Years ahead of film sets and festival circuits, sisters Annabel and Phoebe Wolfe staged elaborate productions for an audience of, well, anyone. Phoebe would direct, while Annabel reluctantly served as resident ‘lamp holder’ for her older sibling’s creative endeavours, with extended family and friends (willing or otherwise) enlisted to round out the cast.
It wasn’t until 2023 that Phoebe would finally unburden Annabel of crew duties and permit her little sister the starring role, in the short film The Overthrow. Their collaborative dynamic would eventually see these shared childhood pursuits shape the nature of their adult careers, and become a blueprint for the way they still work.
These days, Annabel is one of Australia’s most exciting young actors, with a spate of impressive credits including Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical, the long-running series Doctor Doctor, crime drama Black Snow and the soon-to-be-released feature Seven Snipers, opposite Ioan Gruffudd and Tim Roth. Rising filmmaker Phoebe is deep in production for Purity, her debut feature with Annabel in the lead role of Marianne. Painting a tender, youthful portrait of two sisters in a conservative coastal town, Purity navigates themes of freedom, familial tethers, mental health and morality, explored through the complex lens of girlhood.
It’s this notion of becoming — curiosity sharpened by lived experience, a rebellion that emerges through a delicate unfurling of one’s identity — that makes Annabel the perfect model for Chanel’s iconic Coco Mademoiselle eau de parfum. The scent’s bright, modern florals are grounded in a sensual, confident base, mirroring Annabel’s own evolution from adolescent co-conspirator to fully fledged artist and friend of the high-fashion house, not to mention the sisters’ growth as collaborators.
In this intimate conversation, Annabel reflects with her sister on their shared creative evolution, both on and off the screen.
PHOEBE WOLFE: What’s your earliest memory of making movies together?
ANNABEL WOLFE: Honestly, it wasn’t just movies — we were doing music videos, dance routines, photoshoots. But I do remember you always casting our cousin Millie instead of me, which I took very personally. I was stuck holding the light, thinking, Why can’t I be part of the vision? In hindsight, it kind of pushed me towards producing.
PW: Justice for the lamp girl.
AW: Justice served. Eventually.
PW: I think the turning point was when you got cast in Strictly Ballroom. I remember thinking, Okay, maybe she’s got something.
AW: That was huge for me, and when you said, “If you can work with Baz, then you can work with me,” I knew I’d finally made the lead.
PW: Cut to a decade later, and we’re making The Overthrow. How did that compare?
AW: We still roped in our friends, but this time I understood what producing was. It was the same energy we had as kids, just … upgraded.
PW: And by then you’d done Doctor Doctor, worked with Claudia Karvan …
AW: Yeah, that was when I was 16. I played Ivy — a really layered character with this tough exterior but a lot going on underneath. Claudia was acting and producing, and seeing her juggle both was a big ‘penny drop’ moment for me. It made me realise I could build a career that mixed acting with producing. That experience definitely planted the seed that led me to study media arts and production, specialising in producing.
PW: You’ve always gravitated toward layered female characters.
AW: Totally. Early on, I’d get auditions for ‘hot girl’ roles that were flat and two-dimensional. Playing Cleo in The Overthrow was the opposite — morally messy, idealistic, flawed. That complexity excites me.
PW: Which is what we have carried into Purity.
AW: Yeah. My character, Marianne, and Sloane [played by Nathalie Morris] are sisters navigating an intense moral grey zone. It’s fiction, but because it’s your writing, it feels deeply personal.
PW: Do you think acting helps you process life?
AW: Absolutely. I’ve always been emotional, and acting lets me use that. On Seven Snipers, my character had huge emotional stakes. Being able to channel those feelings in a safe space is cathartic.
PW: That film was also physically gruelling — extreme weather, weapons training.
AW: Yeah, and leading an indie feature means you’re on set almost every day. The prep work — grounding myself before each scene — is what got me through.
PW: You’re an instinctual actor, not a method, but you do draw from lived experience.
AW: Exactly. An acting coach once told me, “Check in with how you’re feeling today, then bring that into the scene.” It keeps things truthful.
PW: So, what’s next?
AW: Purity is the big one. We’ve got Screen Australia funding, you’re finishing the script, and we’re in pre-production. The dream is to keep making films together — ones I act in, ones I produce, always telling stories we care about. And hopefully, I’ve proved myself enough that you’ll keep casting me.
PW: We’ll see.
AW: Rude!
CREDITS
Talent: Annabel Wolfe
Editor: Jessica Bailey
Fashion Editor: Jordan Boorman
Videographer: Jordan Simpson
Writer: Kate Lancaster
Makeup: Victoria Baron
Hair: Darren Summors
Manicure: Tulin Coban
Fashion Assistant: Benji Luis
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