Ningali Lawford was born at Wangkatjungka, near Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. She spent her early years on a cattle station where her father worked, and completed her secondary education in Perth. She was the recipient of an American Field Service scholarship and spent twelve months in Alaska. Lawford-Wolf trained as a dancer at the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, and performed with Bangarra Dance Theatre. In her work as an actress, singer and dancer she has appeared in various theatre, film and television productions. She was touring the UK with the Sydney Theatre Company and performing in The Secret River, which she was involved in developing, when she passed away in Edinburgh.
Lawford-Wolf played the narrator in Neil Armfield's adaptation of The Secret River in 2016 and national tour, as well as performing in the production when it was staged outdoors at the Anstey Hill Quarry in Tea Tree Gully as part of the 2017 Adelaide Festival where Limelight reviewer Clive Paget described her as “an authoritative, heartbreaking Dhirrumbin”. (Limelight Magazine)
She is well known for her films Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Bran Nue Dae (2009) and Last Cab to Darwin (2015) and television shows including The Circuit (2007-2010) and Mystery Road (2018). (Limelight Magazine)
