Louise Siversen is an Australian actress. She is known for her television roles, including Lou Kelly in ''

Prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

'' (1984–1986), Debbie in ''

The Flying Doctors ''The Flying Doctors'' is an Australian drama TV series produced by Crawford Productions that revolves around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, starring Andrew McFarlane as the newly arrived Dr. T ...

'' (1986–1990), and 2012-2017 Heather Looby in '' House Husbands''. She has also appeared on stage and in film.

Training

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Siversen began acting as a child after her parents sent her to dance and drama classes to help her overcome her shyness. Siversen began to enjoy acting and went on to perform with St Martins Youth Theatre, appearing in many productions. Siversen was to study law, but decided to stick with acting after attending a Career Day at university. Siversen has also trained in

jazz dance Jazz dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the mid 20th century. Jazz dance may allude to vernacular jazz about to Broadway or dramatic jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of dance ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

Career

Television

Siversen is best known for her portrayal of nasty Louise "Lou" Kelly in the

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

series ''

''. Siversen had done several bit-parts in the series and at the time the character of Lou was devised and had been a regular extra for several months, playing one of the prisoners. Siversen auditioned, and got the part. Lou quickly became one of the main characters of the series and had a run of three years. Her other TV credits include ''

'', ''

Halifax f.p. ''Halifax f.p.'' is an Australian television crime series produced by Nine Network from 1994 to 2002. The series stars Rebecca Gibney as Doctor Jane Halifax, a forensic psychiatrist investigating cases involving the mental state of suspects or ...

'', ' Sugar and Spice'', '' BackBerner'', ''

MDA MDA, mda, or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Moldova, a country in Europe with the ISO 3166-1 country code MDA Politics * Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (2018), ruling coalition government in the Indian State of Meghalaya led by National Pe ...

'', '' All Saints'', ''

Janus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janu ...

'', '' Rush'', '' Special Squad'' and '' House Husbands''. Siversen in 2021 gave an in depth interview about her time on Prisoner and her career on the podcast series Talking Prisoner, where she talked about her career, her hobbies and voice acting.

Film

She appeared in the 1989

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

Houseboat Horror ''Houseboat Horror'' is a 1989 Australian slasher film that was shot on video, and then released to video in 1989. It is often described by critics and audiences as one of the worst Australian films ever made. Plot A film crew composed of med ...

''.

Stage

Siversen appeared in several productions for the

Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD. ...

and the

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre compa ...

. She also wrote her one-woman show ''Coming to My Senses'' in 1993. In 2017 she played Dotty/Mrs Clacket in

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the Mo ...

's ''

Noises Off ''Noises Off'' is a 1982 play by the English playwright Michael Frayn. Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching from the wings a performance of '' The Two of Us'', a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave. He said, "It was funnier ...

'' for the

and

Queensland Theatre Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Browne Theatre and the Queensland Performi ...

."Noises Off (Queensland Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company)"
by Bronwyn Lea, 13 June 2017, '' Australian Book Review'' She teaches drama at the

Victorian College of Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Personal life

Siversen is married to Theo. They live in Melbourne. Siversen has been an Iyengar Yoga student for over 15 years and is also an avid walker, having walked the Camino Frances in Spain in 2009 an 800 km walk across Northern Spain.

References

External links

* * Louise Siversen o
Instagram
*
Profile
at Creative Representation 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses Australian film actresses Australian soap opera actresses Australian stage actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Actresses from Melbourne {{Australia-tv-actor-stub