Kiruna Stamell

Early and personal life

Stamell was born in Sydney as the eldest of three children to George and Kerry, both teachers who became information technology professionals. She was named after the Swedish city of Kiruna, where her parents had travelled to see the Northern Lights. She has dwarfism caused by the rare genetic condition Acromesomelic dysplasia, resulting in a height of 1.06 m; her younger identical twin sisters also have dwarfism due to the same condition. She first learnt to dance at the age of three, when she learned ballet, contemporary dance and tap. Stamell said it took her until the age of eight to find a teacher who treated her properly as a dancer, rather than as someone with dwarfism. At the age of 14, she won the South Pacific Silver Star Tap Dancing Championships, and in 2000, she tap danced at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

Whilst growing up, Stamell believed that she could not have a normal relationship due to her dwarfism. She told off the first boy to try to kiss her as she thought there was a rule that he could not date her; she believed he would be teased. Stamell began a relationship with stand-up comedian Gareth Berliner after meeting him at a comedy club. They were married in 2012. In 2014, Stamell won a disability discrimination case against the post office on the grounds that its chip and pin machines were too difficult to reach for people with dwarfism and people in wheelchairs.

Stamell is involved in the disability arts movement and was an original co-founder of Atypical Theatre Company in Australia. She was also the co-director of A Little Commitment Ltd, a production company run in conjunction with husband Berliner. Stamell remains based in England and is a British citizen.

Career

While studying dance, theatre and film at the University of New South Wales, Stamell developed a passion for theatre and acting. She acted in a number of short plays at the university. In the summer holiday of her first year, she got her first major role when she submitted herself for extra work in the film Moulin Rouge!. Her initial casting as an extra led to the part of La Petite Princess being created especially for her. She then auditioned for Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), but was rejected because the institution felt there were not enough roles for people with short stature. As a consequence, she then went to England to study Shakespearean and Jacobean plays during a summer course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Following this, she performed with some of Australia's leading theatre companies, including her role as King Duncan in Macbeth for the Sydney Theatre Company and Cordelia in King Lear for Round Earth. She also appeared in the Australian short film Love Hurts as Cupid. She graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2003.

In 2005, Stamell returned to England after receiving funding from the Australia Council for a three-month secondment with the Graeae Theatre Company. While there, she obtained a number of professional stage roles in the UK, performing with the Quarantine Theatre Company and Graeae Theatre Company, and renewed her interest in dance with a secondment to CandoCo. She was generally well reviewed for her work in Graeae Theatre Company's production of Whiter Than Snow playing a young actress who wanted to break with stereotype and play the role of Snow White. Although otherwise filing a mixed review, Lyn Gardner of The Guardian wrote: "...the show raises interesting questions about humans' constant attempts to improve on nature, and as the diminutive heroine, Frieda, who longs to be Snow White but is always cast as a dwarf, Kiruna Stamell is outstanding." Stamell also toured extensively throughout Europe with Campo, formerly known as Victoria, with their production of For All The Wrong Reasons.

In the late 2000s, Stamell was a frequent guest presenter on the BBC's Ouch! podcast. Stamell debuted on British television in 2009 when she appeared as Phoebe Tunstall in the six-part BBC drama series All the Small Things, and has made appearances on EastEnders as Sandra Fielding, starred in Cast Offs for Channel 4, and in 2011 as Amy in Life's Too Short for BBC 2. In 2012, she auditioned for the Sky 1 series Got to Dance. She was unanimously voted through the first round, but got no further. In 2013, she appeared in Giuseppe Tornatore's film, The Best Offer, and a year later, starred in a production of Great Britain for the National Theatre.

In 2022, she starred in the Starz series The Serpent Queen. In January 2023, Stamell began appearing as receptionist Kirsty Millar in the BBC soap opera Doctors. Alongside co-stars Richard Atwill and Isaac Benn, Stamell was nominated for the Best Family accolade at the 2023 British Soap Awards.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

References

References

1. Brown, Jenny. (1 January 2019). "Kiruna Stamell: 'Not everyone is kind'". Australian Women's Weekly.
2. (6 October 2017). "All the World's a Stage". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
3. "Patrons". Skeletal Dysplasia Group.
4. "Kiruna Stimell". Spotlight.
5. (9 June 2012). "'I told off the first boy who kissed me'". [[The Guardian]].
6. (13 December 2014). "Post Office settles disability discrimination case". BBC News.
7. (1 August 2005). "Show and Tell: Kiruna Stamell and Emma J Cooper". ABC TV – Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.
8. (20 February 2007). "BBC – Ouch! (disability) – Interviews – The Ouch Assessment: Kiruna Stamell". [[BBC]].
9. "Biography". Kiruna Stamell's official website.
10. "Kiruna Stamell". LinkedIn.
11. "2004–05 Annual Report". Australia Council.
12. Lyn Gardner [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/mar/28/theatre "Whiter Than Snow"] {{Webarchive. link. (3 February 2017 , ''The Guardian'', 28 March 2007)
13. "BBC – Ouch! (disability) – Podcast". [[BBC]].
14. (27 February 2009). "BBC – Press Office – All The Small Things press pack: cast list". [[BBC]] Press Office.
15. (13 December 2014). "EastEnders actress Kiruna Stamell's discrimination case sees Post Office pledge to change 11,000 branches across UK". [[The Independent]].
16. (May 2009). "Ouch Talk Show No. 39 – May 2009 (transcript)". [[BBC]].
17. (11 September 2022). "What the cast of 'The Serpent Queen' looks like in real life". [[Insider Inc..
18. "Doctors spoilers: Meet Kirsty Millar the NEW surgery receptionist!". ([[Future plc]]).
19. (2 May 2023). "British Soap Awards 2023 announces full shortlist and broadcast change". ([[Hearst Communications]]).
20. "Kiruna Stamell". [[Spotlight (company).