'I'm Proud Of Who I Am'

Deborah Mailman on representing herself and her culture on screen

- Abi Moustafa

Over the past two decades, Deborah Mailman has become one of the best-known faces on Australian TV thanks to a varied career taking in everything from intense drama Mystery Road to children’s show Play School. Next up, one of her most challenging roles yet: Alex Irving in ABC drama Total Control, a single mother from regional Queensland who is given a senate seat by an embattled prime minister.

“She’s a fabulous character,” says Mailman, who has two sons, Henry, 12, and Oliver, 9, with husband Matthew Coonan. “There’s a lot about Alex that I admire. She’s gutsy, she’s unapologetic. She has a no bulls--t sort of attitude. And yet with all that, you think she’s a strong woman, but she’s vulnerable and filled with insecurity – she’s a walking contradiction.”

Mailman worked alongside Rachel Griffiths, 50, who plays Prime Minister Rachel Anderson in Total Control and doubled up as an executive producer. “Rachel is very much about wanting to create female characters that are deeply flawed and complex, and can make bad, humiliating choices,” the 47-year-old says.