Olivia Tennet

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Olivia Tennet
Olivia Tennet in front of a statue of Hercules.jpg
Tennet in 2008
Born (1991-01-04) 4 January 1991 (age 33)
Occupation(s)Actress, dancer
Years active1999–present
Spouse
(m. 2013;sep. 2016)
PartnerTom Broome (2019–present)
Children1

Olivia Tennet (born 4 January 1991) is a New Zealand actress and dancer best known in her home country for her role as Tuesday Warner on the nightly medical drama Shortland Street , along with several roles in television and theatre. Outside of New Zealand, she is best known for her roles in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Power Rangers RPM (2009), and the independent film Blood Punch (2013).

Contents

Career

Tennet began taking dance lessons at the age of four years following her older sister into dance, eventually stumbling into acting three years later [1] She made her first major television appearance in the fourth season of Xena: Warrior Princess as the runaway Princess Alesia in the episode "If The Shoe Fits...".

Eventually, Tennet made her way into films. She went on to win the "Best Juvenile Performer" award at the Nokia New Zealand Film and TV Awards in 2000, for her role as Nicole Mitchell in Kids World. She also appeared in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as Freda, a young girl of Rohan. She then won "Best Actress" at the Drifting Clouds Short Film Festival for her outstanding performance in the short film Watermark, beating the other adult nominees. [2] The film won "Best Film" at the same awards.

Following this, Tennet became part of the core cast for Maddigan's Quest (2006) as Lilith. She then appeared as Tuesday Warner on Shortland Street for 54 episodes during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. She later portrayed the role of teenage genius Dr. K on Power Rangers RPM , the seventeenth season of the Power Rangers series which premiered in March 2009.

Around this time, Tennet competed in the "Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Competition" with classmate Phoebe Mason (Epsom Girls Grammar School Drama Leader 2008) and did quite well, winning four of fifteen awards. The 5-minute performance included various scenes from Macbeth . Tennet and Mason won a trip to the Globe Theatre in London, July 2009, as part of the Young Shakespeare Company. [3]

Since her appearance on Power Rangers RPM , Tennet has participated in various television shows and theatrical productions in New Zealand. She played the role of nurse Lynne in an Auckland Theatre Company production of Stepping Out in June 2010, followed by the role of the Siren Queen for the Wet Hot Beauties' water ballet show titled Sirens for the Auckland Fringe Festival in February 2011. She also helped choreograph the show. [4]

Later on, Tennet made a television appearance in an episode of The Almighty Johnsons as Delphine in March 2011. She also took the stage as Emilia in Peach Theatre Company's production of Othello in July 2011. She then took on the role of Dorothy in a major theatrical production of The Wizard of Oz based on the 1987 musical produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Civic Theatre in September 2011, earning positive reviews for her portrayal of the character. [5]

Before leaving for the United States, she made an appearance on Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud as Julie Theilman, a courier working for Terry Clark of the Mr. Asia drug syndicate.

After wrapping up on The Wizard of Oz, Tennet moved to the United States to film a low-budget independent feature film titled Blood Punch which also featured many of her co-stars from Power Rangers RPM. The film premiered at the 20th Austin Film Festival in late October 2013 and has won many awards and honors in the film festival circuit since then. While in the United States, she also appeared in a web series and did voiceover work before moving back to New Zealand.

Since then, Tennet appeared in the miniseries When We Go To War and the joint Australia-New Zealand TV series 800 Words , along with various stage and voiceover credits. She also produced her own web series of dance videos titled Dancing in Small Spaces on YouTube and Vimeo. In late 2018, Tennet, along with actors Esther Stephens and Aria Jones, formed a 60's doo-wop trio named The Up-Doos who have begun performing in several local Auckland venues. [6]

In 2020, Tennet reprised the role of Dr. K in two episodes of the second season of Power Rangers Beast Morphers . [7]

Personal life

Tennet was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Along with her older sister Emma, Tennet also has an older brother, Anton Tennet, who is also an actor based in Melbourne, Australia.

While living in Los Angeles, California, she married fellow New Zealand actor Milo Cawthorne, with whom she has worked several times in the past, most notably on Power Rangers RPM and more recently on Blood Punch. The couple had been living together in Los Angeles since late 2011 [8] before moving back to New Zealand in late 2013 to begin rehearsals for the Auckland production of 360: A Theatre of Recollections (2014). As of June 2016, the couple had separated. [9] Since then, she has been in a relationship with musician Tom Broome [10] with whom she has a son named Alwyn. [11]

Tennet completed her secondary education at Epsom Girls Grammar School in 2008, shortly before appearing on Power Rangers RPM. She began studying speech therapy at the University of Auckland after moving back to NZ with her then-husband [12] and as of July 2019, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2001Kids WorldNicole Mitchell
2002WatermarkMeganShort
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Freda
2005 Boogeyman Terrified Girl
2001OzzieKaren
2012The SwarmingJulieShort
2013HomeOliveShort
2014 Blood Punch Skyler
2014SatisfactionNickyShort
2014PartialityShort
2015Jiwi's MachinesJuneShort
2016MovingJessShort
2017Gary of the PacificHouse Buyer
2020This TownJasmine
2020Baby DoneBeth
2021A Love YarnRose O’Doyle

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999 Xena: Warrior Princess AlesiaEpisode: "If the Shoe Fits..."
2003 Lucy Lucie ArnazTV film
2003P.E.T. DetectivesHelenaEpisode: "Fire Starters"
2006 Maddigan's Quest LilithMain role
2007–2008 Shortland Street Tuesday Warner Recurring role
2009 Power Rangers RPM Dr. KMain role
2011 The Almighty Johnsons Delphine HansenEpisode: "Goddesses, Axl, Come in All Forms"
2011 Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud Julie ThilemanEpisodes: "Trains 'N' Boats 'N' Planes", "All at Sea", "Dominoes"
2013The ZelfsTressa (voice)TV miniseries
2015When We Go to WarLornaTV miniseries
2015 Funny Girls TV series
2015–2018 800 Words SiouxsieRecurring role
2017Why Does Love?DonnaTV film
2018KiwiDianneTV film
2018 The Brokenwood Mysteries Daisy RoseEpisode: "Scared to Death"
2019Kiri and LouKiriVoice role
2019Jandal BurnSherriVoice role
2020 Power Rangers Beast Morphers Dr. KRecurring role

Voiceover

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003The Fat ManVerna MuskeRadio play
2013Jessica Darling's IT List: The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & PerfectionNarrator/Jessica DarlingAudiobook
2013My Friend BarlowFinch/NarratorInteractive storybook

Music videos

YearSongArtistRole
2008"Exit Light"SolomonLead
2013"I Kill Giants" The Naked and Famous Dancer/Choreographer
2013"Apple"Barnaby SaintsLead
2018"100%"BoycrushDancer
2018"Disappear"The MiltonesDancer/Choreographer
2018"Devil's Work"RacingDancer
2018"Look Up"Sorrento ft. Troy Kingi Dancer/Choreographer

Web series

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014 Flat3 Lee"The White Album"
2014The ZelfsTressaWeb episode: "Bad Hair Day"
2015Jiwi's MachinesJune
2014–2015Dancing in Small SpacesEditor, choreographerSelf-produced web series (11 episodes)
2015Stake OutGanet"Kids"
2016Friday Night Bites"Slutwalk: The Musical"
2021TalkbackZoe WilliamsTVNZ OnDemand

Stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
2002 A Midsummer Night's Dream Puck Her Primary Schools Senior Production
2005 Les Misérables Éponine
2006 Romeo and Juliet Juliet
2007 Cabaret Sally Bowles
2008For TodaySophie
2008Children of the PoorAlbany
2008 A Midsummer Night's Dream Hermia
2009 Titus Andronicus Lavinia
2009The ArrivalWorkshop/Ensemble
2009The Pied Piper of HamiltonLead/Various
2009AutobahnLead
2009 Twelfth Night Viola
2009Christ Almighty!Mary
2010360Little SisterProduction for the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington
2010 Stepping Out LynneProduction with the Auckland Theatre Company.
2011Sirens [13] Siren QueenProduction with the Wet Hot Beauties Ballet Group.
2011 Othello EmiliaProduction with the Peach Theatre Company.
2011 The Wizard of Oz Dorothy GaleProduction with the Peach Theatre Company.
2014360 - A Theatre of RecollectionsLittle SisterAuckland production
2014The Man Whose Mother Was A PiratePhilosopher/Terrible Crabmeat/EnsembleAuckland Theatre Company production.
2014Hauraki Horror Jaime Ridge The Basement Annual Christmas Show
2015 The Book of Everything Margot KlopperSilo Theatre production for the Auckland Arts Festival.
2015Guys and DollsHotbox GirlAuckland Theatre Company production.
2015Jesus Christ Part IIJesusThe Basement Annual Christmas Show
2016Mia Blonde in "Ice Dagger"Mia Blonde
2016In Flagrante: The Venus SeasonDancerQ Theatre, Auckland, NZ
2016The Opening Night Before ChristmasSelfThe Basement Annual Christmas Show
2017In Flagrante: The Butterfly ClubDancerThe Butterfly Club, Melbourne, Australia
2017Pleasuredome: The MusicalEnsemble dancer, understudy for Lilith; LilithReplaced Ashleigh Taylor for the role of Lilith
2018In FlagranteDancerThe Butterfly Club, Melbourne, Australia
2018Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric PlaySilo Theatre

Other works

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013 I Kill Giants Choreographer The Naked and Famous music video
2015K Rd StoriesDirector"Sugar Hit"
2016 That Bloody Woman ChoreographerAuckland Theatre Company stage play
2017 As You Like It ChoreographerUniversity of Auckland Summer Shakespeare 2017 production
2018Shortland Street: The MusicalChoreographerAuckland Theatre Company stage play

Awards and nominations

YearNominated workAwardCategoryResult
2000Kids WorldNokia New Zealand Film & Television AwardsBest Juvenile PerformerWon
2003WatermarkNew Zealand Drifting Clouds International Film FestivalBest ActressWon
2011 The Wizard of Oz Metro MagazineBest Arms and Legs OutstretchedWon
2011 The Wizard of Oz Hackman Theatre AwardsDANZ Award for Best Dancing in a PlayNominated
2014Blood Punch Hoboken International Film Festival Best ActressNominated

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References

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  2. "NZ short film makes its mark". The New Zealand Herald . 3 March 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
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  5. Smythe, Nik. "A timeless classic well wrought". Theatreview. Theatreview. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
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  10. Parker, Chris. "Travel hits and misses: Tom Broome". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  11. Mealing, Fleur. "Westside's Esther Stephens' sideline as a 'sixties chick' singer". New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
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