Kiruna Stamell (born 13 March 1981) is an Australian-British actress. After appearing in various series and films including Moulin Rouge! (2001), All the Small Things (2009) and Cast Offs (2009), she presented the Australian children's educational series Play School from 2018 to 2020. She also portrayed the role of Kirsty Millar on the British soap opera Doctors between 2023 and 2024.

Early and personal life Stamell was born in Sydney as the eldest of three children to George and Kerry, both teachers who became information technology professionals. She was named after the Swedish city of Kiruna, where her parents had travelled to see the Northern Lights. She has dwarfism caused by the rare genetic condition Acromesomelic dysplasia, resulting in a height of ; her younger identical twin sisters also have dwarfism due to the same condition. She first learnt to dance at the age of three, when she learned ballet, contemporary dance and tap. Stamell said it took her until the age of eight to find a teacher who treated her properly as a dancer, rather than as someone with dwarfism. At the age of 14, she won the South Pacific Silver Star Tap Dancing Championships, and in 2000, she tap danced at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics.

Whilst growing up, Stamell believed that she could not have a normal relationship due to her dwarfism. She told off the first boy to try to kiss her as she thought there was a rule that he could not date her; she believed he would be teased. Stamell began a relationship with stand-up comedian Gareth Berliner after meeting him at a comedy club. They were married in 2012. In 2014, Stamell won a disability discrimination case against the post office on the grounds that its chip and pin machines were too difficult to reach for people with dwarfism and people in wheelchairs.

Stamell is involved in the disability arts movement and was an original co-founder of Atypical Theatre Company in Australia. She was also the co-director of A Little Commitment Ltd, a production company run in conjunction with husband Berliner. Stamell remains based in England and is a British citizen.

Career While studying dance, theatre and film at the University of New South Wales, Stamell developed a passion for theatre and acting. She acted in a number of short plays at the university. In the summer holiday of her first year, she got her first major role when she submitted herself for extra work in the film Moulin Rouge!. Her initial casting as an extra led to the part of La Petite Princess being created especially for her. She then auditioned for Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), but was rejected because the institution felt there were not enough roles for people with short stature. As a consequence, she then went to England to study Shakespearean and Jacobean plays during a summer course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Following this, she performed with some of Australia's leading theatre companies, including her role as King Duncan in Macbeth for the Sydney Theatre Company and Cordelia in King Lear for Round Earth. She also appeared in the Australian short film Love Hurts as Cupid. She graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2003.

In 2005, Stamell returned to England after receiving funding from the Australia Council for a three-month secondment with the Graeae Theatre Company. While there, she obtained a number of professional stage roles in the UK, performing with the Quarantine Theatre Company and Graeae Theatre Company, and renewed her interest in dance with a secondment to CandoCo. She was generally well reviewed for her work in Graeae Theatre Company's production of Whiter Than Snow playing a young actress who wanted to break with stereotype and play the role of Snow White. Although otherwise filing a mixed review, Lyn Gardner of The Guardian wrote: "...the show raises interesting questions about humans' constant attempts to improve on nature, and as the diminutive heroine, Frieda, who longs to be Snow White but is always cast as a dwarf, Kiruna Stamell is outstanding."Lyn Gardner "Whiter Than Snow" , The Guardian, 28 March 2007 Stamell also toured extensively throughout Europe with Campo, formerly known as Victoria, with their production of For All The Wrong Reasons.

In the late 2000s, Stamell was a frequent guest presenter on the BBC's Ouch! podcast. Stamell debuted on British television in 2009 when she appeared as Phoebe Tunstall in the six-part BBC drama series All the Small Things, and has made appearances on EastEnders as Sandra Fielding, starred in Cast Offs for Channel 4, and in 2011 as Amy in Life's Too Short for BBC 2. In 2012, she auditioned for the Sky 1 series Got to Dance. She was unanimously voted through the first round, but got no further. In 2013, she appeared in Giuseppe Tornatore's film, The Best Offer, and a year later, starred in a production of Great Britain for the National Theatre.

In 2022, she starred in the Starz series The Serpent Queen. In January 2023, Stamell began appearing as receptionist Kirsty Millar in the BBC soap opera Doctors. Alongside co-stars Richard Atwill and Isaac Benn, Stamell was nominated for the Best Family accolade at the 2023 British Soap Awards.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 2001 Moulin Rouge! La Petite Princess Film 2005 Love Hurts Cupid Short film 2013 The Best Offer Girl in the Bar Feature film 2019 Judy & Punch Mavis Feature film

Television Year Title Role Notes 2001 Life Support PA 1 episode 2008–2009 EastEnders Sandra Fielding Guest role2009 All The Small Things Phoebe Main role Cast Offs Carrie Main role 2011, 2013 Life's Too Short Amy Recurring role 2014 Holby City Leonie Somers Episode: "Estel" 2015 Father Brown Enid Flay Episode: "The Invisible Man" 2018–2020 Play School Herself Presenter 2019–2020 The New Pope Abbess of the Monastery of Saint Therese Recurring role 2020 Wuthering Heights Isabella Linton Guest role 2021 Brassic June 1 episode 2022 The Serpent Queen Mathilde Main role 2023 Best Interests Jane 1 episode 2023–2024 Doctors Kirsty Millar Regular role 2025 Doctor Who Nina Maxwell Episode: "The Interstellar Song Contest"

Stage Year Title Role Venue 2002 Macbeth King Duncan Sydney Theatre Company 2003 Preserving the Apple Rai Drill Hall, London 2005 Grace Devisor / Performer Quarantine 2006 The Maids Claire Atypical Theatre Company 2007 King Lear Cordelia Round Earth Theatre Company 2007, 2009 Whiter Than Snow Frieda Tour 2008 For All the Wrong Reasons Femme FatalContact Theatre, Manchester 2009 The Ugly Spirit 2010 A Midsummer Night's Dream Starveling Octagon Theatre, Bolton2011 Peeling Beaty Forest Forge The Lost Happy Endings Sparrow / Witch Midlands Arts Centre / Red Earth2014 Parrot and Pirate Cutlass Kate A Little Commitment / Red Earth Great Britain Wendy Klinkard Lyttelton Theatre, West End2015 An Oak Tree FatherNational Theatre Everyman Discrection2016 The Government Inspector Anna Birmingham Repertory Theatre Sleeping Beauty Good Fairy Hackney Empire2018 Jane Eyre Bessie Lee / Teacher / Maria TempleOctagon Theatre, Bolton Hamlet Guildenstern 2019 Them! Host National Theatre of Scotland 2020 Cyrano de Bergerac Marie-Louise ATG / Playhouse Theatre, London 2022 The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs Fi Soho Theatre, London

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