She was known for her roles as Colleen Powell in Prisoner, Matron Gribble in Round the Twist, Bernice Hudson in A Country Practice, and Yvonne 'Von' Ryan in All Saints.

McGrath was known for her television roles, including soap operas Prisoner (1979–84), as Deputy Governor/Officer Colleen "Poface" Powell, A Country Practice (1992–93) as hippy Bernice Hudson and for her Logie Award-nominated role in the medical drama All Saints as Nurse Yvonne "Von" Ryan (1998–2009) and her comedy roles in children's series Round the Twist as Matron Cecilia Gribble.

McGrath is probably best known to international audiences for her role in the cult Network Ten series Prisoner as fair-minded but sarcastic Deputy Governor Colleen" Poface" Powell.

McGrath played the long-running role of Yvonne "Von"' Ryan in television medical drama series All Saints on Network Seven from its debut in 1998, opposite co-star Georgie Parker.

[5] McGrath died at a hospice in Brisbane at the age of 70 from lung cancer on 20 October 2017.