Australian actor Lily Sullivan may not be an A-list star yet, but she is one well worth watching out for and her movies and TV roles prove it. Sullivan acted in her first film when she was 17 years old in a movie called Mental. Mental featured Sullivan as one of a family of five kids who are overseen by a hotheaded new nanny. Mental was released to mixed reviews upon its release in 2012.
Now 31 years old, Sullivan has gone on to be in a smattering of other projects since then. Mental was her gateway into numerous other roles that have allowed the actor to continue to have a career that, while low-profile, is worth reviewing. Throughout her film and television roles, the actor has displayed her strength in a wide array of genres. Sullivan’s career continues on today, with recent work that proves even more that she is one to watch out for.
17 Mental (2012)
Sullivan Plays Coral Moochmore
As referenced above, Mental sees Sullivan playing Coral Moochmore, one of the five Moochmore sisters at the center of the film. In addition to Sullivan, Mental features a leading cast including Toni Collette, Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Gibney, Liev Schreiber, Bethany Whitmore, and Caroline Goodall in key roles. Mental did not do tremendously at the box office, receiving only an estimated $4.4 million worldwide. Even with this low profile, the fact that major actors such as Collette and Schreiber were in the movie likely got Mental enough attention to help Sullivan’s career move forward.
16 Rake (2012)
Sullivan Plays Michelle
After performing in Mental, Sullivan booked her next role playing a one-off character in the TV series Rake. Sullivan played a character named Michelle in the Rake season 2, episode 3 titled “R vs Woolridge & Anor.” Michelle is a character who is working on a short film who is accused of accidentally killing an actor on set, and ends up making lead character Cleaver defend her case. Rake is one of the smaller roles in Sullivan’s career, but nonetheless gave the budding actor’s career momentum towards her future roles.
15 Galore (2013)
Sullivan Plays Laura
Continuing her career in the Australian industry, Sullivan followed Rake with a performance in the drama film Galore. This movie is a coming-of-age story chronicling the lives of friends Billie and Laura over the summer in Canberra. While Galore did not receive great reviews, Sullivan is fairly stellar in the part, showing what she could do in a more understated movie. Sullivan picked up some of the slack where the filmmaking itself was lacking, delivering a believable performance.
14 Camp (2013)
Sullivan Plays Marina Barker
Sullivan re-entered the TV world with her role in the series Camp. Though Camp continued Sullivan’s TV credits, the tone could not be more different than Rake. Rather than a crime-filled procedural, Camp is a comedy drama that follows the lives of campers and camp counselors at a summer camp named the Little Otter Family Camp. Camp ran for a single season on NBC before being cancelled.
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13 Sucker (2015)
Sullivan Plays Sarah
After Camp failed to start a multi-season TV career for Sullivan, her roles came slowly over the next couple of years. She came back in 2015, however, with another performance in an Australian film. This time, it came in the form of Ben Chessell’s Sucker, about a Chinese-Austrlain YouTube star who becomes the protégé of a con man and his daughter. The daughter in question is Sullivan’s Sarah, who is surrounded by a cast that includes John Luc, Timothy Spall, Jacek Koman, Shaun Micallef, and Kat Stewart. Sucker continued a genre trend for Sullivan, as it kept her in comedy.
12 Jungle (2017)
Sullivan Plays Amie
After Sucker, Sullivan’s film career went in a starkly different direction when she played Amie in the film Jungle. Starring Harry Potter movies alum Daniel Radcliffe, Jungle is a survival movie about a group of friends who are searching for a village in the Bolivian jungle when they discover a myriad of challenges that awaits them. Jungle represented a reunion between Sullivan and her Sucker co-star Koman, who plays Moni Ghinsberg in the survival film. Unfortunately, Jungle also failed to make a big splash at the box office.
11 Romper Stomper (2018)
Sullivan Plays Petra
Sullivan returned to TV for the first time in 5 years with Romper Stomper. Romper Stomper is an Australian miniseries that is a sequel to the 1992 Australian film of the same name. Romper Stomper is a political series that focuses on the tension between fictional far-left activists in a new generation, who face off against a team of far-right people.
Romper Stomper 0
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Director Geoffrey Wright Release Date March 5, 1992 Writers Geoffrey Wright Cast Russell Crowe , Daniel Pollock , Jacqueline McKenzie , Alex Scott , Leigh Russell Runtime 94 Minutes
Sullivan’s Petra is one of the far-left characters, who is the leader of an anti-fascist group named Antifasc. Sullivan plays Petra in a performance that has been praised for its intensity.
10 Picnic At Hanging Rock (2018)
Sullivan Plays Miranda Reid
2018 was the year of the TV series for Sullivan, who continued her career with Picnic at Hanging Rock. Picnic at Hanging Rock was an adaptation of the Joan Lindsay novel of the same name, which was first adapted into a 1975 film from director Peter Weir. Picnic at Hanging Rock did not gain significant traction in the United States, but it did far decently at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, where it won awards for cinematography and production design.
9 The Unknown Patient (2018)
Sullivan Plays Diana
Sullivan rounded out her 2018 year with a performance in the short film The Unknown Patient. The nine-minute short tells the story of a WW1 soldier who is battling severe shell shock. The innovative short was part of the Venice Film Festival and was a virtual reality short that used motion capture animation technology to craft its story. It won an award at the Adelaide Film Festival for Best Virtual Reality Film.
8 Dark Place (2019)
Sullivan Plays Sally
Though it conveys a very different subject matter than The Unknown Patient, Dark Place is also a project that experiments with form. The film is a horror compilation that tells five Australian Indigenous horror stories. Sullivan appears as a character named Sally in the “Killer Native” segment. Other actors in this segment included Clarence Ryan, Charlie Garber, Natasha Wanganeen, and John Lloyd Fillingham.
7 The Other Guy (2019)
Sullivan Plays Charlie
The Other Guy is a comedy-drama series that ran for two seasons from 2017 to 2019. The series follows the story of a radio host who is trying to date again after a decade when he discovers that his long-term girlfriend has been having an affair with his best friend.
Sullivan came in to play the role of Charlie in the second season, which had six episodes. In addition to Sullivan, The Other Guy features a leading cast including Matt Okine, Harriet Dyer, Michael-Anthony Taylor, Chistiaan Van Vuuren, and Michael Hing.
6 Barkskins (2020)
Sullivan Plays Delphine
A year after the release of The Other Guy season 2, Sullivan continued her TV career by playing Delphine in the series Barkskins, which is a show based on the novel from Annie Proulx. It is a historical drmam about a group of people working with issues of loyalty and other hardships in late 1600s New France. Barkskins did not gain significant traction in awards season or other major recognition, and has not gotten news yet on whether it has been renewed for a second season.
5 I Met a Girl (2020)
Sullivan Plays Lucy
After her TV stint with The Other Guy and Barksins, Sullivan returned to film again with I Met A Girl. This romance drama sees Sullivan play Lucy, the woman of an aspiring musician’s dreams who may or may not be a figment of his imagination. Sullivan had another reunion with a past co-star in I Met A Girl, this time with Joel Jackson, who previously played a role in the action-survival film Jungle.
4 Monolith (2022)
Sullivan Plays The Interviewer
A throughline in Sullivan’s career has seemed to be the sheer breadth of genres that the actor’s short career has covered. In Monolith, she delved into the world of psychological conspiracy thriller. She plays an eerie character of a journalist whose podcast ends up uncovering an alien conspiracy.
Monolith
is available to stream on Prime Video.
The film was an Australian movie that got virtually no traction, but is an odd film that may come to be further appreciated over time as people rediscover Sullivan’s earlier career films.
3 Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Sullivan Plays Beth
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After years of being confined to predominantly Australian-based roles, Sullivan finally had her big Hollywood break with Evil Dead Rise. As a part of the Evil Dead series, her part as Beth is by far the highest-profile in her career thus far.
Evil Dead Rise 
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Director Lee Cronin Release Date April 21, 2023 Cast Alyssa Sutherland , Lily Sullivan , Gabrielle Echols , Morgan Davies , Nell Fisher , Mia Challis Runtime 120 minutes
If nothing, it was Sullivan’s highest grossing film, as the movie brought in an estimated $147 million at the box office. While Sullivan had avoided being pigeonholed in her career thus far, her performance in Evil Dead Rise is cause enough for her to get more horror roles.
2 Lunacy (2024)
Sullivan Plays The Salamander
Right after her mainstream role in Evil Dead Rise, Sullivan leaped back into the world of the quirky film with the mystery sci-fi film Lunacy. Lunacy sees its main characters trapped in the Australian Daintree Rainforest. The film tackled themes about human connection to the environment over its concise 77 minute runtime. It is directed by Daniel Askill, and features a leading cast including Sullivan, Isabel Lucas, Bobbi Salvor Menuez, Hunter Page-Lochard, and Priscilla Doueihy.
1 SOULM8TE (2025 / 2026)
Sullivan’s Character Is Unknown
Image via Sony Pictures
Sullivan’s confirmed upcoming role shows that at least some studios are looking to the actor to be an upcoming horror star.SOULM8TE is a horror sci-fi thriller about a person who gets an AI android in order to make up for the death of his wife, but the loving robot soon turns deadly.
SOULM8TE R Director Kate Dolan Release Date January 2, 2026 Writers Kate Dolan , Rafael Jordan , James Wan , Ingrid Bisu
SOULM8TE is part of a slew of AI-based movies that include M3GAN 2.0 and Afraid. The film does not yet have an official release date but will be directed by Kate Dolan and feature actors Claudia Doumit and David Rysdahl in addition to Sullivan.