Ningali Josie Lawford, known as Ningali Lawford-Wolf and Josie Ningali Lawford, was an Aboriginal Australian actress known for her roles in the films Rabbit-Proof Fence, Bran Nue Dae, and Last Cab to Darwin, for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
13 Facts About Ningali Lawford
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Ningali Josie Lawford was born in 1967 on Christmas Creek Station, a cattle station in Wangkatjungka, near Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia, where her father, a stockman, and mother, a domestic, worked.
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Ningali Lawford was a member of the Walmadjari people, and of the Wangkatjunga language group.
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Ningali Lawford later became a cultural consultant and voice artist for various productions at the company, and was a guest performer on two productions in 2002.
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Ningali Lawford made her acting debut in the musical Bran Nue Dae, which premiered in Perth in 1990.
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In 1994, Lawford premiered her one-woman show, Ningali, in Perth.
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Ningali Lawford played Maude, the mother of protagonist Molly, in the 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence.
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In 2015, Ningali Lawford played the role of Polly in the film Last Cab to Darwin, for which she received an AACTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
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Ningali Lawford was involved in the development of The Secret River at the Sydney Theatre Company, narrating its return Sydney season and national tour in 2016, Adelaide Festival performances in 2018 and Edinburgh Festival performances in 2019.
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Ningali Lawford moved to Kalbarri later in her career to pursue a break away from being an actress and to spend more time raising her children before returning to film.
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Actor and musician Mark Coles Smith reported on Take 5 that Ningali Lawford was his grandmother.
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Ningali Lawford reported that, sometime when dancing with Bangarra in Sydney, she had a three-month relationship with David Bowie, who wanted her to return to Berlin with him, but she refused.
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Ningali Lawford died of complications following a severe asthma attack while in Edinburgh, Scotland, during the 2019 Sydney Theatre Company tour of The Secret River, aged 52.