Really Interesting Women

The podcast

Ep. 161 Mandy McElhinney

Mandy McElhinney is one of Australia’s most respected screen and stage actors, celebrated for performances that move confidently between sharp comedy and emotionally charged drama.

She has amassed an extensive list of credits across television, film, and theatre since her career began in 1994. As an actor, she became a household name not through those mediums but as “Rhonda” in the hugely popular AAMI insurance commercials, a role that turned her into a pop‑culture icon.

She went on to deliver acclaimed performances as Matron Frances Bolton in “Love Child”, mining magnate Gina Rinehart in “House of Hancock”, and Nene King in “Paper Giants: Magazine Wars”.​

Alongside recent work in series such as “Wakefield” and “Home and Away”, McElhinney now stars as Eileen in “Ghosts Australia”, confirming her status as a distinctive and enduring presence in Australian storytelling.

We had a great chat about her work and her journey in life.

If you'd like to see her most recent work Ghosts Australia is on channel 10 Paramount+

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen to our conversation.

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

Follow the link to leave a review....and tell your friends
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/really-interesting-women/id1526764849

Really Interesting Women

The podcast

Ep. 160 Amanda MacKenzie

Amanda MacKenzie is one of Australia's most influential voices in climate change advocacy and policy communication.

As the Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Council, she has spent over a decade transforming how Australians understand and engage with climate science, policy, and action.

And whilst terms such as ‘policy communication’ seem like government speak, the reality is both brilliant and simple. The organisation's success under my Amanda’s leadership lies in its ability to translate complex climate science into understandable, accessible, actionable information for policymakers, media, and the general public.

It’s not a ‘one size fits all’. It doesn’t just present dry scientific data and have you try and interpret its significance. It’s a communications strategy that connects climate science to everyday concerns about health, economics, and community wellbeing.

Amanda MacKenzie’s contributions to climate advocacy and public policy have been widely recognized here and overseas.

I enjoyed this conversation because she simplified a complex subject...or a subject that has been made complex. Unnecessarily.

Head to the link in my bio to listen to the episode.

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

Follow the link to leave a review....and tell your friends
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/really-interesting-women/id1526764849

Really Interesting Women

The podcast

Ep. 159 Catherine Moore

Catherine Moore was a graduate of the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts and has become a multifaceted actor, voice artist, writer, and acting coach whose career spans theatre, television, and film.

Known for her compelling performances and creative versatility, she has carved out a distinctive space in the Australian entertainment industry.

No doubt you will be aware of some of her work. In movies there’s been How to Please a Woman, Runt and more recently Birthright and in TV there’s been Janet King, Drop Dead Weird, Home and Away, Crownies and Rake, amongst others and most recently in The Twelve with Sam Neill.

She has worked in collaboration with writing partner Genevieve Hegney which led to a major success for Ensemble Theatre in Sydney with their play, Unqualified – which led to a sequel.

Currently Catherine has co-created and is performing in a play called Fly Girl at the Ensemble Theatre. It’s a play about the trailblazing aviator, Deborah Lawrie. It’s a fascinating story which we discuss in some detail. It has already won the Blake Beckett Trust Female Playwrights Award and may still have a few tickets left by the time this podcast is published. But you’d better get to the Ensemble’s website pretty quickly.

It was such an open and honest, fun and funny conversation.

Head to the link in my bio to have a listen.

Link to Ensemble website

https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/fly-girl/

Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history.

Follow the link to leave a review....and tell your friends
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/really-interesting-women/id1526764849