Olympia Valance

Olympia Montana Valance[1] (born 7 January 1993) is an Australian actress and model, whose roles include Paige Smith in the soap opera Neighbours (2014–2018, 2020) and Tahlia Woods in Playing For Keeps. For her role as Paige, Valance received a nomination for the Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent.

Olympia Valance
Born
Olympia Montana Valance

(1993-01-07) 7 January 1993
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
OccupationActress, model
Years active2014–present
Partner(s)Tom Bellchambers
Parent(s)Ross Wilson (step-father)
RelativesHolly Valance (half-sister)

Early life

Olympia Valance was born in Melbourne, Victoria on 7 January 1993 to Rajko Vukadinović, a model and musician, and Tania Gogos. Valance's father is Serbian and her mother is Greek Australian, the daughter of Chian immigrant Dimitri Gogos.[2] Her step-father is Australian musician Ross Wilson, who married her mother.[2][3] Valance has seven half-siblings;[4] Her older half-sister Holly Valance, with whom she shares Vukadinović as a father, is also a singer and an actress.[5][6] Valance attended Shelford Girls' Grammar School and studied at the Melbourne Actor's Lab.[3][7]

Career

In March 2014, it was announced that Valance would make her acting debut in the long-running soap opera Neighbours as Paige Smith.[5] Valance had been a successful model prior to her casting and won the role after going through a long audition process, which included four call-backs.[5][8] Her half-sister Holly previously appeared in the show as Felicity "Flick" Scully from 1999 until 2002.[5] Valance was initially contracted for three years and she made her screen debut as Paige on 2 June 2014.[9][10] Valance's portrayal of Paige earned her nominations for Most Popular New Talent at the Logie Awards[11] and Best Daytime Star at the Inside Soap Awards in 2015.[12] She appeared in a documentary special celebrating the show's 30th anniversary titled Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, which aired in Australia and the United Kingdom in March 2015.[13][14]

In December 2014, Valance became the new face and body of UK lingerie brand Gossard. Of her role, she said "The last year has been a whirlwind and to work with such an established name as Gossard is a dream come true. I absolutely love working on Neighbours and the fact that I am able to come over to England and do an incredible campaign like this is a credit to the show's following, both here and down under."[15] Valance has appeared in photo shoots for the brand's swimwear and lingerie collections, including their 2015 spring/summer campaign.[2][15] In July 2015, she became an ambassador for the Australian chocolate bar Cherry Ripe.[16][17]

In January 2016, Valance was the ambassador of the Jeep Marquee for the annual Jeep Portsea Polo event.[18] That same month, she revealed that she signed with California-based agency Roar after they came looking for her.[18] The agency also looks after fellow Australian actors Liam and Chris Hemsworth, who have both had successful careers in Hollywood.[18][19] Valance has expressed an interest in moving on from Neighbours once her three-year contract ends.[19] On 1 December 2017, it was announced that Valance had filmed her last scenes as Paige.[20] Wilson confirmed that Valance would be moving to Los Angeles in January 2018 to pursue film and television roles during pilot season.[21]

Valance joined the cast of Network Ten's sports drama Playing For Keeps in May 2018. She plays Tahlia, a socialite who is engaged to the captain of an Australian rules football team.[22] In January 2019, Network Ten announced Valance would compete on the sixteenth season of Dancing with the Stars.[23] Valance was paired with professional dancer Jarryd Byrne.[24] On 18 March 2019, they became the fourth pair to be eliminated, despite receiving a high score from the judges for their jive.[25]

In 2020, Valance will reprise her role as Paige for the show's 35th anniversary. She also became a judge on Australia's Got Talent: Challengers & Champions.[26]

Personal life

Valance is in a relationship with AFL Footballer Tom Bellchambers.[27]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2014–2018, 2020 Neighbours Paige Smith Main cast
2015 Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite Herself Documentary
2016 All Star Family Feud Herself Season 1, Episode 4[28]
2017 Have You Been Paying Attention? Herself Guest Quiz Master
2018– Playing For Keeps Tahlia Woods Main cast
2019 Dancing with the Stars Herself Contestant
2019 Hughesy, We Have a Problem Herself Celebrity Problem
2019 Celebrity Name Game Herself 2 episodes
2020 Australia's Got Talent: Challengers & Champions Herself Judge[29]
2020 Holey Moley Herself Sideline Reporter.[30]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2015 Logie Awards Most Popular New Talent Neighbours Nominated [11]
2015 Inside Soap Awards Best Daytime Star Nominated [12]
2015 TV Week and Soap Extra #OMGAwards Favourite Couple (Paige and Brennan) Nominated [31]
2015 TV Week and Soap Extra #OMGAwards Best Love Triangle (Brennan, Paige and Tyler) Nominated [31]
gollark: Ugh, consume apioids.
gollark: Actually, two driven jocks help fax my big quiz.
gollark: Well, it's obviously a rare orange Zoltan.
gollark: We also control the relevant projection matrices, heightening security.
gollark: We generalized our shelving into higher dimensions for greater information density.

References
  1. "Strictly Come Dancing 2011 – Celebrities – Holly Valance". BBC. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  2. "From Paige to Page 3 girl: Neighbours' girl next door Olympia Valance strips down to lingerie". The Daily Telegraph. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  3. "Olympia Valance joins Neighbours". Tenplay.com.au. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  4. "Olympia Valance joins Neighbours". web.archive.org. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  5. Vickery, Colin (9 March 2014). "Holly Valance's half-sister Olympia Valance to make acting debut on Neighbours". news.com.au. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  6. "Holly Candy and Olympia Valance make great sister act at Neighbours' 30th anniversary party". Hello. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. "Neos Kosmos supports education". Neoskosmos.com. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  8. Kilkelly, Daniel (12 May 2014). "Neighbours newcomer Olympia Valance on Paige role: 'I'm so lucky'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  9. Nutkins, Kirsty (5 July 2014). "Aussie actress Olympia Valance: 'Joining Neighbours was a dream come true'". The Daily Express. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  10. "Olympia Valance Shakes Up Ramsay Street". Tenplay.com.au. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  11. Willis, Charlotte (23 March 2015). "Logie Awards 2015: Nominees announced". news.com.au. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  12. Dainty, Sophie (14 July 2015). "Inside Soap Awards 2015 longlist revealed: Who's in line for Best Actor, Actress and Newcomer?". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  13. "Press release: The stars return to Neighbours". If Magazine. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  14. Kilkelly, Daniel (4 March 2015). "Neighbours 30th anniversary schedule confirmed by Channel 5". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  15. Kilkelly, Daniel (17 December 2014). "Neighbours star Olympia Valance is new face of lingerie brand Gossard". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  16. "Neighbours' Olympia Valance on conquering her body battles: 'I've lost 20 kilos'". The FIX. 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  17. "Cosmo met Neighbours star Olympia Valance to test her knowledge of all things Aussie". Cosmopolitan. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  18. Croffey, Amy (12 January 2016). "Neighbours' Olympia Valance signed by Chris and Liam Hemsworth's Hollywood agents". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  19. Dainty, Sophie (12 January 2016). "Neighbours star Olympia Valance signed by Hollywood agent: 'LA might be down the line'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  20. "Rocking into Ramsay Street". The Daily Telegraph. 1 December 2017. p. 75. It also marked Valance's last week of filming on Ramsay St. She is leaving the show to pursue overseas opportunities.
  21. Te Koha, Nui (3 December 2017). "Olympia Valance jets off to Hollywood after leaving Neighbours". Herald Sun. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  22. Isrin, Kietley (25 May 2018). "Exclusive: Former Neighbours star Olympia Valance on exciting new role". TV Week. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  23. Ten, Network. "Australia, Meet Your 2019 Stars | Dancing With The Stars TV Show". TenPlay. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  24. "Dancing With The Stars' Olympia Valance tells: "My body has never looked so good!"". TV Week. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  25. "Exclusive: Dancing With The Stars' Olympia Valance spills on her shock elimination". TV Week. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  26. Kelly, Vivienne. "Sonia Kruger and Kyle Sandilands join Seven's Australia's Got Talent judging panel". mumbrella.com.au. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  27. "'Life imitating art': Olympia Valance on playing a WAG and dating an AFL footballer in real life". The Sunday Times. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  28. Knox, David (1 April 2016). "All Star Family Feud: April 4". TV Tonight. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  29. https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2020/2/23/olympia-valance-joins-judging-panel-for-australias-got-talent
  30. https://www.inside7.com.au/swm-news/seven-tees-up-stars-for-holey-moley
  31. "#OMGAwards Who Will You Choose?". TV Week Soap Extra (19): 24–27. 3–16 September 2015.
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