In William Yang's photograph of actor Judy Davis (b. 1955) on the set of the 1982 film Heatwave, he has captured her smouldering intensity. Renowned for playing complex and edgy women, Davis launched her international career with her breakout performance in Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career (1979). Her success continued with A Passage to India (1984), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also received an Oscar nomination for her role in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992). Davis has won many acting accolades, including eight AACTA awards, two BAFTAs and two Golden Globes. Her acclaimed television performances in Serving in Silence (1995), Life with Judy Garland (2001) and The Starter Wife (2007) each won her an Emmy award. Davis made her directorial debut for the Sydney Theatre Company with Barrymore (1999) and directed her husband Colin Friels in Faith Healer for the Belvoir St Theatre in 2016, which also had sell-out seasons in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Yang is a photographer, writer and performer who recorded the theatre and show business worlds of which he was a part in the 1970s and 1980s. He has produced a sustained body of photography, particularly engaging with the Sydney gay scene, the impact of HIV/AIDS and his sense of identity as a Chinese-Australian.
Purchased 1998
© William Yang
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
William Yang on his heritage and becoming a photographer in the 70s.
An interview with photographer William Yang who recalls his encounters with the author Patrick White.
