Penny's CareerPenny established herself as a very successful actress on both stage and television in her native Australia before coming to England to, in her own words, “throw up all my cards in the air” and effectively begin her career again from scratch. It was the experience of watching Derek Jacobi in Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company that led her to realise that language was what really motivated her to want to act, and to act in plays by dramatists who really knew how to use words. Her career in England was kick-started by playing Shakespeare and she made an immediate impact as Lady Anne, the hapless character seduced by the titanium-crutch-wielding Richard III created by Antony Sher for the RSC. She has gone on to act many Shakespeare parts but has also appeared in modern drama including lots of television and radio. |  | |