Miranda On Top!

The Award-winning Star Says Her New Film Is a Love Letter to Her Homeland.

She’s talented, beautiful and an incredible advocate for Indigenous recognition in Australia, but what’s apparent straight away when Miranda Tapsell talks about her latest film Top End Wedding – which she also co-wrote – is her passion.

‘It’s definitely a love letter to the Territory,’ she says, admitting that she set the film in the Northern Territory to show how beautiful it is. ‘Now people want to visit the area and I’m so happy. Growing up in the Territory, I took the beauty of my hometown for granted. It made me realise how lucky I was. I’m still taking it all in.’

Following her breakthrough role as Cynthia in The Sapphires – a movie loosely based on four Indigenous Australian singers who sang for the troops during the Vietnam War – Miranda won two Logie Awards for her role in the TV show Love Child. She most recently joined Rodger Corser on Aussie medical drama Doctor Doctor.

With the opportunity to write her own roles under the guidance of screenwriter (and the film’s co-writer) Joshua Tyler, Miranda has discovered a new talent for bringing Indigenous culture and stories into modern-day settings. The first of these is Top End Wedding, a rom-com about newly engaged lawyer Lauren, who is determined to show off her family and culture to British fiancé Ned. They leave their home in Adelaide for the Northern Territory, intent on pulling together their wedding in the short break she’s been given from her high-powered job. But, of course, not everything goes to plan…

And this will only be the start, if Miranda has anything to do with it. ‘I’ve fallen in love with writing and I’ve really enjoyed the creative process on the other side of the camera,’ she tells.