This was published 2 years ago
The pact Miranda Tapsell made with herself when she became a mum
“I always wanted to keep a part of my old life in some way,” the actor tells Genevieve Quigley as she reflects on her first year of motherhood.
Miranda with husband James Colley and daughter Grace. Miranda wears Oroton “Bow Detail” dress, $549, and Alinka “Cloud” diamond earring, $2900 (throughout). James wears Venroy shirt, $140, and shorts, $160. Grace wears Country Road bodysuit, $35. Basket by Annabel Trends, $70.Credit: Corrie Bond
It’s a festive suggestion that would put most people’s tinsel in a twist,
but if Miranda Tapsell had her way, Christmas would be a year-round event. “It’s just a very magical time.
It’s not the presents; it’s the food, the communal celebration,” she says, pleading her case. “I really think we should be living that way all the time; popping into people’s houses with a bit of food and sitting around the table and sharing stories. It’s a shame we only sort of reserve it for December.”
There’s no doubt Tapsell makes a compelling argument. But there are other significant reasons why Christmas is a particularly special time for the 35-year-old actor. Not only did Tapsell and her husband, comedy writer James Colley, marry in December 2018, but their first child, Grace Birri-Pa Purnarrika, was born just weeks before Christmas last year. A scroll back through Tapsell’s Instagram reveals the birth announcement was in true yuletide spirit, featuring newborn Grace wearing a onesie adorned with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
A year on, Grace proved she has inherited her mother’s infectious energy and megawatt smile (albeit with fewer teeth) at the Sunday Life photo shoot. “They were saying, ‘She’s your daughter, because she really turned it on for the camera’,” says Tapsell with her signature giggle. “But when the shoot wrapped – she just lost it!”
“I really think we should be living that way all the time; popping into people’s houses with a bit of food and sitting around the table and sharing stories. It’s a shame we only sort of reserve it for December.”
Tapsell first endeared herself to audiences in her breakthrough role
in the 2012 feature film The Sapphires. She followed this up with a lead part in the Channel 9 drama Love Child, for which she received two Logies in 2015: Most Popular New Talent and the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer. In 2019 she co-wrote and starred in the hit film
Top End Wedding.
But peppered throughout this body of work are roles with a distinct festive theme. She voiced a main character in the animated film, The Wishmas Tree, alongside Ross Noble in 2019, and played Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre in 2014. From 2017 to 2019, she starred in her friend Nakkiah Lui’s play, Black Is the New White, at the Sydney Theatre Company, playing an Indigenous lawyer who brings her non-Indigenous, unemployed fiancé home to meet her family at Christmas.
Today Tapsell is chatting with Sunday Life about the release of her most recent bauble-decorated project, the Stan original film Christmas Ransom (Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead). There’s clearly something about the silly season that makes it the perfect setting for storytelling, but what is it, exactly?
“Christmas is such a special time,” says Tapsell. “It really does make people think about the person that they want to be and the relationships that they want to have with people. That’s the genesis of a lot of stories and to set it at Christmas can really elevate that story.”
Common Hours “The Trench” dress, $2900. Country Road “Sola” decoration, $15. Credit: Corrie Bond
Christmas Ransom taps right into the heart-warming, family-friendly genre. The film is set in an old-fashioned toy store, Harrington and Sons, on Christmas Eve. When the owner (Matt Okine) is held for ransom by a pair of clueless criminals, his only hope of being saved comes in the form of a couple of shoplifting kids and a heavily pregnant security officer, Gladys (Tapsell).
Tapsell filmed the role only months after having Grace and says being recently pregnant helped her get into character. “It was good because I wasn’t having to guess a lot of stuff as I have in the past … because I’ve been a pregnant character many times,” she says, laughing.
But the role of Gladys, who operates in her toy-shop security job like she’s
a high-level CIA operative, is a very different one for Tapsell. “I was actually really touched that Adele Vuko, a wonderful director, believed I could access that kind of character,” she says. “In the past, I’ve played a lot of effervescent, open kind of characters. But this one is a lot more closed off. She hates Christmas and she hates children, which is kind of the comedy. Everyone’s going to ask, ‘Why is she even working at a toy store?’ So it was really, really fun to play.”
Miranda plays Gladys, the toy-shop security guard, in A Christmas Ransom.Credit: Stan
What makes the film most appealing for Tapsell is how it is uniquely Australian. As a proud Larrakia Tiwi woman from Darwin who grew up in Kakadu National Park, watching northern hemisphere representations of Christmas left her confused as a kid. “I remember asking Mum where the snow was outside. Mum had to explain to me on a globe essentially where the North Pole was and where we were, and just how the snow doesn’t travel that far,” she recalls. “So for us to show our humour, and how Australia does Christmas, is really lovely.”
“Mum had to explain to me on a globe essentially where the North Pole was and where we were, and just how the snow doesn’t travel that far.”
But Tapsell admits she and her husband love indulging in the classic Christmas films at this time of year, too. “James and I always kick off our Christmas viewing in December and it’s all the Home Alone films,” she says. “But the other one we absolutely have to watch on Christmas Eve is The Muppet Christmas Carol. I can’t wait to show Grace that when she’s a little bit bigger.”
Miranda wears Oroton sundress, $549. Grace wears Country Road dress, $70. Credit: Corrie Bond
And when it comes to the annual debate over whether or not Die Hard actually counts as a Christmas film, Tapsell stands firm. “We don’t miss out on Die Hard. And we definitely believe that’s a Christmas film.”
While this year is Tapsell’s second Christmas with baby Grace in tow, she admits her first one was a bit of a blur with a weeks-old baby. “It was pretty jam packed as everyone was very keen to see her,” she recalls.
“But this one is particularly special. She’s much bigger now. We’re starting to see her personality come through a lot more and we’re seeing her little curiosity grow and she’s crawling, and interacting with toys. It’s going to be
a very special Christmas and I can’t wait to introduce her to Santa.”
So what does Tapsell (correction: Santa) intend to give her one-year-old? “I keep scrolling my phone for toys, and my parents and my husband just keep telling me to calm down because at the moment she’s happy with a cardboard box! But given the number of people who came around for her first birthday, I imagine she’ll be showered in gifts. She’s a very cherished little girl.”
“I’m very honoured to be Grace’s mother. But to continue working and to continue creating is something that really fulfils me, so I still want and need that part of my life as well.”
When it comes to what Tapsell herself is hoping to find under the tree, the answer is an unsurprising one coming from a sleep-deprived new mother. “I want to treat myself to one of those LED face masks … and a new mattress,” she says, adding, “Can you tell I’m in my 30s?”
Miranda wears Aje “Piacere” dress, $575. Grace wears Sportscraft bodysuit. Credit: Corrie Bond
Tapsell says the day itself will be spent with family and indulging in a multicultural mix of foods. “My husband is such a good cook; he will make his fabulous potato salad. And my mum will probably cook or barbecue the wild goose the family have brought down from the Northern Territory. My dad’s brother will cook some paella because he’s a very well-travelled man and speaks fluent Spanish. I’ve got an aunty who’s Japanese, so she’ll have lots of lovely food as well.”
Once Christmas is done, Tapsell will be gearing up for a busy 2023. She is voicing the part of Wanda, “an extremely capable and always busy” sugar glider in the second season of Kangaroo Beach launching in January on ABC TV. She’s also delighted to be returning to voice Little J in Little J and Big Cuz for its fourth season on SBS. Plus she has a role in the Disney+ Australian original series, The Artful Dodger.
“I’m an ambitious hustler and, more often than not, I bite off more than I can chew,” she says, referring to her huge workload. “Grace has really taught me to be kind to myself and also to stop and smell the roses. Being a mum is great in that respect. But I’ll always be busy, even though my family will shake their heads and go, ‘What are you doing? Slow down!’ But I’ve always managed to make it work and I’ve got mouths to feed now!
“I made a sort of a pact with myself when I was pregnant that I always wanted to keep a part of my old life in some way. I love being a mum, I’m very honoured to be Grace’s mother. But to continue working and to continue creating is something that really fulfils me, so I still want and need that part of my life as well.” As Christmas wishes go, this one looks sure to come true.
Christmas Ransom is available to stream on Stan.
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