ABOUT SALLY

Actor. Writer. Director. With a bit of a thing for Shakespeare.

Award-winning actor, writer and director, Sally McLean, began her work in the entertainment biz in her mid-teens and has since performed lead, guest and supporting roles in numerous Australian, US and UK film, theatre and television productions.

A graduate of The Actors Institute UK, with additional ongoing training at Howard Fine Acting Studio, Sally’s notable screen acting credits include the lead role of “Angie Powers” in the BAFTA Award-winning BBC mini series Bootleg opposite Tim Robinson, lead guest role of “Stacy” in the AACTA Award-winning ABC TV series Utopia opposite Celia Pacquola and recurring guest roles of “Miss Giddens” in the ABC/CBBC TV series The Worst Year of My Life – Again! opposite Tiarnie Coupland, Laurence Boxhall & Ned Napier and “Barb” in the USA Sony/AMC TV series, Preacher opposite Pip Torrens & Christopher Kirby.

Sally created her own boutique production business, Incognita Enterprises, under the Honorary Patronage of Oscar® nominated actor, Sir Nigel Hawthorne KB, CBE in 1997 – an association that continued until his passing in 2001

She is currently the Creator/Director and lead ensemble member of the multi award-winning web series Shakespeare Republic (nominated for over 80 international film festival and industry awards and winner of over 40 awards to date) & Shakespeare short film Speaking Daggers (Awarded “Highly Commended” Finalist at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Shakespeare Film Festival UK by Jury President, Sir Kenneth Branagh and official selection for the Academy Award® accredited St Kilda Film Festival), appearing on screen in both projects alongside Nadine Garner, Michala Banas, Alan Fletcher, Scott Major, Christopher Kirby and Dean Haglund, among others.

Predominately working in comedy on screen, Sally is also an experienced dramatic Shakespearean actor with Musical Theatre roots, playing over thirty lead and support roles in theatre in both Australia and the UK. Highlights include roles in The Comedy of Errors and Romeo & Juliet with the Australian Shakespeare Company, the West End premiere of the drama Annabel’s Requiem and the professional Australian premier of the musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She additionally teaches Shakespeare as a member of the Howard Fine Acting Studio faculty in Melbourne, Australia.

Upcoming screen projects include the next instalment from the Shakespeare Republic universe – Dark Arcadia – opposite Christopher Kirby.

SALLY ON IMDB

SALLY ON CASTING NETWORKS

SALLY ON SHOWCAST

Reels & Videos

Clips from Sally’s various recent screen roles including Utopia, Upper Middle Bogan, The Trinity Experiment (Directed by Clayton Jacobson) and ‘Till The Boys Come Home.

Current Reel

Comedy Reel

Drama Reel

SEE ALL VIDEO CLIPS

Latest Project

Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles)

Watch Sally’s award-winning performance (Best Actress in a Web Series, UVFF 2021) as “Macbeth” in the latest season of Shakespeare Republic.

Filmed remotely in lockdown during the global pandemic of 2020 … Twenty four souls, six cities – one shared experience of being human.

Created, adapted and directed by Sally, with the international cast filming themselves on smartphones in isolation, directed in real time by Sally via Zoom from Melbourne, we look through a myriad of windows from Australia, Scotland, England and the USA into the current shared experience of human beings in isolation.

Featuring actors with credits from Broadway, the West End, Shakespeare’s Globe London and mainstream Film & TV.

READ ABOUT THE PROJECT IN LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE

ABOVE: Sally as “Macbeth” in Shakespeare Republic: #AllTheWebsAStage (The Lockdown Chronicles) (2020)

Reviews

"... incendiary performances from Sally McLean as "Katharina" and Miguel Perez as "Petruchio" ... I really felt like I got a completely new insight into their relationship, and particularly the character of "Katharina"."

Mind The Blog (#LDNTheatreBloggers circle)

for “Taming of The Shrew” @ The Show Must Go Online”

“… polished, beautifully made series from director/producer Sally McLean … A fine use of the platform and, more importantly, a very fine adaptation of the Bard … Shakespeare Republic is put together with grace and wit. An assortment of actors do terrific work making the (non-dumbed down) dialogue accessible, prying it open with great care and skill.”

Luke Buckmaster, The Guardian

for “Shakespeare Republic: #LoveTheBard”

“… Sally McLean as the ‘Nurse’ – which also means a kind of choric narrator – carries and expounds the text in a mellifluous voice with great confidence, authority and a feel for the timing of the rhetoric … beautiful, disciplined performance …”

Michael Brindley, Stage Whispers

for “The Medea Project”, Brunswick Arts Space

“… an utterly convincing performance as the old Scottish King, belying the fact that McLean is not only young and a woman, but also Australian.”

Time Out, London UK

for “Macbeth”, Duke of Cambridge, UK

"Sally McLean as “Val Crane”, the embittered aunt of the lead character, found tremendous light and shade in a role that could have easily been played on the one angry note. Instead of taking that obvious road, she showed her depth of talent, giving Val a compelling complexity and believability while negotiating some very tricky plot points, which a lesser actor would have found impossible to navigate with any truth."

Theatre Alive

for “Flame Trees”, TheatreWorks

“... the standouts were … Sally McLean (“Katherine”) who drew an achingly beautiful and entirely convincing portrait of a woman in crisis and conflict, caught between her love for and abject fear of a brutal husband.”

Theatre Australia

for “Chasing Pegasus: a play in ten chords”, Gasworks Arts Park

“The cast are all superb actors … "Judith" (played by Sally McLean), starts off as a likable, genuine character … McLean gave the character great vulnerability and depth, as well as being convincing as an early sufferer of MS …”

Tara Wilkins, Theater Talk

for “The Clairvoyant”, Kingston Arts Centre