[5] While working in an administrative role, she noticed a flyer which was looking for actors to perform in a play which featured the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal, and decided to audition.
Her next role was in Queensland Museum's production You Came To My Country and you didn't turn black in 1990,[2] by which time she was 30 and passionate about the theatre.
[5] In July of that year, she performed alongside Barbara Lowing in Rovers, a play which "celebrate(s) Australia's trailblazing women", written especially for the two actors by Katherine Lyall-Watson.
[10] On the screen, McDonald has starred in the films and Australia Day, and on television in the series Harrow, Grace Beside Me, and 8MMM Aboriginal Radio, and the telemovie Mabo.
[5] In 2021, French artist Marco Eychenne (aka Photocrash), created a photographic/mixed media portrait of McDonald.