SeaChange: profiles


Cassandra Magrath as Miranda Gibson

Miranda Gibson

At 16, Miranda Gibson's life was already precarious — and then everything fell apart. She was coping with her own existential crisis when her father got his surprise comeuppance, her mother dropped her bundle and they moved from her home town to some backwater. She has wisdom beyond her years and is sensitive and highly aware of others' feelings. At school she achieves good grades but just doesn't fit in. The trivial things that excite her classmates do not excite her. Miranda enjoys her own company although deep down she is searching for something to give her direction.

Cassandra Magrath is currently studying year 11. She aims to finish VCE, live in Nimbin and travel around Australia and the world — but she certainly wants to continue acting. Cassandra comes from a long line of performers and dancers. She began acting at 11, but had the desire long before. She recalls in grade four being asked by her teacher what she wanted to do when she grew up. She also remembers being laughed at by the teacher and students when she responded that her dream was to be an actress. It was only a short time later that Cassandra encouraged her mother to register her with an acting agency. She was successful in her first television audition and played the role of Zoe in the children's program Ocean Girl. She has had constant work since. Ocean Girl 2 followed, then a part in the feature film Hotel De Love with Aiden Young. Cassandra played Charlene, Wayne's sister, in the award-winning children's series, The Wayne Manifesto.

"Miranda is similar in some ways to me and quite different in others, which makes her all the more interesting to portray. But we both strive to find answers." - Cassandra Magrath.