year Ward-Lealand made her big screen debut as nightclub singer Costello – and sang three songs – in Wellington crime thriller Dangerous Orphans. In 2007, she toured her acclaimed Marlene Dietrich cabaret show, Falling in Love Again (also the name of her first solo CD) in New Zealand and Australia. She later toured with the same show in 2018. Her engagement in the cabaret diva genre became a hallmark of her style as a singer. In 2014, she was touring Jacques Brel songs solo in several Arts Festivals: Auckland, Tauranga, Nelson, Christchurch and Taranaki. Ward-Lealand was a founding board member of Watershed Theatre and a co-founder of the Large Group and The Actors’ Program. She is a Patron of Q Theatre and serves as a trust board member of Arts Regional Trust and The New Zealand Actors Benevolent Fund. An advocate for improving actors' working conditions and pay, Ward-Lealand has been President of Equity New Zealand since 2015. After years as a teacher of the craft of acting, Ward-Lealand started training as an intimacy coordinator in 2018, and in 2020 she was hired as such by Amazon Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. She has worked on over 40 shows in this role as an accredited intimacy coordinator. Her overall aim is to "make actors' lives better" by applying the best practice guidelines of Equity New Zealand. Since performing in Hedda Gabler, the last Theatre Corporate production, Ward-Lealand has contributed significant roles to the Silo Theatre, such as Stevie in The Goat or Who is Sylvie by Edward Albee performed in 2005 with her husband Michael Hurst. However, her most extensive repertoire has been programmed by the Auckland Theatre Company (ATC), such as the 2020 online role of Arkadina in ATC's zoom production of Chekhov's The Seagull. Ward-Lealand has also made frequent guest appearances in The Basement's Christmas comedies, whether playing Helen Clark or Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Ward-Lealand's roles in New Zealand plays include Pass it On, The Bach, Via Satellite, The Sex Fiend, Rita and Angus and My Name is Gary Cooper. Through play readings and workshops, she has also supported the development of local scripts, such as Pankhurst in Red by Dean Parker, or Irene in Flour by Briar-Grace Smith (Centrepoint Theatre's 24-Hour Challenge Online). Ward-Lealand leads a highly organised life thanks to speaking engagements, rehearsals, adjudication, voice tutoring, and production meetings.