Revered stage and film actor Camilla Ah Kin, best known for The Habibs arrive, returning homeAND Holding man died, aged 58.
She died in Sydney on Friday night after a long battle with the disease.
Ah Kin has been an artist for more than 30 years, having graduated from the WA Academy of Performing Arts in 1990.
Her television roles included matriarch Mariam in the comedy Nine The Habibs arrive in 2016-17, a role he initially turned down sight unseen.
She said TV tonight, “I kind of said ‘No, probably not.’ But then I asked about scripts, which is always my first port of call. So I read the first 2 episodes, and Jungle was also a co-producer that I was a huge fan of The Moodys.
“I’ve never read roles that require a Lebanese background like this, ever. I’ve rejected my fair share of stories I feel I’ve already told, with Middle Eastern origins starting to get repetitive.
She was also one of the regular passengers on the trains of the revolutionary SBS series Go home in 2000, written, shot, edited and aired in a single day in 130 episodes.
His other credits included Halifax FP, BLue Heelers, Murder Call, All Saints, Stupid Stupid Man, Rake, Dictor Doctor, Fighting Season, Wakefield AND Holding man.
She has performed with Bell Shakespeare, The Stables, Sydney Theater Company, Belvoir, Melbourne Theater Company, WA Theater Company (Black Swan), Ensemble Theater and Griffin. An activist in the industry for 30 years, earlier this year she was awarded a MEAA Gold Honor Badge.
“Throughout her career in the performing arts, she has been a director, teacher, mentor, panelist, policy innovator, and a highly accomplished actor much admired by her peers,” MEAA said in a social media post.
“Camilla has served variously as a member of the NSW branch committee, a long-term equity delegate to the Federal Council and a member of the NPC, on staff as a NSW equity organizer for several years and most recently a member of our board. With kindness and tough love, she held her family accountable to her #MEAAequity. RIP.”
“When I graduated I was told ‘You’re going to do ethnic roles.’ I don’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing, but it meant you became a specialist,” he said TV tonight.
“Whole series have passed me by because of my ethnicity.
“Or I should wait for the refugee stories, but that means they end up being the broken ones, the sad ones, because that’s where we are with that story.
“But the Habib it was warm and funny and with enough politics to keep my interest…. and it was in a commercial arena.
“So it’s a wonderful contrast.”
