Val Lehman

Val Lehman began her acting career with a brief stint at the National Theatre Drama School, and then wrote, directed and performed a revue whilst studying towards an Arts Degree at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Put her acting ambitions on hold after her marriage to raise three children though during this period worked extensively with amateur acting groups in various parts of Australia, in Singapore and in England, UK. Turned professional, working initially as an extra in television productions, and spent five years touring with the Children's Arena Theatre, playing in 'Dimboola' and several other productions. Next won several small featured roles in television series such as rural serial Bellbird (1967) and Tandarra (1976), in TV-movie Outbreak of Love (1981), and mini-series Power Without Glory (1976). In 1978 Val Lehman scored the plumb role of tough "inmate boss" Bea Smith in a new sixteen part women's prison television serial called Prisoner (1979). The series becam