Penny McNamee is an Australian actress.

Theatre

Best known for her portrayal of Nessarose in the original Australian cast of Wicked

Wicked (musical)

Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...

 for which she won the 2009 Green Room Award

Green Room Awards

The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....

 for Best Female in a Featured Role. The show opened on 12 July 2008, in Melbourne where it ran for 13 months, closing on 9 August 2009. It then transferred to Sydney from 12 September 2009. She originally starred opposite Anthony Callea

Anthony Callea

Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in the 2004 season of Australian Idol when he became runner up. He was signed to Sony Music Australia until 2009 and is now an independent artist...

 runner up of Australian Idol 2004. McNamee played her final performance at the Regent Theatre on 13 March 2010.

McNamee originated the role of Jennifer Gabriel in Cameron Mackintosh's

Cameron Mackintosh

Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...

 production of The Witches of Eastwick

The Witches of Eastwick (musical)

The Witches of Eastwick is a 2000 musical based on the novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe , directed by Eric Schaeffer, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh....

.The show opened at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne on 15 July 2002. McNamee played opposite So You Think You Can Dance

So You Think You Can Dance Australia

So You Think You Can Dance Australia was an Australian version of the American reality dance-off series So You Think You Can Dance. The show is hosted by Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with Jason Coleman, Matt Lee and Bonnie Lythgoe acting as the judges....

 judge Matt Lee - who played the role of Michael Spofford. McNamee was nominated for a Mo Award

Mo Awards

The Mo Awards are long running annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia....

 for Best New Talent.

McNamee portrayed the role of Donna in the Australian Premier of Hurlyburly

Hurlyburly

Hurlyburly is a dark comedy play by David Rabe, first staged in 1984.-Plot:More than three hours long, Hurlyburly focuses on the intersecting lives of several low- to mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by massive amounts of drugs, they attempt to find some meaning in their isolated,...

 for the Griffin Theatre Company

Griffin Theatre Company

Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia...

, Sydney. The show opened in May 2005. McNamee starred alongside Alex Dimitriades

Alex Dimitriades

Alex Dimitriades is a Greek Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Dimitriades was born in Sydney, the son of first generation Greek immigrants and is the youngest of three siblings . He grew up in the suburb of Earlwood...

.

McNamee has performed in Carols in the Domain

Carols in the Domain

Carols in the Domain is an annual Christmas concert free event held in the Domain Gardens, Sydney, Australia. It began in 1982. It is broadcast around Australia on the Seven Network and simulcast on 101.7 WSFM....

 for Channel 7, Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight

Carols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition that originated in southeastern Australia in the 19th century and was popularised in Melbourne in the 1930s. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by...

 for Channel 9 and on Good Morning Australia.

Film

McNamee has recently completed filming on John Duigan's

John Duigan

John Duigan, is an Australian film director.Duigan emigrated to Australia in 1961, having been born to an Australian father...

 Australian feature film Careless Love where she played the lead role of Carol. The film is currently in post production and due for release in 2012.

In 2006, McNamee starred as Melissa in the Lionsgate US feature film See No Evil

See No Evil (film)

See No Evil is a 2006 horror film directed by Gregory Dark, written by Dan Madigan, produced by Joel Simon, and starring professional wrestler Kane. It is the first major film produced by WWE Films and was released by Lions Gate Entertainment on May 19, 2006.The film went through many different...

 alongside Rachel Taylor.

McNamee was cast in Nash Edgerton's award-winning short film Fuel, which was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

Television

in 2010, McNamee played the role of Hope in Tom Hanks'

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 and Steven Speilberg's HBO miniseries The Pacific. McNamee and Isabel Lucas

Isabel Lucas

Isabel Lucas is an Australian actress and model perhaps best known for her role as Tasha Andrews on the Australian television soap opera Home and Away...

 play best friends who fell in love with American soldiers during World War 2.

McNamee was cast in the supporting lead role of Ruth Crockett in the Warner Brothers miniseries Salem's Lot. McNamee starred opposite Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe

Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...

 and the series was aired on TNT in the USA.

In 2005, McNamee landed a regular role in the Channel 7 series Headland. McNamee played the role of Charlie Cooper.

McNamee won the role of Alice Blakely in the MTV commissioned pilot Hammer Bay. Jacki Weaver

Jacki Weaver

Jacqueline Ruth "Jacki" Weaver is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. She is best known outside Australia for her performance in Animal Kingdom, for which she was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Career:Jacki Weaver has been working in Australian...

 played McNamee's mother in the series.

McNamee has played various guest roles in Australian TV series including All Saints

All Saints (TV series)

All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009...

, White Collar Blue

White Collar Blue

White Collar Blue was an Australian television series made by Knapman Wyld Television for Network Ten from 2002 to 2003.Starring Peter O'Brien as Joe Hill and Freya Stafford as Harriet Walker, the series dealt with a division of the police force working in the city of Sydney and the personal and...

, Satisfaction

Satisfaction (TV series)

Satisfaction is an Australian television drama series which screened on the subscription television channel Showcase. It also screens in the Republic of Ireland on free-to-air channel TV3 and its sister channel 3e and in New Zealand on free-to-air channel TV2 respectively.The series was filmed in...

 and The Harringtons.

McNamee was asked to play opposite award-winning singer/songwriter Ben Lee

Ben Lee

Benjamin Michael "Ben" Lee is an ARIA Award winning musician and actor. Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, but focused on his solo career when the band broke up in 1995. He appeared as the protagonist in the Australian film The Rage in Placid Lake...

 in the video clip for his hit song Gamble Everything For Love

Gamble Everything For Love

"Gamble Everything for Love" is a pop song and also an EP by the Australian singer Ben Lee. It was released on 13 December 2004 by Ten Fingers...

. Lee went on to won Best Male Artist at the ARIA Awards that year based on this album.