30 Facts About Marina Prior

Marina Prior was born on 18 October 1963 and is an Australian soprano and actress with a career mainly in musical theatre.

Marina Prior's parents were members of the local Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

Marina Prior began to take singing lessons at the age of twelve and learnt piano, flute and guitar.

In 1982 Marina Prior started studying for a Bachelor of Music degree at the Melbourne State College.

Marina Prior was cast as "Mabel" and this started her career in musical theatre.

Marina Prior deferred her studies due to performance and "touring commitments".

In 1984 Marina Prior was "Guinevere" in the Australian production of Camelot with Richard Harris.

Marina Prior later played "Fantine" in the same musical in Sydney.

Marina Prior performed in the Australian premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with the Melbourne Theatre Company and later with the Sydney Theatre Company.

Marina Prior appeared as "Miss Adelaide" in Guys and Dolls at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in March 2008 and with the Melbourne Theatre Company in The Hypocrite in November 2008.

Marina Prior reprised her role in Guys and Dolls from March 2009 in Sydney.

Marina Prior has performed concerts with many Australian symphony orchestras.

Marina Prior is a regular performer at Melbourne's Carols by Candlelight and regularly appears at Opera in the Alps with David Hobson.

Marina Prior appeared with Hobson at Opera by the Lock in Mildura, Victoria, in 2008.

In 2011, Marina Prior appeared as Mrs Banks in the Australian production of the musical Mary Poppins.

In 2014, Marina Prior played Grizabella in the world's largest production of Cats which featured over 800 performers on stage and played at the Brisbane Convention Centre.

Marina Prior performed in the most recent Australian production of The Sound of Music as Baroness Schraeder.

Marina Prior then joined the Melbourne Theatre Company's production of Hay Fever from 23 September to 1 November 2017, starring as Judith Bliss.

Marina Prior begins performing these roles from 27 December 2017.

Marina Prior then co-starred in the dual role of Miss Andrews and the Bird Woman in the engagement of Mary Poppins which opened January 29 2023 at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre where it was scheduled to run til April 2.

Marina Prior was a judge on both the 2006 and 2007 Seven Network reality television series It Takes Two.

In 2012, Marina Prior released her fourth studio album, Both Sides Now, which peaked at number 42.

In 2015, Marina Prior starred in the television opera The Divorce.

Marina Prior was appointed 1996 Queen of Moomba by the Melbourne festival's committee.

Marina Prior has been the Goodwill Ambassador for Samaritan's Purse Australia since 2005.

Marina Prior was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to musical theatre as a singer and performer".

Marina Prior has received numerous awards; these include three Green Room Awards and in 1993 the Advance Australia Award for her contribution to the performing arts.

Marina Prior was inducted into Australia's 100 Entertainers of the Century.

From 1991 Marina Prior was married to Peter Lowrey, a musical theatre actor: they have three children; by 2012 she had married Grant Piro, an actor.

Marina Prior became a devout Christian in the late 1990s, she has worked for charity organisations, Samaritan's Purse and Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight.