Biography
But the sultry former model has also starred in more than a dozen feature films and several high profile TV projects and, in the mid-1990s, has begun a secondary career as a filmmaker.
This scion of an aristocratic British family left school at 16 to pursue a career as a fashion model. With her lustrous brown hair, expressive eyes and slightly exotic features (no typical English rose she), Ward was soon in demand appearing on magazine covers …
Career Milestones
| Cast in the lead in the Australian miniseries, "Rain Shadow" (lensed 2007) | ||
2005 | Reunited with actor Richard Chamberlain for the Hallmark Channel miniseries, "Blackbeard" | |
2002 | Co-starred with Bernadette Peters in the made for-cable movie "Bobby's Girl," (Showtime) as life partners | |
2001 | Third short, "The Big House", premiered at the Sundance Film Festival | |
2000 | Co-starred with husband in small screen remake of "On the Beach" (Showtime), directed by Russell Mulcahy | |
2000 | Made second short film "Blindman's Bluff" | |
1999 | Portrayed a 19th-century farming wife in the CBS movie "Seasons of Love" | |
| Helmed first short film "Overdose"; screened at Sydney's Tropfest | ||
1997 | Played leading role of a nurse who marries a much older man and then falls for his son in the luridly titled "My Stepson, My Lover" (USA Network) | |
1996 | Appeared in the Australian anthology film "Twisted" | |
1993 | Made brief appearance as the heroine's mother in "Wide Sargasso Sea", helmed by John Duigan | |
1992 | Cast as Queen Isabella in "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" | |
1991 | Played leading role in the CBS miniseries "And the Sea Will Tell" | |
1990 | Starred opposite Jason Patric in the noirish "After Dark, My Sweet" | |
1988 | Had featured role in "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" | |
1986 | Teamed with Brown for the Ausralian film "The Good Wife/The Umbrella Woman" | |
1984 | Played the woman torn between Jeff Bridges and James Woods in "Against All Odds", a remake of the film noir "Out of the Past" | |
1983 | Breakthrough TV role, Meggie Cleary, the heroine of "The Thorn Birds" (ABC); met future husband Bryan Brown who co-starred as her on-screen spouse | |
1982 | Starred opposite Steve Martin in the comedy "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" | |
1981 | "Discovered" by Burt Reynolds who contacted her after seeing her picture in Time magazine and suggested she read for the part of Dominoe in his film, "Sharky's Machine" | |
1981 | Feature film acting debut, "Night School" | |
1979 | Acting debut in the NBC TV-movie "Christmas Lillies of the Field" | |
| Worked as fashion model and appeared in TV commercials before entering films | ||
| Raised in England | ||
Awards
2000 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in On the Beach |
1983 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in The Thorn Birds |
1981 | Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year |