Shari Sebbens is an Aboriginal Australian actress and stage director, known for her debut film role in The Sapphires (2012), as well as many stage and television performances.
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Early life and education
Sebbens, one of six children, was born and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Her father is a former long-distance coach driver from Sydney of English descent and her mother, Annarella, an Aboriginal education worker from Broome, Western Australia is of Jabirr Jabirr and Bardi heritage. Sebbens refers to Australian music composer and playwright Jimmy Chi as her uncle, although they are not related by blood. She is the cousin of writer and film director Mitch Torres.
As a child, Sebbens wanted to become a palaeontologist or an astronaut but at the age of thirteen she saw Indigenous actress (and future The Sapphires co-star) Deborah Mailman in the film Radiance (1998) and was inspired to pursue acting.
