Grace Mana Morrell Palmer (born 9 November 1994) is a New Zealand actress, best known for her role as Lucy Rickman on the prime-time soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

''.

Early life

Palmer was born in

Tai Tapu Tai Tapu, previously known as Taitapu, is a small town adjacent to the Halswell River and nestled in the Port Hills, located 6 km east of the town of Lincoln, New Zealand, Lincoln and 18 km south west of Christchurch in the Canterbury ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

to parents Tony Palmer and

Janine Morrell-Gunn Janine Rania Morrell-Gunn (née Morrell) is a children's television producer from New Zealand. She is a Māori of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi. Biography Morrell-Gunn grew up in Christchurch and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Univer ...

, both of whom are television producers. Her mother is a

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

of the

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

, while her father is of

New Zealand European European New Zealanders, also known by the Māori-language loanword Pākehā, are New Zealanders of European descent. Most European New Zealanders are of British and Irish ancestry, with significantly smaller percentages of other European a ...

descent. Palmer attended St Margaret's College, where she studied

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, then moved to Sydney, Australia to take acting courses while working at a bar.

Career

Palmer's first television role came in 2014 with a guest appearance as Monique Wu on the Australian show '' Home and Away''. She went on to play her most notable television role on ''Shortland Street'' as Lucy Rickman from 2014 to 2017. She made her Hollywood debut as Deb in the 2018 film '' Adrift'' starring

Shailene Woodley Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. Born in San Bernardino, California, Woodley was raised in Simi Valley, and started modeling at the age of four and began acting professionally in minor television roles. She ...

and

Sam Claflin Samuel George Claflin (born 27 June 1986) is an English actor. After graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2009, he began his acting career on television and had his first film role as Philip Swift in '' Pirates of th ...

. In 2020 she created and co-starred in comedy web series ''Good Grief'', alongside her sister Eve Palmer. In 2022, Palmer appeared on ''

The Masked Singer NZ ''The Masked'' ''Singer NZ'' is a New Zealand reality singing competition television show based on the '' Masked Singer'' franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show ''King of Mask Singer''. It premiered on Three on 9 Ma ...

'' as a New Zealand possum, getting eliminated in Episode 6. In 2023, she co-starred with Joel Mchale in the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by Fox C ...

comedy “ Animal Control (TV series)”.

Personal life

Palmer has three siblings, including television presenter and actress Eve Palmer. She is the stepdaughter of New Zealand television and radio presenter

Jason Gunn Jason Gunn (born 26 December 1968) is a New Zealand television and radio personality. He is known for '' The Son of a Gunn Show, What Now, Dancing with the Stars, Wheel of Fortune'', and ''The Rich List'', and also afternoon shows on radio sta ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * 1994 births Living people New Zealand film actresses New Zealand television actresses New Zealand Māori actresses New Zealand Māori people New Zealand soap opera actresses 21st-century New Zealand actresses People from Tai Tapu Ngāti Kahungunu people People educated at St Margaret's College {{NewZealand-actor-stub