AACTA Awards: Top End Weddings Miranda Tapsell Nominated For 2 Gongs

Miranda Tapsell told the Australian media to “put more beautiful women of colour on TV in ways that transcend race and unite us” during her 2015 Logies acceptance speech.

Now, she is up for two AACTA Awards alongside fellow Indigenous Australian actors and has expressed her gratitude for the recognition of her “deadly little film”, also nominated for Best Film, with an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday. 

“If you had told me when I was a little girl growing up in Kakadu National Park that all this would happen, I would never have believed you,” she said. 

“Dreams really do come true. 

“Four years ago, when @joshuatylerpictures and I came up with the idea to make a movie in the NT and Tiwi Islands, it was my wildest dreams for it firstly to get made, but secondly for it to be nominated for an AACTA.” 

Serving as co-writer and executive producer for Top End Wedding, Miranda describes the rom-com as “a love letter to the mob and their beautiful country.”

Miranda earned her first AACTA nominations across the 2019 film and television categories for Best Lead Actress for Top End Wedding and Best Performance in a Television Comedy for Get Krack!n, an ABC satire show featuring Nakkiah Lui. 

Nakkiah, who is a writer the show, took to Twitter to congratulate her co-star.

“The final episode of the series was hailed by audiences and critics, considered a watershed moment in Australian comedy and I was incredibly proud to be a part of it,” Miranda said. 

Top End Wedding actress Ursula Yovich also earned a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in the movie. 

Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale was another stand out film, sweeping the nominations with 15 nods including a Best Lead Actor nomination for Baykali Ganambarr and Magnolia Maymuru recognised in the Best Supporting Actress group.  

“We’re thrilled to see such a wealth of diverse productions at this year’s Awards, all of extremely high-quality and many of which have received global recognition,” said AFI | AACTA CEO Damian Trewhella.

The AACTA Awards Ceremony will be held at Sydney’s Star Event Centre on Wednesday December 4 and will air on Channel Seven with encore screenings on Foxtel.