Stella has lived and worked in the United States since 1997. She is the first Australian to be made a Lifetime member of The Actors Studio after which she was granted the prestigious EB1 (Alien Artist of Extraordinary Ability) Green Card. Among those who wrote testimonials on Stella’s behalf were twice nominated Academy Award director, Arthur Penn, National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honoree, Frank Corsaro, Executive Producer of Inside The Actors Studio, James Lipton and Tony award winner, Carlin Glynn.

As an actress, Stella has been cast in lead roles in Theatre, Cabaret, Film and Television throughout Australia and in New York, Paris, Tokyo, London, Edinburgh and Malta. Projects in New York include the Group Theatre Festival (Artistic Director, Estelle Parsons) with Eli Wallach, Quentin Tarantino, Marisa Tomei, Earl Hyman, Stephen Lang and Angelica Torn. While performing in the 1992 Edinburgh Festival with her one person show, Every Night Something Awful! Stella was invited to appear on Scotland Tonight (BBC) and to sing at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. She was then invited to perform in Paris at Theatre Marie Stuart. In 1993/94 Stella lived in Tokyo where she was cast in numerous Japanese/American theatre co-productions, corporate training films and television commercials.

In 1990 Stella founded Other People’s Business World, corporate entertainment for private parties, fund raising and social events. In 2000 she transferred the company from Australia and Japan to USA and launched her widely acclaimed cabaret, Alien from Down Under, one of the shows currently available in the Other People’s Business World repertoire. Stella is also available to custom write entertainment for specific audiences and venues.

While living in Japan, Stella wrote for The Japan Times and completed Stories from an Actress with Nothing Better to do, excerpts from which have been published in Tokyo, New York, UK, Malta and in her own column (SPNY) in The Age, Melbourne, Australia. She is published in Metro, New York and in Marlo Thomas’ Right Words at the Right Time. Volume 2 (New York Times Top 20). Her writing for The Actors Studio newsletter includes interviews with celebrities such as Martin Landau, Academy Award Winning actor and co-artistic director of The Actors Studio West. Stella recently founded Speeches. Peaches. She custom writes speeches and offers coaching to ensure effective presentation. Since 1998 Stella has reviewed books on theatre and critiqued theatre and special events for New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

As a teacher, Stella has worked in a variety of settings ranging from studios and theatres to classrooms and correction centers. Since 2000 she has been on the Faculty of Film and TV Department at School of Visual Arts in New York teaching Acting for Animators. Her teaching and artistic talents are also sought by actors wishing to be coached privately when choosing material and preparing for auditions. In Tokyo she was hired by Let’s Studio to coach actors and singers working in the English language. On the merits of this work, she was invited to design and administer an English language voice laboratory, Drama Voice for NOVA, Japan.

As a teaching artist, she has worked in the tri state for Theatre Development Fund, Artsgenesis, Arts Horizons, 92^nd St. Y, Inside Broadway, Broadway Institute, Henry Street Settlement, City Lights, Music for Many and, since 1997, for Lincoln Center Institute.

As an education consultant, Stella works for Australian United States Services in Education (AUSSIE) writing and modeling effective teaching strategies, and planning and conducting professional development for teachers and school administrators.