Naarah

Naarah is a Gija woman from the Kimberly who grew up in lutruwita/Tasmania. Naarah is an actor, performer, singer and creative who recently won 2024 Young Australian of the Year in Tasmania.

In 2023 Naarah was successful in her application for a Roberta Sykes Scholarship and Disney Theatrical Scholarship and is now studying a Master of Musical Theatre at the esteemed Royal Academy of Music in London as the first Aboriginal person at the institution.

Naarah uses Instagram and TikTok to spark important conversations about First Nations identity, culture, and representation. She is passionate about changing the entertainment industry and increasing representation in the creative industries, particularly First Nations. She has actively sought to elevate Indigenous representation in the arts by creating opportunities for Indigenous artists and sharing Indigenous stories. Naarah has acted as a mentor for aspiring artists, volunteering to support them in her free time.

Naarah won the 2023 Creative Australia Dreaming Award for the development of her musical theatre project “Broadway but Blak” – a cabaret concert that takes the audience through a journey of musical theatre from a First Nations’ perspective.

Naarah’s future goals are to achieve an outstanding career in screen and theatre, create new works and produce work for young artists, amplify First Nations stories on stages, release an album and be a face for young mob around the country to look up to. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories, community, songs, theatre and music is at the heart of what Naarah does and why she does it. ‘You can’t be it if you can’t see it’ has always driven her to push and work for change within her industry and she is only just getting started.