Clayton Bester talks with Sarah Furnari from Ten Pound Poms

Sarah Furnari, who stars in BBC & Stan's new original series Ten Pound Poms which just premiered May 14, 2023.

Sarah is luminous as the outspoken and strong willed Maria, an Italian migrant who arrives in Australia in 1956 as part of the Assisted Migrant Passage Scheme. With integral and gripping scenes in the original series, she is a character not to be forgotten! Like the other migrants, when she arrives, what she finds is far from what she has been promised, with the migrant camp falling to pieces. In a time when many women were expected to defer to men, Maria is bold and isn’t afraid to ask for what she wants or stand up for what she believes is fair. She speaks up on behalf of the other Italian families in the camp and finds a friend and ally in Annie Roberts, who shares her struggles with the living conditions at Galgownie.

Sarah has a very interesting parallel with the story through her grandparents' experiences of migration to Australia from Sicily in 1952. She even plays a character with the same name as her Nonna, Maria.