Kiruna Stamell
Almost all of this screen work has landed in heightened worlds. Stamell, an Australian-British actress, was first widely seen as La Petite Princesse in Moulin Rouge!, a film with no interest whatsoever in realism, and the list that follows keeps that flavour: the Abbess in The New Pope, Mathilde in the court intrigue of The Serpent Queen, Mavis in Judy & Punch, a woman in the bar in The Best Offer, Dr. Broodthaers in The Listeners.
Between those she has done work that a filmography does not capture well. She appeared in the British series All the Small Things and Cast Offs, presented the Australian children's programme Play School from 2018 to 2020, and played Kirsty Millar on the soap Doctors between 2023 and 2024, none of which is among the credits listed here.
The comic outlier is Life's Too Short, where she played Amy in a series entirely about the indignities of being a short actor in the British industry, a role that required her to be funny about the exact conditions of her own working life. Her most substantial recent parts are the authority figures, an abbess and a doctor, which is a more interesting direction than the industry usually offers.
Movies (3)
TV (4)
Where to start with Kiruna Stamell
Most people have already seen her in Moulin Rouge! without registering it, so start there if you want the spectacle, and note that a first credit in a Baz Luhrmann musical is a strange place for any career to begin.
The better introduction to her as a performer is Life's Too Short, the Warwick Davis sitcom, where she plays Amy and gets to be sharp rather than decorative.
For the recent work, The New Pope gives her the Abbess in the most visually excessive television of its decade, and The Serpent Queen is the pacier court drama. Judy & Punch is a dark, strange Australian film worth seeking out, The Listeners is the newest, and The Best Offer is a small part in a handsome puzzle.