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Marzena Godecki | |
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| Born | Marzena Godecki 28 September 1978 Bytom, Poland |
| Other names | Marzena D'Odorico |
| Spouse | Damian D'Odorico |
Marzena Godecki (born 28 September 1978) is a Polish-Australian actress. She is best known for her starring role as Neri in Ocean Girl .
Marzena Godecki was born on 28 September 1978 in Bytom, Poland. When she was three years old her family emigrated from Poland to Australia. [1] She was 16 and a modern dance and ballet student in Melbourne when she was selected from more than 500 girls who auditioned for the role of Neri in Ocean Girl.
When she first tried out for the part Godecki recalls being taken to a local ocean pier in Melbourne and thrown into the cold waters to see if she was comfortable. She was, and after landing the lead role, Godecki was able to sharpen up her swimming skills and learn how to scuba dive at the Ocean Girl location, [2] Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, Australia.
During the filming, Godecki was able to swim with dolphins and even with a pod of Minke whales that came up to the film crew's boat. Because much of Ocean Girl was filmed in the open water, she was always under the close watch of a stunt and dive safety team who kept a watch out for sharks.
Godecki took most of 1996 off from Ocean Girl to complete her final year at secondary school concentrating on her favourite subjects—maths and science. She originally hoped after the last season of Ocean Girl to secure a place at University in Australia in veterinary science owing to her love of animals.
Godecki married in 2008 and is now called Marzena D'Odorico. She has a son called Nico born in July 2008 and ran the children's fashion store Tiny Threads in Melbourne, together with her business partner Melanie Tsoukas, from 2008 to 2012. She also has a daughter called Sasha born in late 2011.
Before Godecki was selected for the role of Neri in Ocean Girl for her graceful style of underwater swimming, she was a student in Melbourne where she studied modern dance and ballet. She also went to Methodist Ladies College.
Godecki was also a regular extra on the 1992 series of Round the Twist, appearing and sitting next to Linda in school scenes, but never is heard speaking. She was credited as "Beautiful Girl". Although in the episode "Nails" she is called "Madeleine" by Mr Snapper.
Esther Jane Williams was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold-medal winner and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. Williams caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, and alongside Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film and future five-time co-star Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronised swimming and diving.
Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell, is an English retired ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest Strictly Come Dancing.
Annette Marie Sarah Kellermann was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville star, film actress, and writer, usually known as Annette Kellerman.
Ocean Girl is an Australian science fiction TV series aimed for family audiences and starring Marzena Godecki as the lead character. The show is set in the near future, and focuses on an unusual girl named Neri who lives alone on an island, and the friendships she develops with the inhabitants of an underwater research facility called ORCA the show is an example of deep ecology science fiction.
Aileen Muriel Riggin, also known by her married name Aileen Soule, was an American competition swimmer and diver. She was Olympic champion in springboard diving in 1920 and U.S. national springboard diving champion from 1923 to 1925. After retiring from competitions, she enjoyed a long and varied career in acting, coaching, writing and journalism. She was a swimming celebrity in Hawaii and the United States and an active ambassador of women's swimming well into old age.
Methodist Ladies' College is a non-selective Uniting Church private day and boarding school for girls, located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The school has two additional outdoor education campuses known as "Marshmead" and "Banksia".
Sandra Anne Morgan, also known by her married name Sandra Beavis, or as Sandra Morgan-Beavis, is an Australian former freestyle swimmer who was part of the gold medal-winning team in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. At the age of 14 years and 6 months, she became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, a record that still stands.
Faith Yvonne Leech was an Australian freestyle swimmer who won a gold medal in the 4×100–metre freestyle relay and bronze in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
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Korowa Anglican Girls' School is a private, Anglican, day school for girls, located in Glen Iris, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
David Hoflin is a Swedish-born Australian actor. He is most famous for playing Jason Bates in Ocean Girl between 1994 and 1998, and Oliver Barnes in Neighbours between 2007 and 2008.
Dame Margaret van Praagh was a British ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, repetiteur, producer, advocate and director, who spent much of her later career in Australia.
Meryl Tankard is an Australian dancer and choreographer who has a wide national and international reputation.
Marilyn Patricia Rowe is the first graduate of the Australian Ballet School to be appointed its director, in 1999.
Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama All Saints in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in Suburban Mayhem (2006). She first became known to a wider audience following her critically acclaimed work on the HBO television series In Treatment (2008). She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for the film That Evening Sun (2009).
Tarren Otte is an Australian Olympic synchronized swimmer. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in synchronized swimming.
Mermaiding is the practice of wearing, and often swimming in, a costume mermaid tail.
Hannah Fraser, known professionally as Hannah Mermaid, is a professional model, actress, dancer, and performer who specialises in underwater and ocean-oriented freediving performances, often in mermaid costume. She is a central figure in modern mermaiding and is an ocean ecology activist.
Rachel Cameron was an Australian ballet dancer and teacher. She was one of the leading dancers in early Australian ballet in the 1940s, performing with the Borovansky and Kirsova ballet companies, and was one of the first ballet dancers in Australia to reach the rank of principal. After emigrating to Great Britain she was an inspirational educator of ballet teachers at the Royal Academy of Dance in London for over forty years. In 2010, she received the Royal Academy of Dance's prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of her outstanding services to ballet.
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