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EMMA LOUISE PURSEY

Actor · Writer · Producer · Educator

★★★★ The Age

2026 Green Room Award Nominee

★★★★ Theatre Matters

Photo: Adam J Marsh, 2021

'Formidable' RealTime · 'Exceptional' The Australian · 'Deliciously Terrifying' Australian Stage · 'Firebrand' The Age

'Triumphant talent' Theatre Matters · 'Ecstatic' Stage Whispers · 'Fervent' The Blurb · 'Tour de force' Gray Smith Journal

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About
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ABOUT ME

A little known fact about me is that the first job I had out of school was a roadie. My first major gig was The Rolling Stones.

After managing a punk band, I moved from backstage to on-stage as an electronic music DJ. Not only did I DJ in Beijing for the Millennium, I was one of the first women to do so. After being a gallery assistant at the Institute of Modern Art, it was a 1997 production of Salomé by avant-garde Brisbane-based repertory ensemble, Frank Theatre that changed my life.

 

Never had I been so in awe of a performance, nor seen actors more compelling, energised or powerful. How? The Suzuki Method of Actor Training. I started stomping immediately and became one of their core ensemble for ten years touring to numerous national and international festivals.

At fifteen, I walked Kokoda with my own pack just eighteen months after major spinal surgery. In 2014, I donated a kidney to my brother and have since become a passionate advocate for DonateLife Victoria. As an artist living with invisible disability, I actively engage in the ongoing practice of disability pride and remain committed to decolonising practice and lifelong learning. I thank all my teachers. A proud Equity member since 2008.

Photo: Sarah Walker, 2018

WORK WITH ME

I'm a critically acclaimed, award-winning and Green Room Award-nominated Melbourne/Naarm-based actor, writer, producer and educator whose work spans theatre, screen, interdisciplinary performance and actor training.

 

Across three decades of professional practice, I have performed nationally and internationally across independent and mainstage theatre and screen, developed, produced and directed original independent work, taught artists at all stages of their careers within leading public and private arts training institutions, and contributed to Australia's cultural landscape as both a maker and educator.

  • Theatre & Screen Performance

  • Creative Writing

  • Creative Development, Dramaturgy & Direction

  • Producing & Project Development

  • Interdisciplinary Collaboration

  • Grant Writing & Fundraising Strategy

  • Suzuki Method of Actor Training

  • Actor Training & Mentorship

  • Workshops & Masterclasses

I welcome opportunities to make, create, explore and collaborate.

Photo: Julian Dolman, 2026

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'I was immediately captivated by Emma; she is such a fine nuanced actor with a clear talent for the written word...highly intelligent and incredibly insightful. Her astute observations, research and sensitivity to the material are extraordinary. I also really appreciate her work ethic—she is quick, open, and astute. Her ability to interpret and dissect a text along with her intellectual rigour and commitment is commendable.'

- Susie Dee, Director | Divisor | Performer

'Emma's work casts a special kind of spell, one that captivates audiences with its lyrical flamboyance, intellectual richness and psychological depth.'

- Iain Sinclair, Director | Dramaturg | Master Acting Teacher

'Emma's performance is startlingly powerful—so alive, physically articulate, present, every cell in her mind and body electric and responsive, poetic, moments of raw vulnerability. A true masterclass. And a reminder of how rare it is to see true craft at work.'

- Gary Abrahams, Director

‘Emma’s acting is inventive, transformational and emotionally powerful. One of her most striking attributes is the physical mastery she brings to every role she plays – achieved with great economy and always impeccably executed. A joy to work with.’

- Michael Futcher, Director

'The sheer discipline Emma brings to her craft is to be applauded. As well as being an absolute joy to work with, Emma’s presence left the audience absolutely captivated night after night. A true professional with stunning presence…and a wicked sense of humour'

- Shane Savage, Director | Sonder Studios (Canada)

'Emma has a natural presence on stage that is both sensitive and powerful, with the capacity to create very evocative and emotional performances.’

- Okubo Noriaki, Actor | Director | Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) Principal

TESIMONIALS

"Freedom and joy are found through discipline and rigour. Work hard, let go, and play."

Current Work
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WHERE IS JOY?

2026 Green Room Award Nomination, Outstanding Performance, Independent Theatre

★★★★ The Age

“A must-see”

"This one woman show from Emma Louise Pursey is a defiant act of assertion against female erasure... a resurrection of an artist and poet of unnerving intensity."

"You can no more look away from Pursey's Hester than you can from the artist's fluid black line drawings."

"Emma Louise Pursey's firebrand delivery emphasises the relentlessness with which Joy Hester seized life."

The Blurb

“Pursey’s performance is fervent.”

“Pursey gives it her all. She is emotional in capturing the essence of Hester, who refused to be tamed.”

"Pursey captured a relentless intensity of thought and feeling."

Gray Smith Journal

"Remarkable...Utterly unforgettable"

“Where Is Joy? isn’t just a play. It’s an event.

I left the theatre thinking I’d just witnessed something culturally important."

"Joy was right there in front of us."

★★★★ Theatre Matters

"Pursey's own triumphant talent"

“Emma Louise Pursey, an absolute Goddess on stage, has become the late, great artist, Joy Hester.”

“This fiercely intelligent play portrays the late, great artist Joy Hester as the true Icon she was, blazing in rebellious glory, stunningly acted by Emma Louise Pursey.”

"The final dramatic ending is one of the best I've seen this year"

Stage Whispers

“Pursey’s high-energy, relentless performance burns like the fire that Joy Hester was.”

“If the initiates are not drawn in by Pursey’s vitality, by the breakneck but poetic narrative and the utter originality of the art,  then nothing will convince them”

Christabel Blackman

“We were witnessing Art — a happening, a true event.”

“Joy was wonderfully portrayed but the essence of the show was Pursey — her own brilliance and transformation of Joy into a vibrant play, the script, the performance, stage sense, body use, the dance, the poetry and all those so many emotions.”

“A true tour de force.”

"You called your play Where Is Joy?...You have found her" Janine Burke

Joy Hester Reimagined: a visual poem of love, loss and belonging

A new Australian solo work created by Emma Louise Pursey

Directed by Susie Dee

Presented by Emma Louise Pursey in association with Cicero's Circle and fortyfivedownstairs.

Endorsed by the Heide MoMA, Canberra Museum + Gallery, Janine Burke, Mirka Mora and Barbara Blackman AO. Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants, Robert Salzer Foundation and through the Australian Cultural Fund.

 

WHERE IS JOY? sold out before opening - 30 Oct-9 Nov 2025 at fortyfivedownstairs

Photo: Amber Schmidt, 2025

Gallery
Contact
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CONTACT ME

NAARM / MELBOURNE​         info @ emmalouisepursey.com

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Photo: Amber Schmidt, 2025

© 2025 Emma Louise Pursey

I proudly work on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation and acknowledge that this has been a place of storytelling, education and performance for thousands of years. Sovereignty has never been ceded. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

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