While Furness adores Melbourne for its culture, cafes, restaurants and way of life, she makes no apologies for loving and living in the US. The reality is it’s just much harder to make a good living as a film actor in Australia.

“I love New York – am I allowed to say that?” she asks. “You just feel like you are in the middle of this throbbing metropolis ... and I just love its diversity and inclusiveness.”

Growing up in Melbourne as the daughter of a single mum after her father died in a car accident when Furness was eight, the actress has always had an affinity with strong female role models. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts New York in 1981 before returning to Australia for appearances in classic soapies including Prisoner, Neighbours and The Flying Doctors. Her first film role as ballsy biker lawyer Asta Cadell in Shame is still her favourite.

“I love a woman with a cause and she was a great role model for women,” she says. “I loved that [the film] was ahead of its time and it was such a chicks’ flick but it wasn’t emulating a male; it was very empowering for women. Plus it was a challenging role for me, too; the character I played had a very still, centred energy, and if people know me, that’s not me. It was lovely playing a woman who had a cause and pursued it with integrity.”

When Furness says her dream film role would be that of another social warrior, out to change the world for the better, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Furness’ own tireless work for adoption awareness and other children’s charities. “That sounds bad,” she laughs. “I just want to play me!”

After miscarriages and failed IVF attempts, Furness and Jackman adopted two children in the US. Furness says the kids are just sensational. “They are well travelled. Oscar is very artistic and Ava wants to be a rock star – so at least they are in the arts, which is good!”

Furness says one of her resolutions for 2011 is to get back to painting, which she loves to do with her son in their little home art studio. He might only be 10, but Oscar is already a huge fan of 20th century art and names Picasso, Kandinsky and Basquiat as his favourite artists.

“The big thrill at the moment is that our neighbour in New York is Picasso’s granddaughter,” Furness says. “I met her at a party and Oscar wrote a little note to her saying ‘your grandfather is my favourite artist’, so I think she is going to have coffee with him. She said to me, ‘your son is very talented’.”

While Furness is happy to speak candidly albeit briefly about her own brood, it’s the issue of other adopted children that really fires her up. Having founded Adoption Awareness Week in Australia in 2008, Furness recently hosted an adoption summit in New York where she pulled together the “rock stars of the field”. Together with editor of the Daily Beast news website Tina Brown, Furness invited representatives from UNICEF, Harvard, Worldwide Orphans Foundation and politicians to talk about the orphan crisis.

Furness insists that she is not pro-adoption (“I wish every child could stay with their family, but that’s not the world that we live in”), but she gets extremely frustrated with Australia’s “anti-adoption culture” which makes inter-country adoption near impossible. Of the 40,000 inter-country adoptions worldwide in 2009, only 270 were Australian. A four- to seven-year wait is the minimum for most local couples, with many having to wait up to 10 years. Most invest a huge amount of money and emotion and for some, the process takes so long that they miss out completely.

“This is a huge, huge crisis and these kids aren’t part of it,” Furness says. “They aren’t voters, there is no agenda for the politicians but I do think you judge a country by the way they treat their children and it is embarrassing. I am out there on the international stage and we are the lowest in the world as far as inter-country adoption.

“If there is a family that is willing and wanting to love and care for a child, tell me what your piece of paper says. What is it that is stopping this – some bulls**t piece of paper? Excuse my French but I get so furious. I have been talking to the attorney-general and trying to speed it up, but it needs leadership – people who understand the situation and how complex it is.”

Keen to de-stigmatise the issue of adoption for children and remove the shame and secrecy, Furness teamed up with Elmo from Sesame Street to teach kids what it’s all about.

“Mind you, I had to fight for three years to get that played on the ABC,” she says. “The head of the ABC told me that he didn’t think it was appropriate to talk to children about adoption. If they think it’s a problem, my god, what chance do these kids have of being included and of being understood? It’s ignorance and fear. It’s part of their journey but it doesn’t define who they are.”

Like all working mums, Furness admits it is difficult to juggle her campaigning, acting career and family, but says it’s the injustice of the adoption situation that keeps her going. She is booked in to return to Australia later this year to do another film with Ray Lawrence, whom she worked with on Shame and Jindabyne in 2006.

“If I’m not creatively fulfilled, then I can’t give back to my kids and I can’t do the other work; it’s got to be a balance,” she says.

“Ray is the only director who I will say yes to before I have read the script. It is a relationship film set in the outback and filming is in Alice Springs – I get all the glamorous locations!”

Furness didn’t know that there was another reason for her current visit to Australia. Met on arrival at the airport by television host Eddie Maguire complete with film crew and a big red book, Furness will be the guest of honour on a coming episode of the revamped Channel Nine series This Is Your Life. Furness admits it was a complete surprise, particularly because Jackman had managed to keep the project a secret for four months.

“I usually clairvoyantly know everything so I have been very impressed,” she says. “Trust me, it was a surprise, you can tell from my face. Hugh said it was the first time he has seen me speechless.”

The show has allowed Furness a chance to reflect on her life and career and look to the future. “It is lovely because I am usually always in the next moment, so I don’t look backwards a lot,” she says. “When I look at old clips, I just think ‘bad hairdos’ – and the shoulder pads!

“I’d love to do another strong female role (like Asta Cadell in Shame), but if it doesn’t come soon I will be in a wheelchair rather than a motorbike!”