Incognita

Incognita Shop - About the Designer - Sally McLean

Actor, screenwriter, director and producer, Sally began her work in the entertainment industry as an actor in her mid-teens and has since performed leading roles in Australian and British film, theatre and television.

In addition to her own acting work, she recently produced the Melbourne and regional seasons of her play Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) as writer/director, starring Bridget Neval and Jennifer Hansen and is currently producing two independent feature films - Water Deep (working title) and Dalny (working title).

And, in her spare time (LOL), she also works as a web & graphic designer for a variety of entertainment industry clients such as Australian actor Alan Fletcher, Australian Director/Acting Coach Richard Sarrel and UK comic/actor, Alistair Barrie. She also volunteers as designer for the Heritage-listed Mt Martha House and GWS Sports Medicine First Aid.

SALLY THE ACTOR

As an actor, Sally has tended the sick in Flying Doctors, modelled on Bingles, sung and thrown up for The D-Generation, solicited for customers on Totally Full Frontal, been Kylie's schoolyard mate and Guy Pearce's model student in Neighbours, been very annoyed with Nick Giannopoulous on Acropolis Now!, had a knight in shining armour, a priest and water dumped over her in the name of the A-Z Homeguide series of commercials, sold cars for Nissan, sold beds for Sleepy Sam's, pretended she knew about engines for Repco Autos, demonstrated and was arrested on Blue Heelers and eventually got into bed with Steve Vizard on Tonight Live - after which, she left the country.

She then studied at The Actor's Institute, London, completing her Degree in Dramatic Art, and beginning her MA in Drama & Education, before going on to play roles in UK theatre, television and film, including the lead roles (written specially for her) in the London premier of Annabel's Requiem, and the films A Little Rain Must Fall (selected for the Cannes Film Festival and invited to screen at the Venice Film Festival) and Just Move Your Lips, as well as being the voice for the relaunch of UKGold TV.

She also snogged a stranger in a phone box in the middle of Piccadilly Circus for The Bookworm and mourned at a grave for Poetry Nation, amongst other roles for BBC television. A highlight was playing a decidedly male "King Duncan" in the all-female Macbeth, described as "... an utterly convincing performance as the old Scottish King, belying the fact that McLean is not only young and a woman, but also Australian." - Time Out.

Upon her return to Australia, she interviewed cops on Blue Heelers, played a primary school teacher with a social conscience in the film Joining The Dots, been everybody's favourite girl-next-door in the award-winning play Lovepuke and sung and danced her way across the stage with Julia Morris in the Australian premier of the Broadway comedy review I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne. On screen, she was most recently seen on US Television in the role of 'Angie Powers' in the BBC mini-series Bootleg.

SALLY THE PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR

When not on stage or screen, Sally has worked as a Casting Assistant with Prototype Casting and a Theatrical Agency Assistant with Barry Michael Artists in Melbourne, as well as three years in production with the BBC in London. Since her return to Australia, she has worked in production for Channel 9, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Endemol Southern Star and Grundy Television.

In the late 1990's, she created her own feature film production outfit, Salmac Productions, under the patronage of respected British actor, Sir Nigel Hawthorne, known internationally for his roles as "Sir Humphrey Appleby" in Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and his Oscar nominated performance in the title role of The Madness Of King George. She now additionally runs Incognita Enterprises - a business dedicated to Arts Education and professional theatre production.

Sally has written and produced three film projects, one in the UK (A Little Rain Must Fall - selected to screen at the Cannes Film Festival) and two in Melbourne (which she also directed) (fixNATION - screened on Foxtel and Brigit & Benny (a modern faerietale) - 2005 Cannes Film Festival entrant). She has also written and directed the plays Chasing Pegasus (a play in ten chords) and P.S. I Love You, both of which were successfully staged in Melbourne, as well as her current work-in-progress Bayonets and Bully Beef, excerpts from which were performed under her direction at the Victorian Arts Centre in July 2005.

She is currently working on a new Australian sitcom and docu/drama for broadcast.

SALLY THE WEB & GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Sally is also a web and graphic designer under the name Incognita Design (formally Salmac Multimedia). She finds this pursuit relaxing and a creative venture that gives immediate gratification - that of seeing her work online, being shared with the world, whenever the fancy takes her! Her online shop, Incognita Enterprises' Online Store, came out of this interest and one of her biggest ambitions in this area is to be simply walking down the street and seeing someone passing by wearing one of her t-shirts. (Although, if someone would like to wear one of her t-shirts on national television or in a film, she'd be happy with that too!).

Photo: Copyright © John Warren 2007 @ Warren Photography