# Mercia Deane-Johns

Mercia Deane-Johns is an Australian actress of film, stage and television. She is also a writer, singer, and stand-up comedian. She has played a wide array of characters since she was 12 years old and has appeared in many film roles and TV series on Australian screens.

## Education

Born in Melbourne on 21 February 1958, Mercia Deane-Johns trained at a television and film course with Crawford Productions, in 1974. She has studied ballet at the Gertrud Bodenwieser Dance Centre, in Sydney. Deane-Johns obtained a diploma in classical singing and theory of music from the London College of Music, Ealing, London in 1975. She is also an Associate of the London College of Music (A.L.C.M).
She was on a twelve-month contract at the Melbourne Theatre Company in 1978.
She has studied Tai chi and had private lessons with the late Tennyson Yui for one year, in 1980.
Deane-Johns attended Southern Cross University from 2006 to 2010 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in writing and communication.
She plays classical piano at sixth grade level.

## Career
### Film and television

Deane-Johns was in the Australian TV series Homicide in 1975 and 1976. She performed in the TV series Bluey as Debbie Morley in 1976. In 1977, she was in Cop Shop, a long running police drama series.
In the early 1980s, Deane-Johns appeared in several Australian New Wave films, including Heatwave (1981) directed by Phillip Noyce and based on the Juanita Nielsen disappearance case of the 1970s. The others were Winter of Our Dreams (1981), an award-winning drama written and directed by John Duigan and Going Down (1982). In 1982, she was also in Winner Take All – Downside Risk, a TV series about the fast-paced world of big business. In 1985, she was in Winners – The Other Facts of Life.
In 1991, Deane-Johns appeared in What's Cooking? an Australian cooking television series. That same year, she played the part of Sharon Taylor on the risqué series Chances. The series was discontinued in 1992, after a run of 127 hour-long episodes.
Deane-Johns was in the television film McLeod's Daughters in 1996 with Jack Thompson, Tammy MacIntosh and Kris McQuade. She was in the long-running Home and Away from 1997 to 2001, playing Melanie Rainbow. In 2002, she was in the Canadian-Australian co-production of Guinevere Jones, a teenage fantasy series where she played the part of evil witch Morgana. In 2007, she appeared in Unfinished Sky a story about a farmer who takes in an Afghan woman who has fled from a brothel.
In 2014 she had a supporting role in the film Last Cab to Darwin. In 2017 she played the part of Bulldozer in Throbbin' 84, a film taking its name from the 1984 Australian compilation music album Throbbin' '84.
Deane-Johns appeared in two seasons of The Other Guy in 2018 and 2019. She performed in season two of the comedy drama series Mr Inbetween in 2019. She was also in Location Scout a documentary series about the making of the Australian comedy film Top End Wedding, which was filmed around Darwin in 2018.
She has worked with some of Australia's best-known actors including John Hargreaves, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman, Charles Bud Tingwell, John Meillon and Alwyn Kurts.

### Voiceovers

In addition to acting, Deane-Johns has performed voiceover work, including four episodes of Persons of Interest in 2014.

### Writing

Deane-Johns is also a writer and has kept an anecdotal record of her thespian experiences in an online blog called "Mercia's Missives". She describes the difficulties in working with misogynistic directors, unsympathetic make-up artists, bitchy co-stars and young actors who think they are God's gift to women.
Deane-Johns also wrote for the (now defunct) Australian Playboy magazine from 1988 to 1990. As she relates in her cogitations "Mercia's Missives": "I spent a lot of time in my room, writing a column for Playboy magazine, simply entitled "Women". Peter Olszewski, also known as JJ Mc Roach, the founder of the Marijuana Party was the editor at the time. I enjoyed writing for Playboy. I had a lot of material around me at the time for inspiration. Things were fine". She also wrote for Fame magazine from 1986 to 1987, and Simply Living.

### Comedy

As well as singing and acting Deane-Johns has performed stand-up comedy and has ambitions to appear at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe one day. In 2011, she appeared with fellow Australian singer and actress Anne-Maree McDonald in Cabaret Caliente performing a one-hour stand-up comedy routine at The El Rocco Room, in Sydney's Kings Cross.

### Posing for Australian Playboy

When pregnant with her daughter Natasha, Deane-Johns was the first pregnant woman in the world to be photographed for Playboy.

### Music

Having a diploma in music, Deane-Johns worked extensively with the late Damien Lovelock. She toured with the Celibate Rifles in 1990 on their world tour and performed in Lovelock's band Wigworld singing Patti Smith songs amongst others. In 1990 she performed in Damien Lovelock's promo-video for the single "Disco Inferno" (April, 1990), taken from the 1988 album "It's A Wig Wig World".
She has sung in many jazz trios and duos and also cover bands for Woodstock, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and Fleetwood Mac.

## Filmography
### Films

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1973 | Alvin Purple (aka The Sex Therapist) | Small role (uncredited) | Feature film |
| 1975 | The Box | Typist | Feature film |
| 1980 | Breaking Point | Performer | Short Film documentary |
| 1981 | Winter of Our Dreams | Angela | Feature film |
| 1982 | The Applicant | Role unknown | Short film |
| 1982 | Heatwave | Secretary | Feature film |
| 1982 | Going Down | Ned | Feature film |
| 1983 | Molly | Talent Agent | Feature film |
| 1987 | Pandemonium | Morticia | Feature film |
| 1999 | Erskineville Kings | Barmaid | Feature film |
| 2007 | Unfinished Sky | Barbara | Feature film |
| 2012 | The One Who Broke Your Heart | Sean's Mum | Short film |
| 2014 | Last Cab to Darwin | Fay | Feature film |
| 2015 | The Immortality of the Bounty Hunters | The Book Critic | Short film |
| 2017 | Throbbin' 84 | Bulldozer | Film (Won award at Melbourne Underground Film Festival) |
| 2018 | Edge of the Earth | Mother | Short film |

### Television

| Title | Year | Role | Type |
| 1974; 1975 | Division 4 | Girl 2 / Maureen / Rita | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1975 | Matlock Police | Gail | TV series, episode 177: "The Hill" |
| 1975; 1976 | Homicide | Maureen Wilson | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1976 | Alvin Purple | Daisy | TV series, episode 5: "The Postman" |
| 1976–1977 | Bluey | Debbie Morley / Sharon Holt | TV series, 6 episodes |
| 1976 | Homicide | Brenda Lukins | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1977 | The Sullivans | Timna | TV series, 20 episodes |
| 1977 | Young Ramsay | Eleanor | TV series, episode 1: "Story of a Shaggy Dog" |
| 1977–1979 | Cop Shop | Andrea Williams / Jan / Gina Valente | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1978 | Demolition | (uncredited) | TV movie |
| 1979 | Skyways | Susan Masters | TV series, episode 6: "Coming of Age" |
| 1979 | Twenty Good Years | Ruth Cohen | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 1980 | The Restless Years | Pat | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1982 | Winner Take All | | TV series, 10 episodes |
| 1984 | Conferenceville | | TV movie |
| 1984 | Crime of the Decade | | TV movie |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Molly | TV series, episode 35: "Suzie's War" |
| 1985 | Double Sculls | Melanie Atkins | TV movie |
| 1985 | Winners - The Other Facts of Life | Policewoman | TV movie series, 1 episode |
| 1985 | Winners - Room to Move | Janet | TV movie series, 1 episode |
| 1986 | Body Business | Judy | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Vietnam | Linda Aarons | TV miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Harbour Beat | Secretary | TV movie pilot |
| 1991–1992 | Chances | Sharon Taylor | TV series, 127 episodes |
| 1995; 1999; 2003 | Blue Heelers | Marcia Hyland / Raelene Stevens / Jan Bayliss | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 1996 | McLeod's Daughters | Rosa Wilcox | TV movie pilot |
| 1996 | Twisted Tales | Woman | TV movie series, 1 episode |
| 1997; 2001 | Home and Away | Melanie Rainbow / Kerry | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1998 | Water Rats | Cheryl Voss | TV series, 1 episode |
| 1999 | Airtight | Ma Lucci | TV movie |
| 2000 | Above The Law | Joan Bartlett | TV series, 3 episodes |
| 2000 | All Saints | Mary Constantine | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002 | The Secret Life of Us | Clairvoyant | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2002 | Guinevere Jones | Morgana Le Fay | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | The Saddle Club | New Owner | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2003 | White Collar Blue | Connie Ciric | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2009–2011 | Packed to the Rafters | Grace Barton | TV series, 10 episodes |
| 2012 | Tricky Business | Vera Stanic | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2014 | Persons of Interest | Narrator | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 2016 | The Secret Daughter | Poppy | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2017; 2019 | The Other Guy | Bev / Cashier | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Harrow | Sofia Calanna | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2018 | Location Scout | Herself | TV series |
| 2019 | Mr Inbetween | Steph | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2021 | Back to the Rafters | Mrs. Spade | TV series, 1 episode |
| 2023 | While The Men Are Away | Mrs. Whitmore | TV series, 4 episodes |

## Theatre

| Year | Production | Role | Company/Venue |
| 1975 | Two and Two Make Sex | Juvenile lead | Australian tour with J. C. Williamson's |
| 1976 | Spats – Back in Business | | The Speakeasy |
| 1976 | The Happy Apples | | The Actors' Company Theatre, Sydney |
| 1978 | Once a Catholic | Mary Murphy (School girl) | Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with The Actors' Company Theatre |
| 1978 | Electra | Handmaiden | Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC |
| 1978 | The Playboy of the Western World | Nelly (Irish maid) | Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC |
| 1979 | George and Mildred | Understudy | Australian tour with the Elizabethan Theatre Company |
| 1984 | Wasting Away | | Wawina Creative Secondary School, Sydney with Toe Truck Theatre |
| 1984 | The Blind Giant is Dancing | Rose Draper | Playhouse, Canberra with ACT Theatre Company |
| 1984 | A Pantomime | Fairy | The Actors' Company Theatre |
| 1986 | Bloody Poetry | Mary Shelley | Stables Theatre, Sydney with Precious Theatre Company |
| 1989–1990 | The Celibate Rifles | Singer | World tour (also tour manager) |
| 1995 | Meanwhile Back on Planet Earth | Liza Minnelli | Bondi Pavilion with Precious Theatre Company |
| 2010 | Fleetwood Mac Cover Band | Stevie Nicks | Caravansera |
| 2011 | Cabaret Caliente | Singer / Stand Up | MDJ Productions (also writer) |
| 2011 | Now Festival – Woodstock Music | Janis Joplin / Grace Slick | Caravansera (also producer / director) |
| 2011 | Transport | Irish Mystic | |
| 2013 | Don Quixote | Housekeeper | |
| 2015 | Monk's Wife | Monk's Wife | MDJ Productions |
| | Troppo Flamingo | | Musical Theatre Restaurant, Blue Mountains with Precious Theatre Company |

## Award

She won an award at the 18th Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2017 for Throbbin' 84.