Yael Stone is an Australian actress. She has worked extensively in Australian theatre and has won two Sydney Theatre Awards. On screen, she is best known for her portrayal of Lorna Morello in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. Stone is also known for her support of abortion rights and climate protection, and has vocally advocated for women's issues.
Yael Stone | |
|---|---|
 Stone at PaleyFest 2014, representing Orange Is the New Black | |
| Born | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Education | National Institute of Dramatic Art (BFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Jack Manning Bancroft (2017–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Elana Stone (sister) |
Early life and education
editYael Stone was born and raised in Sydney, New South Wales, the daughter of Judy, a nurse, and Harry Stone, an architect.[1] Her father was born in Czechoslovakia, to Holocaust survivor parents.[2] Stone's father is from a Jewish family and her mother, who is of Romanian descent, converted to Judaism.[3][4] Her brother, Jake Stone, was the lead singer of the band Bluejuice. Her sister, Elana Stone, is also a musician.[5]
She was a sickly child, spending periods in hospital with asthma and pneumonia, so did not participate in sport. She took speech and drama lessons with a local woman, Robin Fraser, who encouraged her to develop her skills in performing and writing.[6]
Stone attended the Newtown High School of the Performing Arts and then the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).[7]
Career
editStone began acting as a child, with roles in the film Me Myself I and the miniseries The Farm.[5]
She then worked primarily in theatre. At the 2008 Sydney Theatre Awards, she won the awards for Best Newcomer and Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Kid.[8] From 2010 to 2011, she appeared in The Diary of a Madman (a theatrical adaptation of the Gogol short story), a role for which she was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Sydney Theatre Awards.[8] In February 2011, she travelled to New York City to perform in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's production of The Diary of a Madman,[8] before returning to lead roles in A Golem Story, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, and As You Like It in Sydney.[5]
She also worked in television, including supporting roles in All Saints and Spirited.[5]
Stone moved to New York permanently in December 2011 and co-founded an experimental theatre company.[5] After four months in New York, she was cast in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, a show set in a women's prison.[7] Stone plays Lorna Morello, a prisoner from Boston; her accent, a mixture of Brooklyn and Boston,[9] was called "the most amazing accent on television" by a journalist for The New Republic,[10] while another reviewer deemed the role to be Stone's "breakout turn".[11] She reprised her role in the show's second season,[12] and was billed as a series regular in the third season.[13]
She appeared in the HBO and web series High Maintenance.[when?][citation needed]
In 2021 Stone played Eleona, a barmaid with a mysterious past, in the AMC+ series Firebite, an Indigenous Australian vampire horror / comedy series created by Warwick Thornton and Brendan Fletcher.[6]
Personal life
editIn 2012, she married Australian actor Dan Spielman and the couple moved to New York.[11] In July 2017, Stone announced that her marriage had ended over a year earlier.[15]
Stone started dating Jack Manning Bancroft, founder of Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience. In November 2017, they announced they were expecting their first child.[16] and their daughter was born in the following year.[17] They had a second child in 2022.[18]
On 16 December 2018, The New York Times published an interview with Stone in which she accused Australian actor Geoffrey Rush of sexual misconduct during the production of The Diary of a Madman in 2010 and 2011, including inappropriate texts and unwanted touching.[19] Rush responded in a statement to the Times through his attorneys.[20][21]
On 7 January 2020, midway through the 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season, Stone announced her intention to give up her US green card and return to live permanently in Australia and become involved in the "climate war".[22]
Filmography
editFilms
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Jailbirds | Lucy | Short film |
| 2017 | The Wilde Wedding | Clementine | Feature film |
| 2022 | Blacklight | Helen Davidson | Feature film |
| Blaze | Hannah | Feature film[23] |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | Spirited | Linda | TV series, 13 episodes |
| 2013–19 | Orange Is the New Black | Lorna Morello | TV series, 56 episodes Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series |
| 2015 | Childhood's End | Peretta Jones | Miniseries |
| 2015–18 | High Maintenance | Beth | TV series, 5 episodes |
| 2016 | Deep Water | Tori Lustigman | Miniseries, 4 episodes |
| 2017 | Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero | General Bighorn (voice) | Animated TV series, 1 episode |
| 2018 | Picnic at Hanging Rock | Dora Lumley | Miniseries, 6 episodes |
| 2021 | Firebite | Eleona | TV series |
| 2023 | Wellmania | Philomena | TV series |
| Bay of Fires | Robin | TV series | |
| One Night | Hat | TV series[24] |
References
edit- ^ McGuire, Michaela (2 May 2015). "The 'kooky' life of Orange Is the New Black's Yael Stone".
- ^ "A Golem Story (interview with Yael Stone)". 18 May 2011.
- ^ McGuire, Michaela (2 May 2015). "The 'kooky' life of Orange Is the New Black's Yael Stone". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ^ 'I'd rather be invisible': Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone speaks about stardom | West Coast Sentinel
- ^ a b c d e Spring, Alexandra (12 December 2011). "Actress Yael Stone bites the acting bullet". Vogue Australia. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ a b Stone, Yael (2 February 2022). "An Interview with Yael Stone from 'Firebite'". Nerds That Geek (Interview). Retrieved 31 August 2024.
- ^ a b Cronin, Seanna (2 November 2013). "Yael Stone takes lead in Orange is the New Black". The Toowoomba Chronicle. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Keenan, Catherine (17 January 2011). "Love's locks lost for brushes with lunacy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ Stone, Jake (8 May 2013). "Yael Stone On Orange Is The New Black, And Trying To Make It In New York". Junkee. Junkee.com. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ^ Bennett, Laura (23 August 2013). "Meet the Australian Actress Who Does the Most Amazing Accent on Television". The New Republic. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Orange is the New Black for Yael Stone". IF Magazine. 15 July 2013.
- ^ Richards, Holly (6 November 2013). "Breakout role for Aussie Yael Stone". The West Australian. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (6 November 2013). "Yael Stone Upped To Regular On 'Orange', Jonathan Adams On 'Last Man Standing'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 16 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
- ^ "Orange is the New Black's Yael Stone Explores Childhood's End". 11 December 2015. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
- ^ Stone, Yael (6 July 2017). "For the record; my marriage ended a year ago. An awkward but necessary clarification. I've got amazing people by my side and ❤️ in my heart". Retrieved 6 July 2017 – via Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ "Actress Yael Stone expecting first baby". Chilli fm. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
- ^ "'Orange Is the New Black' Star Welcomes Baby Girl". Celebrity Moms. 14 June 2018.
- ^ @Yael Stone (9 December 2022). "Firstly, I had a beautiful baby 8 weeks ago and we have a 4 and a half year old". Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022 – via Instagram.
- ^ Weiss, Bari (16 December 2018). "The Cost of Telling a #MeToo Story in Australia". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- ^ Yang, Rachel (17 December 2018). "'OITNB' Actress Yael Stone Accuses Geoffrey Rush of Sexual Harassment". Variety. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
- ^ Convery, Stephanie; Harmon, Steph (19 December 2018). "Yael Stone's allegations about Geoffrey Rush divide the arts industry". Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Convery, Stephanie (7 January 2020). "'This is war': actor' Yael Stone gives up us green card and will now live in Australia to fight climate change". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- ^ Blaze at IMDb
- ^ "Cameras roll on One Night, new local drama for Paramount+". TVTonight.com.au. 20 February 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
External links
edit- Yael Stone at IMDb
- 'An Accent Can Tell A Big Story,' Says 'Orange Is The New Black's' Yael Stone (WBUR audio story, including examples of her accent and her influences)