30 Facts About Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins founded and was co-director of the independent film production company Blackfella Films from 1992 until 2022.

Rachel Perkins directed the films Radiance, One Night the Moon, Bran Nue Dae, the courtroom drama telemovie Mabo, and Jasper Jones.

The acclaimed television drama series Redfern Now was made by Blackfella Films, and Rachel Perkins directed two episodes as well as the feature-length conclusion to the series, Promise Me.

Rachel Perkins is an Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman from Central Australia, who was raised in Canberra.

Rachel Perkins is the daughter of Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins and his wife Eileen.

Rachel Perkins was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, in 1970.

Rachel Perkins is the daughter of Charlie Perkins, granddaughter of Hetty Perkins, and has Arrernte, Kalkadoon, Irish, and German ancestry.

Rachel Perkins's siblings are Adam and Hetti Perkins, an art curator, and her niece is actress Madeleine Madden.

In 1992, Rachel Perkins founded Blackfella Films, a documentary and narrative production company creating distinctive Australian content for television, live theatre, and online platforms, with a particular focus on Indigenous Australian stories.

Rachel Perkins wrote, directed, and co-produced a 55-minute documentary film about her father's 1965 protest bus journey into regional New South Wales, dubbed the "Freedom Ride".

Rachel Perkins said that she travelled with her father to many of the places that the Freedom Ride visited, and it was a good opportunity to interviewer her father about his early life and get an insight into him and events that she would not otherwise have had access to.

Rachel Perkins gained an "understanding of the importance of filmmaking, in terms of capturing Australian cultural history".

Rachel Perkins said later that it took a long time to cast the main characters, who included Trisha Morton-Thomas, Rachael Maza, and Deb Mailman, then a newcomer from Brisbane, and that they rehearsed for six weeks.

Bran Nue Dae, a film version of Jimmy Chi's 1990s hit stage musical, was directed by Rachel Perkins and released in 2009.

In 2009 Rachel Perkins was curator of the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival.

Also in 2012 Rachel Perkins directed two episodes of the first series of Redfern Now in 2012: "Stand Up" and "Pretty Boy Blue", the latter dealing with a death-in-custody.

Rachel Perkins directed the feature-length conclusion Redfern Now: Promise Me.

Rachel Perkins executive produced the first series of First Contact, a reality television show which challenged the non-Indigenous participants of Indigenous Australians.

Rachel Perkins directed the feature fiction film Jasper Jones, released in 2017.

Rachel Perkins wrote, directed, presented, and produced the three-part documentary series The Australian Wars which aired on SBS and NITV in September 2022.

Rachel Perkins has said that of all the filmmaking jobs, she likes editing the best, as it is the most creative part.

Rachel Perkins said that she feels a great sense of responsibility "to make films or to use media as a vehicle to tell my people's story and to create change".

Rachel Perkins served as Commissioner with the Australian Film Commission from 2004 to 2008, and since 2009 has been on the board of Screen Australia.

Rachel Perkins has been a member of the boards of the New South Wales Film and Television Office, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, National Indigenous Media Association, the Indigenous Screen Australia, and the Australian International Documentary Conference.

Rachel Perkins has said that she gets onto these boards in order to help drive government policy.

Rachel Perkins was a council member from 17 May 2017 to 16 May 2021, and is deputy chair of AIATSIS board from 1 July 2024 30 September 2024.

Rachel Perkins served two terms on the Australian Heritage Council, from February 2015 to February 2018 and from March 2018 to March 2021.

In March 2024, Rachel Perkins was a guest speaker in a "spotlight session" at the Australian International Documentary Conference.

Rachel Perkins has a son with her ex-husband, filmmaker Richard McGrath.

Rachel Perkins has said that next to filmmaking, music is her other passion.