Former Sutherland Shire's Sarah Furnari stars in Ten Pound Poms on Stan and BBC

The actor grew up at Oyster Bay and is a former student of Caringbah High School. She performed with theatre groups including Miranda Musical Theatre Company, Shire Music Theatre, and Sutherland Music Club.

A graduate of the University of Wollongong's Bachelor of Creative Arts (Performance) course, Furnari continues to train with Anthony Meindl Actor Workshop Sydney and Improv Theatre Sydney.

The Stan Original Series is a historical drama of six episodes. It follows a group of Brits as they leave dreary post-war Britain in 1956 to embark on a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world. For only a tenner, they have been promised a better house, better job prospects and a better quality of life by the sea in sun-soaked Australia. But life down under isn't exactly the idyllic dream the new arrivals have been promised. Struggling with their new identity as immigrants, we follow their triumphs and pitfalls as they adapt to a new life in a new country far from Britain and familiarity.

Furnari plays the outspoken and strong Maria, an Italian migrant who arrives in Australia in 1956 as part of the Assisted Migrant Passage Scheme, which was also dubbed the 'Ten Pound Pom' program. The Australian Government paid for fares and accommodation in migrant camps in return for several years of employment. In many cases it was also a requirement to surrender your passport for this period.

In 1951 the scheme was expanded to include Italian immigrants. More than 42,000 Italians arrived under this scheme between 1951-1968.

When Furnari's character Maria, arrives, what she finds is far from what she has been promised, with the migrant camp falling to pieces. But Maria is bold and not scared to ask for what she wants or stand up for what she believes. She finds a friend and ally in Annie Roberts, who shares her struggles with the living conditions at Galgownie.

It's a experiences also shared by her grandparents, who migrated from Sicily to Australia in 1952.

"My Nonna grew up in a small town named Librizzi and my Nonno Carmelo lived in a neighbouring village," Furnari said. "He fought in WW2, initially on Germany's side due to Italy's allegiance to Germany. He was captured by the British and taken to a Prisoner of War camp in England. However, with his kind nature, he managed to befriend some of the English guards, and even learned some English from them. When England released the Italian prisoners, they were dropped off from a central point which was extremely far from where my Nonno lived. No transport was arranged for the soldiers to get home and so my Nonno walked. When he finally arrived near his hometown, the woman who would later become his mother-in-law, saw him walking alone, and walked him all the way to his home.

"He left Sicily and came to Australia alone, with the plan to organise housing for my Nonna so that she didn't have to live in migrant hostels. He worked several exhausting labouring jobs to earn a living, helping to build railroads across NSW and my uncle Zio worked cutting cane on a farm.

"My Nonna arrived in Australia later that year. She was advised by her Aussie neighbours to change my dad's Italian name (Biagio) to an English one (Bruce) to avoid bullying at school. They had their boys' names changed officially in an attempt to to best fit in in their new country."

Furnari also plays the character of Kaynee in the upcoming series Year Of on Stan. She founded the independent company Short Poppy Theatre in 2015, and has toured regional Australia extensively with Gibber Theatre in Education, a company with a mission to empower students in low-socioeconomic communities.

Other film credits include the Aussie feature film Chasing Comets, and the short film Tell Your Friends To Pull Up, which was selected for the Cannes Short Film Festival in 2021.