I knew I should have done more caps of Mirrah , seeing as All Saints has had the chop .
When playing the Medical Response Unit’s feisty specialist paramedic Jo Mathieson, Mirrah Foulkes certainly flexes her muscles as an actor.
“Jo and I are pretty different” says Mirrah “she’s a really dominant character, a bit bossy, but that’s part of her charm, whereas I’m no good at telling people what to do. Watching Jo scale cliffs, go toe-to-toe with MRU director Dr Mike Vlasek (John Waters) and get down and dirty in some trying conditions is a real challenge for me as an actor” Mirrah says
Queenslander Mirrah says she enjoyed an idyllic upbringing at a Buddhist Study Retreat in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. While at school she dabbled in community theatre, immersed herself in her mother’s extensive library of classics and worked at a flower shop – she later became a qualified florist.
“Mum always had lots of great books around - Shakespeare and poetry, things like that - and we were always surrounded by creative people. Most of my family were painters and came from a fine art background. I’m one of those people who loves being an actor, but I don’t really know what drew me to acting in the first place” she says.
Mirrah felt something special when she ‘took to the stage’ and decided it was a challenge she should pursue. On leaving school, she moved to Melbourne for a change of scene, and studied screen acting classes. Soon she would move to Perth and study at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
With a list of short film roles to her name, most notably with talented up and coming filmmakers Nash Edgerton and David Michod, Mirrah recently starred in the gruesome 2008 Aussie horror feature film Dying Breed and the 2007 film based on the Bali Bombings, Long Road To Heaven.
Playing Jo Mathieson on All Saints is Mirrah’s first major TV role.
“It’s an extreme introduction to TV,” an excited Mirrah says. “As Jo, most of my work is on location and quite action-packed, and I love that. As a character, she is really strong, driven, self-assured … all those qualities are great fun to play”.
