Jamila Main is an actor and playwright making candid, tender work infused with the survivalist humour of living in a queer, disabled, chronically ill body in chronic pain. Jamila has been writing and performing for the stage, screen, and livestream since 2016, and has worked with Sydney Theatre Company, Adelaide Festival, Malthouse Theatre Company, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Vitalstatistix, Midsumma Festival, ActNow Theatre, First Draft Gallery, Feast Festival and Carclew.

A commissioned writer for the Ruby award-winning Decameron 2.0 (STCSA and ActNow Theatre), Jamila’s debut play Butterfly Kicks was a finalist in the Queer Playwriting Awards (Midsumma Festival, 2020) and winner of the Queer Short Story Award (Feast Festival, Writers SA, 2018); winning again in 2019 for Queer Utopia is on the Roof of a Westfield.

STCSA awarded Jamila’s plays Immaculate and How to Eat Rabbit, with Griffin Theatre Company also awarding How to Eat Rabbit.

Jamila was a Carclew Fellow 2020 and Sharehouse Resident 2021, a researcher into disabled people working in screen at Back to Back Theatre, is a writer for ArtsHub, Co-Chair of the Equity Diversity Committee, Equity National Performer’s Committee Member, Advisor for Australian Plays Transform, and a Disability Consultant and Advocate.

Accessibility and joyful rigour inform Jamila’s practice. Jamila graduated from the Acting program at Adelaide College of the Arts in 2018, holding a Bachelor of Arts in the Advanced Program for High Achievers (Drama and International Relations) from Flinders University. Jamila is a proud ambulatory wheelchair user.