Olivia Tennet

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).

Olivia Tennet
Tennet in 2008
Born (1991-01-04) 4 January 1991
Auckland, New Zealand
OccupationActress, dancer
Years active1999–present
Spouse(s)Milo Cawthorne (2013–2016)

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.

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.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5]

In 2020, Tennet will reprise the role of Dr. K in an episode of the second season of Power Rangers Beast Morphers.[6]

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[7] 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.[8] Since then, she has been in a relationship with musician Tom Broome[9] and is expecting her first child, a son, due in October 2019.[10]

Tennet graduated from the 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[11] and as of July 2019, she graduated with her master's degree.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2001 Kids World Nicole Mitchell
2002 Watermark Megan Short
2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Freda
2005 Boogeyman Terrified Girl
2001 Ozzie Karen
2012 The Swarming Julie Short
2013 Home Olive Short
2014 Blood Punch Skyler
2014 Satisfaction Nicky Short
2014 Partiality Short
2015 Jiwi's Machines June Short
2016 Moving Jess Short
2017 Gary of the Pacific House Buyer
2018 This Town Jasmine In post-production.

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1999 Xena: Warrior Princess Alesia "If the Shoe Fits..."
2003 Lucy Lucie Arnaz TV film
2003 P.E.T. Detectives Helena "Fire Starters"
2006 Maddigan's Quest Lilith Main role
2007–08 Shortland Street Tuesday Warner Recurring role
2009 Power Rangers RPM Dr. K Regular role
2011 The Almighty Johnsons Delphine Hansen "Goddesses, Axl, Come in All Forms"
2011 Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud Julie Thileman "Trains 'N' Boats 'N' Planes", "All at Sea", "Dominoes"
2013 The Zelfs Tressa (voice) TV miniseries
2015 When We Go to War Lorna TV miniseries
2015 Funny Girls TV series
2015–2018 800 Words Siouxsie Recurring role
2017 Why Does Love? Donna TV film
2017 The Potbelleez - From the Music video Dancer Animated music video.
2018 Kiwi Dianne TV film
2018 The Brokenwood Mysteries Daisy Rose "Scared to Death"
2018 I Don't Want A Herd Herd of Sheep Animated series
2019 Kiri and Lou Kiri Animated series
2019 Jandal Burn Sherri Animated series
2020 Power Rangers Beast Morphers Dr. K Recurring role

Stage
Year Title Role Notes
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
2008 For Today Sophie
2008 Children of the Poor Albany
2008 A Midsummer Night's Dream Hermia
2009 Titus Andronicus Lavinia
2009 The Arrival Workshop/Ensemble
2009 The Pied Piper of Hamilton Lead/Various
2009 Autobahn Lead
2009 Twelfth Night Viola
2009 Christ Almighty! Mary
2010 360 Little Sister Production for the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington
2010 Stepping Out Lynne Production with the Auckland Theatre Company.
2011 Sirens[12] Siren Queen Production with the Wet Hot Beauties Ballet Group.
2011 Othello Emilia Production with the Peach Theatre Company.
2011 The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale Production with the Peach Theatre Company.
2014 360 - A Theatre of Recollections Little Sister Auckland production
2014 The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate Philosopher/Terrible Crabmeat/Ensemble Auckland Theatre Company production.
2014 Hauraki Horror Jaime Ridge The Basement Annual Christmas Show
2015 The Book of Everything Margot Klopper Silo Theatre production for the Auckland Arts Festival.
2015 Guys and Dolls Hotbox Girl Auckland Theatre Company production.
2015 Jesus Christ Part II Jesus The Basement Annual Christmas Show
2016 Mia Blonde in "Ice Dagger" Mia Blonde
2016 In Flagrante: The Venus Season Dancer Q Theatre, Auckland, NZ
2016 The Opening Night Before Christmas Self The Basement Annual Christmas Show
2017 In Flagrante: The Butterfly Club Dancer The Butterfly Club, Melbourne, Australia
2017 Pleasuredome: The Musical Ensemble dancer, understudy for Lilith; Lilith Replaced Ashleigh Taylor for the role of Lilith
2018 In Flagrante Dancer The Butterfly Club, Melbourne, Australia
2018 Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play Silo Theatre

Voiceover
Year Title Role Notes
2003 The Fat Man Verna Muske Radio play
2013 Jessica Darling's IT List: The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Popularity, Prettiness & Perfection Narrator/Jessica Darling Audiobook
2013 My Friend Barlow Finch/Narrator Interactive storybook

Music video
Year Song Artist Role
2008 "Exit Light" Solomon Lead
2013 "I Kill Giants" The Naked and Famous Dancer/Choreographer
2013 "Apple" Barnaby Saints Lead
2018 "100%" Boycrush Dancer
2018 "Disappear" The Miltones Dancer/Choreographer
2018 "Devil's Work" Racing Dancer
2018 "Look Up" Sorrento ft. Troy Kingi Dancer/Choreographer

Web Series
Year Title Role Notes
2014 Flat3 Lee "The White Album"
2014 The Zelfs Tressa Web episode: "Bad Hair Day"
2015 Jiwi's Machines June
2014–2015 Dancing in Small Spaces Editor, choreographer Self-produced web series (11 episodes)
2015 Stake Out Ganet "Kids"
2016 Friday Night Bites "Slutwalk: The Musical"

Other Works
Year Title Role Notes
2013 I Kill Giants Choreographer The Naked and Famous music video
2015 K Rd Stories Director "Sugar Hit"
2016 That Bloody Woman Choreographer Auckland Theatre Company stage play
2017 As You Like It Choreographer University of Auckland Summer Shakespeare 2017 production
2018 Shortland Street: The Musical Choreographer Auckland Theatre Company stage play

Awards and nominations
Year Nominated work Award Category Result
2000 Kids World Nokia New Zealand Film & Television Awards Best Juvenile Performer Won
2003 Watermark New Zealand Drifting Clouds International Film Festival Best Actress Won
2011 The Wizard of Oz Metro Magazine Best Arms and Legs Outstretched Won
2011 The Wizard of Oz Hackman Theatre Awards DANZ Award for Best Dancing in a Play Nominated
2014 Blood Punch Hoboken International Film Festival Best Actress Nominated
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gollark: Observe:
gollark: I made a spell which disappears cows.
gollark: Contingency 33B is being activated.
gollark: Maybe it's antimemetic to people who didn't pirate it.

References
  1. Whittaker, Emma. "Wizard of Oz dream comes true". The Auckland Central Leader. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  2. "NZ short film makes its mark". The New Zealand Herald. 3 March 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  3. Wenley, James. "Review: Water Ballet "Sirens"". Theatre Scenes. Theatre Scenes. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  4. Smythe, Nik. "A timeless classic well wrought". Theatreview. Theatreview. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  5. Mealing, Fleur. "Westside's Esther Stephens' sideline as a 'sixties chick' singer". New Zealand Woman's Weekly. New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  6. Deckelmeier, Joe (7 June 2019). "POWER RANGERS Beast Morphers & RPM Crossover Happening Next Season". That Hashtag Show. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  7. Powley, Kathryn (1 January 2012). "12 kiwis to watch in 2012". The New Zealand Herald.
  8. Harris, Rob. "Blood Punch: Review and star interview". Digital Fox. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  9. Parker, Chris. "Travel hits and misses: Tom Broome". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  10. Mealing, Fleur. "Westside's Esther Stephens' sideline as a 'sixties chick' singer". New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  11. Fonte, Bears (3 September 2015). "Interview: BLOOD PUNCH's Power Ranger Power Couple Talks Death, Deceit, and Double Takes". AM FM Studios Magazine. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  12. "Sirens at James Wenley's Auckland Theatre Blog". Retrieved 20 December 2011.
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