Kiruna Stamell (born 13 March 1981) is an Australian-British actress. After appearing in various series and films including Moulin Rouge! (2001), All the Small Things (2009) and Cast Offs (2009), she presented the Australian children's educational series Play School from 2018 to 2020. Since 2023, she has portrayed the role of Kirsty Millar on the British soap opera Doctors.
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.[2][3] She has dwarfism caused by the rare genetic condition Acromesomelic dysplasia, resulting in a height of 1.06 metres (3 ft 6 in); 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.[2][4][1] 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.[3]
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.[5] They were married in 2012.[3] 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.[6]
Stamell is involved in the disability arts movement and was an original co-founder of Atypical Theatre Company in Australia.[7] She was also the co-director of A Little Commitment Ltd, a production company run in conjunction with husband Berliner.[3] Stamell remains based in England and is a British citizen.[3][8]
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.[8] 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).[2][5][9] 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.[10]
In 2005, Stamell returned to England after receiving funding from the Australia Council for a three-month secondment with the Graeae Theatre Company.[11] While there, Stamell obtained a number of professional stage roles in the UK, performing with the Quarantine Theatre Company and Graeae Theatre Company and she 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.[8] 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."[12] Stamell also toured extensively throughout Europe with Campo, formerly known as Victoria, with their production of For All The Wrong Reasons.
