Pamela Rabe

Pamela Rabe (born Pamela June Koropatnick; 30 April 1959) is a Canadian and Australian actress and theatre director. A graduate of the Playhouse Acting School in Vancouver, Rabe is best known for her appearances in the Australian films Sirens, Cosi and Paradise Road, and for starring as Joan Ferguson in the television drama series Wentworth.

Early life Rabe was born in Oakville, Ontario, Canada in 1959. The seventh of eight children, she graduated from the Playhouse Acting School in Vancouver. Rabe relocated to Australia in 1983 with Australian director, Roger Hodgman. They were married in 1984.

Career

Theatre Rabe is a prolific contributor to theatrical life in her adopted country in acting and directing, across a wide range of genres - musicals, comedy and drama. She is a long-standing collaborator with the Sydney Theatre Company and the Melbourne Theatre Company. Rabe was once described by Melbourne theatre critic Alison Croggon as having the sort of presence that "makes shy people swallow hard and lesser mortals involuntarily bow".

Some of her other high-profile acting roles include Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie at Belvoir, for which she won a Helpmann Award, Nora Boyle in Patrick White's The Season at Sarsaparilla, for which she won a Green Room Award for Best Actress, Richard III in the Sydney Theatre Company production of The War Of The Roses, which co-starred Cate Blanchett as Richard II. and Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses alongside Hugo Weaving.

In 2005, she performed an experimental play called Woman-Bomb, in which she inhabited the body and mind of a suicide bomber.

In 2010, she starred in the Melbourne stage production of David Mamet's play Boston Marriage.

In 2012, Rabe received a Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Musical for her performance in Grey Gardens for The Production Company. In July 2015, she won a second Helpmann Award, this time for Best Female Actor in a Play, for her performance in The Glass Menagerie.

In late 2017, Rabe played the roles of Helene Alving in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts for Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre, Mrs. Higgins in the Julie Andrews-directed revival of My Fair Lady (replacing Robyn Nevin), and the role of Mary in Colm Tóibín's The Testament of Mary, at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne. In 2018, she starred in Lucy Kirkwood's The Children at the Melbourne Theatre Company.

Rabe turned her hand to theatre directing in 2009, and has directed several high-profile plays for Australian theatre companies, including the Australian premiere of In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), and Elling for the Melbourne Theatre Company. Rabe was nominated for a Green Room Award for best direction on both occasions. In 2012, Rabe was invited to be a member of the guest triumvirate who programmed the Melbourne Theatre Company season for that year.

Rabe would have returned to theatre in 2020 for the play Monster, but the performances were put on hold due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions; it was finally announced that Monster would go ahead in 2022 but Rabe would withdraw from the play and the role went to Alison Whyte.

Rabe also performed a vocal performance of Shakespeare works in 2021 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

In 2023 Rabe joined the international tour of The Confessions.

On 11 September 2024, Rabe was announced as part of the Melbourne Theatre Co season to appear in Rebecca directed by Anne-Louise Sarks. On 1 November 2024, it was announced that Rabe would join Bert La Bonté for the 2025 Black Swan Theatre Company production of August: Osage County. On 20 January 2025, it was announced that Rabe and Tamsin Carroll won the award for Best Performance in a Leading Role for August: Osage County.

In 2025, Rabe co-directed and starred in the Sydney Theatre Co production of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days.

Film

In 1989, Rabe made her film debut with a minor role in Against the Innocent. Her second role came in 1993 when she was cast in John Duigan's romantic comedy Sirens (with Hugh Grant and Sam Neill). Rabe's first leading role was in the 1995 film Vacant Possession. Following this, she appeared in 1996's Cosi (with Ben Mendelsohn, Barry Otto, and Toni Collette), Lust and Revenge (directed by Paul Cox).

In 1997, she appeared in Paradise Road (starring Glenn Close and set during World War II) as well as playing Hester in The Well (an adaptation of Elizabeth Jolley's novel of the same name), for which she received an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress.

In 2018 Rabe would guest appear in Wentworth in Series 6, film mini series The Hunting and continue performing in theatre.

In 2022 Rabe joined the cast of Amazon comedy series Deadloch. Rabe would also join the first series of ABC drama Bay of Fires.

Other work Rabe served on the board of the Australian Film Institute from 1999–2002 and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Rabe serves on the board of the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1989 Against the Innocent American Woman 1993 Sirens Rose Lindsay 1995 Vacant Possession Tessa 1996 Così Ruth Lust and Revenge Obnoxious Woman 1997 Paradise Road Mrs. Tippler The Well Hester 2004 The Boy Who Feeds Cats Narrator Voice; short film 2013 For Those Who Can Tell No Tales Mum 2015 Symphony of the Wild Narrator Voice

Television

Presenting

Stage (selected credits)

Honours Rabe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to the performing arts as a performer and director".

Awards and nominations