Tara Morice (born 23 June 1964) is an Australian actress, singer and dancer.

Background

Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Morice also lived in Sydney, Alice Springs and Adelaide as a child. She is a fifth-generation Australian and is of English, Irish, Scottish, Latvian, French and Jewish ancestry. She appeared in a short film for the Tasmanian Film Corporation in 1980, The ABC of Unions. She made her stage debut at Australia's oldest theatre, the Theatre Royal in Hobart in The Diary of Anne Frank, aged 16. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Australian History and English from the Australian National University and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1987.

Career

She has worked extensively on stage in Australia, including productions for the Sydney Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare Company, Griffin Theatre Company, Belvoir Theatre Company, State Theatre of South Australia, Queensland Theatre Company, Malthouse and the Ensemble. Tara played Fran in Strictly Ballroom when it premiered as a stage play in 1988, and she was a member of Baz Luhrmann's Six Years Old Company. For her work in musical theatre, she has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Fat Swan 2012 Helpmann Awards and a Victorian Green Room Award for The Venetian Twins. Her first film appearance was as Fran in the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom (directed by Baz Luhrmann), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and an Australian Film Institute award. Morice also appeared on the film's soundtrack, singing a duet of Time After Time with Mark Williams. Morice has also appeared in the feature films Metal Skin, Hotel Sorrento, Hildegarde, Moulin Rouge!, Candy, Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance, Oranges and Sunshine, Dance Academy: The Movie and Peter Rabbit 2. Her many short films include the Oscar nominated Miracle Fish. Her television work includes roles in Answered by Fire, After the Deluge, Salem's Lot and McLeod's Daughters. Morice had a starring role in the series of three Dogwoman telemovies with Magda Szubanski in 2000. She also plays Miss Raine in Series 1, 2 and 3 of Dance Academy for ABC/ZDF. She wrote and directed the documentary My Biggest Fan, about her correspondence and friendship with an American great-grandmother, Mildred Levine, who wrote to her after seeing Strictly Ballroom. The film premiered at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and was broadcast on the SBS network in Australia in 2008. Morice has a daughter, Ondine Morice Pearce, who was the stills photographer (at age 11) on My Biggest Fan. She re-recorded Time After Time for Baz Luhrmann's album Something for Everybody and sang on the Strictly Ballroom, Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance and My Biggest Fan soundtracks. Tara played Shell in the premiere of the Australian musical The Deb at the Rebel Theatre in Sydney 2022 and in The Deb directed by Rebel Wilson, its World Premiere slated for closing night at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2024 Morice was named in the cast for Stan Australia feature film Nugget is Dead. Morice was also named in the extended cast for ABC series Return to Paradise.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage