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Rachel Gordon

Australian actress

Rachel Gordon (born 10 May 1976) is an Australian actress.

01Early life

Gordon was born in Brisbane, Australia, the daughter of Michael and Donna Gordon. Her great-grandfather was Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, and her great-grandmother was Dame Enid Lyons, who was the first woman in the Australian parliament. Gordon is a 1997 graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.

02Career

After her graduation from NIDA, Gordon appeared on stage in numerous productions. She has since worked for most of Australia's major theatre companies, including Bell Shakespeare, Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Ensemble Theatre and Marian Street Theatre.

Gordon's first television role was in medical drama All Saints playing the recurring role of Claudia McKenzie from 2000 to 2001. She then played Detective Senior Constable Amy Fox in long-running police procedural television show Blue Heelers, from 2004 to 2006. She starred in long-running soap opera Neighbours in 2007, playing Charlotte Stone. She followed this with a recurring role in soap opera Home and Away, playing Jazz Curtis, the estranged mother of Drew Curtis from 2007 to 2008.

Gordon appeared in a recurring capacity in the mystery drama thriller Winter as Melanie Winter from 2010 to 2015. During this time, she also starred in comedy series The Moodys in a main role as Bridget Quaill, from 2012 to 2014, reprising the role in A Moody Christmas.

In 2016, Gordon began appearing alongside Jessica Mauboy in Seven Network drama series The Secret Daughter playing Susan Norton until 2017. The following year she had a main role as Bridget Kovacec in comedy series Back in Very Small Business.

In 2022, Gordon appeared in drama series The Twelve for four episodes, as Emily Cavanaugh, opposite Sam Neill and Brendan Cowell. In 2023, she starred as fictional Australian Prime Minister Rebecca Stewart in the BBC sitcom Queen of Oz, created by English comedian Catherine Tate.

Gordon's television guest appearances include Big Sky (1997), White Collar Blue (2002), Farscape (2003), The Cooks (2005) The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting (2013), Playing for Keeps (2019) and Made in Rhode Island (2020). Her most recent television appearance was in an episode of the anthology series Erotic Stories in 2023.

Gordon's film credits include Thunderstruck (2004) opposite Sam Worthington, mockumentary comedy Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance (2007) and Australian-American psychological thriller Angel of Mine (2019) alongside Luke Evans, Noomi Rapace and fellow Australian Yvonne Strahovski. She has also appeared in the made-for-television movies Never Tell Me Never (1998) as Angela, Comedy Showroom: The Letdown (2016) as Mandy.

03Personal life

Gordon lived in a share house with fellow actor Ian Stenlake and other students, while she was studying at NIDA.

In late 2004, Gordon married her partner of 11 years, actor Scott Johnson, whom she met at NIDA. They divorced in 2009.

She later married actor Jon Sivewright, whom she met on the set of Home and Away. Together they have two children but they have since separated.

Gordon was trained by Al Gore and the Australian Conservation Foundation as a presenter for The Climate Change Project in 2007.

In 2008, she walked the Great Wall of China with other celebrities in an effort to raise money for Olivia Newton-John's Cancer and Wellness Centre.

04Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Thunderstruck Molly
2004 A Whole New You Woman in Middle Management Short film
2007 Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance Vomit Child's Mother
2019 Angel of Mine Ellen

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1997 Big Sky Tara Brown / Lisa "Wishing and Hoping"
1998 Never Tell Me Never Angela TV film
2000-2001 All Saints Claudia McKenzie Recurring role
2002 White Collar Blue Mardi Peters "1.12"
2003 Farscape Lo'Laan "Mental as Anything"
2004-2006 Blue Heelers Amy Fox Main role
2005 The Cooks Annette "Sticky"
2007 Neighbours Dr. Charlotte Stone Recurring role
2007-2008 Home and Away Jazz Curtis Recurring role
2012 The Moodys Bridget Quaill Main role
2012 A Moody Christmas Bridget Quaill Main role
2013 The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting Special Guest "1.1", "1.2", "1.3"
2014 The Moodys Bridget Quaill Main role
2010-15 Winter Melanie Winter Recurring role
2016 Comedy Showroom: The Letdown Mandy TV movie
2016-2017 The Secret Daughter Susan Norton 12 episodes
2018 Back in Very Small Business Bridget Kovacec Main Role
2019 Playing for Keeps Narelle Baxter "2.5"
2020 Made in Rhode Island Girl at The Bar Pilot
2022 The Twelve Emily Cavanaugh 4 episodes
2023 Queen of Oz Rebecca Stewart 6 episodes
Erotic Stories Sandra 1 episode

05Theatre

Year Title Role Notes
1997Death Defying ActsJulietMarian St Theatre, Sydney
1997MacbethLady MacduffBell Shakespeare
1998Out ThereSashaHair of the Dog
1998Light ParticlesBethGriffin Theatre Company, Sydney
1998All Things ConsideredLauraMarian St Theatre, Sydney
1999The Taming of the ShrewBiancaSydney Botanic Gardens with EHJ Productions
1999Last Nights of BallyhooSunny FreitagMarian St Theatre, Sydney
1999Big Hair in AmericaRebaHotHouse Theatre
2000WitSusie Monoghan / RN & BSNEnsemble Theatre, Sydney
2001Crimes of the HeartMeg MagrathMarian St Theatre, Sydney
2001Don JuanCharlotteSTC
2008Boeing BoeingGabriellaNew Theatricals
2009ConcussionSTC / Griffin Theatre Company
2009NinetyIsabelMTC / QTC
2010King LearRegan / JaneBell Shakespeare
2010Let the SunshineEmmaMTC / QTC
2012Managing CarmenJessicaEnsemble Theatre, Sydney
2012Between Two WavesGrenelleGriffin Theatre Company
2014Daylight SavingFelicityDarlinghurst Theatre Company, Sydney
2015Boston MarriageClaireQPAC, Brisbane & QLD regional tour with QTC
2016Jasper JonesMrs BucktinMTC
2017Odd Man OutVarious charactersEnsemble Theatre, Sydney
2018The Norman Conquests TrilogyRuthEnsemble Theatre, Sydney
Watch videos about Rachel GordonExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Rachel Gordon, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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