, which focussed on racism and injustices against Indigenous Australians, in particular high rates of incarceration and Aboriginal deaths in custody.

Personal life Wanganeen lives in Port Adelaide. She is related to Australian rules footballer Gavin Wanganeen, and actor and playwright Trevor Jamieson is a cousin.