Rachael Blake

[2] Blake was born deaf in one ear, a condition that was rectified by a series of operations undertaken before she was six.

To overcome shyness[2] and her hearing problem,[3] her mother enrolled her in elocution lessons, which she continued until age 17.

After studying at NIDA, she worked on Australian television shows Home and Away as Mandy Thomas (1995–1997), Pacific Drive, and Heartbreak High (1996).

She has also starred in several films, including 2001's Lantana with Anthony LaPaglia, as well as 2003's Perfect Strangers for which she won the Fantasporto Award for Best Actress.

[5] She was nominated four times at the Australian film Institute (since 2011 called the AACTA Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) and won the award for 'Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama' for Wildside in 1998[6] and 'Best Actress for a Supporting role' for Lantana in 2001.