Born in Annandale on November 30, 1955, Furness was raised in Melbourne and always dreamed of acting.
After finishing high school, her mother urged her to get some sort of training that she could fall back on if acting didn’t work out, so Furness trained as a secretary and landed a job as an assistant at Channel Nine.
Reporting to news director John Sorrell, it turned out to be a great first job as it helped her land a gig as a researcher and later an on-air reporter for No Man’s Land, a daytime news program produced by an all-women team.
Though she enjoyed the role, Furness longed to act and eventually moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating, she returned to Australia and started her TV career with a series of small roles, like this appearance on Neighbours.
