Rachel Ward

Ward has been married to Australian actor Bryan Brown since 1983. They met while filming The Thorn Birds, in which Ward played Meggie Cleary and Brown played Meggie's husband, Luke O'Neill.

Ward and Brown have three children, Rosie, Matilda and Joe. Their daughter Matilda Brown is an actress, writer and director. Ward and her family run a farm in rural New South Wales.

Ward left school at 16 to work as a fashion and photography model. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Harper's & Queen and Cosmopolitan, then moved to the United States in 1977 and appeared in television advertisements including Lincoln Mercury's "Cougar Girl" campaign and Revlon's "Scoundrel Girl" campaign.

Her early screen roles included Sharky's Machine in 1981 and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in 1982. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Sharky's Machine, and starred opposite Steve Martin in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.

Ward's breakthrough came in 1983 with The Thorn Birds, in which she played Meggie Cleary opposite Richard Chamberlain. The role brought her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film. She later played Jessie Wyler in Against All Odds with Jeff Bridges and James Woods, and appeared in The Umbrella Woman opposite Bryan Brown.

After Against All Odds and Fortress, Ward took time away from film to study acting. She returned to the screen in films and television productions including How to Get Ahead in Advertising, After Dark, My Sweet, Wide Sargasso Sea, On the Beach and Rain Shadow.

Her performance as Moira Davidson in On the Beach earned another Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film. In Rain Shadow, she played Kate McDonald, a country veterinarian in a drought-affected rural town.

Ward also appeared in Peter Rabbit as the voice of Josephine Rabbit and played Ada in The Death and Life of Otto Bloom. Her later acting credits include the television series Darby and Joan and the film Whale Shark Jack.

Ward expanded into directing and screenwriting with the short films Blindman's Bluff and The Big House. She won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Short Fiction Film for The Big House in 2001. Her 2003 short film Martha's New Coat also received the ATOM Award.

In 2009, Ward directed and adapted Beautiful Kate from Newton Thornburg's novel. The film premiered at the Sydney Film Festival and brought her AACTA Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. She subsequently directed and wrote Palm Beach, released in 2019, and directed episodes of productions including Rake, My Place, The Straits and Devil's Playground.

Ward's move towards farming developed around the family's property in the Nambucca Valley, which she and Brown originally bought as a holiday home. The family spent school holidays there while the children attended school in Sydney.

The 2019 Black Summer bushfires destroyed the property's boundary fences and came within hundreds of metres of the house. The experience led Ward to examine the effects of chemical use and heavy tilling on the land, and Charles Massy's book Call of the Reed Warbler introduced her to regenerative agriculture.

Ward partnered with her neighbour Mick Green to restore soil and biodiversity across their combined land. She co-directed the 2023 documentary Rachel's Farm, which chronicles her transition from acting and filmmaking towards regenerative farming.

In 2005, Ward was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service involving social justice advocacy, mentoring and support for disadvantaged and at-risk young people, as well as support for the Australian film and television industry.

A portrait of Ward by Jan Williamson won the Packing Room Prize at the Archibald Prize competition in 2003. In 1987, Ward won the Tokyo International Film Festival award for Best Actress for The Umbrella Woman.