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Justine Clarke
Justine Clarke at the 2018 ARIA Awards.jpg
Clarke at the 2018 ARIA Awards in Sydney, Australia
Born
Sydney, Australia
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
  • television host
  • author
Years active 1978–present
Notable work
Home and Away (1988–89)
Tangle (2009–12)
Play School (1999–)
Look Both Ways
Spouse(s)
Jack Finsterer
(m. 1999)
Children 3

Justine Clarke is an Australian actress, singer, author and television host.

Clarke has been acting since the age of seven and has appeared in some of Australia's best-known TV shows. She is best-known for her portrayal as Roo Stewart on the soap opera Home and Away (1988–1989), as Ally Kovac on the drama series Tangle (2009–2012), and as a presenter on the Australian children's show Play School, a role which she has held since 1999. She is also a film and stage actor, and won the Best Actress Award at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina in 2006 for her role in independent film Look Both Ways. She has won two ARIA Awards.

Early life and education

Justine Clarke was born in Sydney, New South Wales, to Beverly, an actress and singer and Len, a singer

At the age of seven, while attending Woollahra Public School with other up and coming talents like Mouche Phillips and Deni Hines, she began appearing in television commercials, one of which was Arnott's Humphrey B. Bear biscuits. At eleven she played the role of Brigitta in the stage musical, The Sound of Music.

Film and television

Clarke's first significant acting role was as the character Anna Goanna in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The same year she appeared in the TV series The Maestro's Company and featured in the 1986 mini-series Professor Poopsnaggle's Steam Zeppelin. The following year she made appearances in A Country Practice and Willing and Abel.

Clarke appeared in a telemovie Touch the Sun, by the Australian Children's Television Foundation

In 1987, Clarke began filming an eighteen months role on the soap opera, Home and Away, as one of 17 original cast members, playing the character of Ruth "Roo" Stewart. The character of Roo was reinstated in the cast list in 2010, portrayed by Georgie Parker, making the character of Roo one of only two remaining original characters in the series (along with Ray Meagher's character of Alf Stewart). Clarke was one of several Home and Away cast-members to star in an early stage musical about the soap, which toured the UK in 1991.

Following her departure from Home and Away in 1989, Clarke appeared in the short-lived series Family and Friends before going on to act in several mini-series including Come In Spinner and Golden Fiddles.

Clarke's film Turning April in 1996 was followed by Blackrock in 1997, in which Heath Ledger played his first credited feature film role. More recently she has starred in the films Danny Deckchair and Look Both Ways. The role of Meryl Lee in Look Both Ways scored Clarke a nomination for an Australian Film Institute (AFI) Lead Actress award in 2005.

In 1999, Clarke became a presenter on long-running ABC Kids television program, Play School.

After appearing in three episodes of the series Wildside, she played Dr Samantha O'Hara in 21 episodes of All Saints. She also played the leading role in the Australian medical drama The Surgeon and appeared in the third season of the critically acclaimed Australian TV drama series Love My Way, as Simone.

2009 saw Clarke star in the Showcase television series Tangle. In 2012, she appeared in Woodley. Other television appearances followed, including playing the role of Bernadette in The Time of Our Lives from 2013 to 2014; Eve in House Husbands in 2016, and as Noelene Hogan in Hoges.

In 2010, Clarke starred in the short film Peekaboo.

Clarke created and starred in the popular children's television series The Justine Clarke Show!.

On September 19 2024, Clarke was announced as part of the cast for the ABC comedy series Fisk.

Theatre

An experienced stage actor, Clarke has worked with the Sydney Theatre Company in productions such as A Man with Five Children, Trelawny of the Wells, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Herbal Bed, Hedda Gabler, Stiffs and Muriel's Wedding.

In February–March 2022, Clarke starred in Dennis Kelly's one-woman play, Girls & Boys. The play is staged by State Theatre Company South Australia at the Odeon Theatre, Norwood in Adelaide as part of the Adelaide Festival, and directed by the artistic director of STCSA, Mitchell Butel.

In 2023 and 2024 she performed the almost-solo play Julia, about the life of Australian prime minister Julia Gillard, receiving high praise from critics. On 25 September, it was announced that Clarke would again perform as Julia for the 2025 Queensland Theatre season.

Music

Justine Clarke
Justine Clarke at the 2013 ARIA Awards

In the 1990s, Clarke performed in a number of bands with fellow Australian thespians, including Loene Carmen and Noah Taylor. ..... In the late '90s she was a backing vocalist in the Sydney band Automatic Cherry, which also featured The Cruel Sea guitarist James Cruickshank. The band released the album Slow Burner in 1997.

Clarke has released multiple albums through ABC Music and has twice won the ARIA Award for Best Children's Album, in 2013 for A Little Day Out With Justine Clarke and in 2018 for The Justine Clarke Show!.

In 2014, Clarke teamed up with Tex Perkins for series of shows paying tribute to Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.

In 2016, Clarke collaborated with singer-songwriter Josh Pyke on 'Words Make The World Go Around', a song to celebrate, promote and raise funds for the work of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Clarke's first-ever, career-spanning greatest hits collection, Everybody Roar! The Best of Justine Clarke, was released in November 2019. In 2019, she released her first ever original Christmas song, "Here Comes a Merry Christmas", written with longtime collaborators Peter Dasent and Arthur Baysting.

Clarke is also a jazz vocalist and cabaret singer, popular on the Sydney club circuit.

Discography

Title Details Certification
I Like to Sing
  • Released: 2005
  • Label: ABC Music (301253-2)
  • Format: CD, digital download
Songs to Make You Smile
  • Released: 2008
  • Label: ABC Music (301457-2)
  • Format: CD, digital download
  • ARIA: Gold
Carnival of the Animals
(with Jay Laga'aia & Georgie Parker)
  • Released: 2009
  • Label: ABC Classics (4763686)
  • Format: 2xCD, digital download
Great Big World
  • Released: 2010
  • Label: ABC Music (301562-2)
  • Format: CD, digital download
A Little Day Out with Justine Clarke
  • Released: 2012
  • Label: ABC Music (3711139)
  • Format: CD, digital download
Pyjama Jam!
  • Released: 2 October 2015
  • Label: ABC Music (4751809)
  • Format: CD, digital download
Ta Da!
  • Released: November 2017
  • Label: ABC Music (6709422)
  • Format: CD, digital download
  • re-released as The Justine Clarke Show
Everybody Roar! The Best of Justine Clarke
  • Released: November 2019
  • Label: ABC Music (0826256)
  • Format: CD, digital download
  • Note: Greatest hits album

Personal life

Clarke married actor Jack Finsterer in 1999. They have three children.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Anna Goanna Feature film
1988 Touch the Sun: Princess Kate Kate McLelland TV film
1990 Come In Spinner Monnie Malone TV film
Family and Friends Cheryl Brooks TV film
1996 Turning April Rosa Feature film
1997 Blackrock Tiffany Feature film
1998 Never Tell Me Never Anna TV film
2000 Bootmen Kim Feature film
2003 Danny Deckchair Trudy Dunphy Feature film
Japanese Story Jane Feature film
Car Park Renee Short film
2004 Go Big Gina Katz TV film
The Brush-Off Salina TV film
2005 Look Both Ways Meryl Lee Feature film
2007 In the Company of Actors Herself Documentary film
2008 The List Amy Short film
8 Mother Segment: "The Water Diary"
2009 In Her Skin Irene TV film
2011 Peekaboo Jillian Short film
Spider Walk Angela Short film
2013 The Humble Beginnings of the Balloon Narrator (voice) Short film
2014 Healing Michelle Feature film
Maya the Bee Miss Cassandra (voice) Animated feature film (English version)
2015 A Month of Sundays Wendy Feature film
2016 Red Dog: True Blue Diane Carter Feature film
2018 Maya the Bee: The Honey Games Queen (voice) Animated feature film (English version)
2021 Maya the Bee: The Golden Orb

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1984 The Maestro's Company Tina TV series
1986 Professor Poopsnagle's Steam Zeppelin Carmen TV series
1986 Willing and Abel TV series
1987 A Country Practice Nicki Simpson TV series, 5 episodes
1988–89 Home and Away Roo Stewart TV series, seasons 1 & 2
1994 Golden Fiddles Liddy Powell TV miniseries
Tracks of Glory Kate O'Brien TV miniseries
1996 Twisted Pip TV series. episode: "The Crossing"
1998 Wildside Jessie Roscoe / Jessie Armstrong TV series, 3 episodes: "1.11", "1.12", "1.32"
1998–1999 All Saints Dr. Samantha O'Hara TV series, seasons 1–2
1999 Play School Presenter TV series
2001 Head Start Julia Hunter TV series, episode: "Seeing Is Believing"
2005 The Surgeon Dr. Eve Agius TV series
2005 Good Morning Australia Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode
2007 Love My Way Simone TV series
Bastard Boys Janine McSwain TV miniseries
Chandon Pictures Samantha TV series, episode: "Back to School"
2009–12 Tangle Ally Kovac TV series, seasons 1–3
2012 Woodley Em TV series
2013–14 The Time of Our Lives Bernadette Flynn TV series
2014 It's a Date Amy TV series, episode: "What's the Worst Thing That Can Happen on a Date?"
2015 Gallipoli Mrs. Johnson TV miniseries
House Husbands Eve TV series, season 4
2016 Rake Alli Franklin TV series, episode: "4.2"
Have You Been Paying Attention? Guest Quiz Master TV series
2017 Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story Noelene Hogan TV miniseries
The Justine Clarke Show Herself TV longseries
2018 Who Do You Think You Are? Herself TV series, season 9, episode 5
Dead Lucky Erica Hodge TV series, season 1, episodes 1 & 2
2019 Get Krackin Herself TV series, season 2, episode 1
Squinters Jess TV series, season 2
2020 Australia Come Fly With Me Presenter TV documentary miniseries on Australian civil aviation, 3 episodes
Hungry Ghosts Clare Nguyen TV series, season 1
2021 Mr Inbetween Meaghan Clarke TV series, sesson 3, episode 6
2021, 2023, RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service Leonie Smith TV series, season 1-2
2022 Barrumbi Kids Mrs Armstrong TV series, 10 episodes
2023 Turn Up The Volume Sandy TV series, 1 episode
Wildlife ER Narrator SBS TV series
C*A*U*G*H*T Dr Mitchell 1 episode
2024 Fisk Melissa TV series: 1 episode

Theatre

Year Title Role Venue / Company
1982 The Sound of Music Brigitta
1991 Home and Away: The Musical Roo Stewart UK tour
1992 Murderer Karnak Playhouse
1996 Live Acts on Stage Stables Theatre
1996 Stiffs Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
1997 The Herbal Bed Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
1999 Cyrano de Bergerac Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2000 Trelawny of the Wells Playhouse, Melbourne & Sydney Opera House for Sydney Theatre Company
2002 A Man with Five Children Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2003 Dreaming Transportation Lennox Theatre, Parramatta
2004 Fast Mitchell Centre, Darwin
2004 Hedda Gabler Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2005 Parramatta Girls Belvoir Street Theatre for Company B's Winter Play Reading Series
2005 Colder Than Here Belvoir Street Theatre
2005 Love Letters Parade Theatre
2006 Hedda Gabler Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for Sydney Theatre Company
2006 Jackie Orszaczky's Sunday Skool Abby Dobson Sydney Opera House
2006 Reunion / A Kind of Alaska Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2007 I Like to Sing with Justine Clarke Self Sydney Opera House
2007 Toy Symphony Belvoir St Theatre for Company B
2008 Gala Southbank Theatre
2009 The Wonderful World of Dissocia Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2012 Les Liaisons Dangereuses Wharf Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company
2012 Justine Clarke: Pop Up Tour Self Sydney Opera House
2014 Children of the Sun Sydney Opera House
2017 Justine Clarke's Look! Look! It's a Gobbledygook Self Sydney Opera House
2017-18 Muriel's Wedding Betty Heslop Roslyn Packer Theatre for Sydney Theatre Company & Global Creatures
2018 Justine Clarke Silly Songs Self Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall, Melbourne, Regal Theatre, Perth, Canberra Theatre, QPAC, Thebarton Theatre
2022 Girls & Boys Woman Odeon Theatre, Norwood at Adelaide Festival for State Theatre Company South Australia
2023-present Julia Julia Gillard Aus tour

Awards and nominations

Music

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2006 I Like to Sing ARIA Award for Best Children's Album Nominated
2008 Songs to Make You Smile Nominated
2010 Great Big World Nominated
2013 A Little Day Out with Justine Clarke Won
2016 Pyjama Jam Nominated
2018 The Justine Clarke Show! Won

Acting

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2005 Look Both Ways AFI Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama Nominated
2006 Look Both Ways Mar del Plata International Film Festival Best Actress Award Won
2012 Les Liaisons Dangereuses Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Justine Clarke para niños

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