Nadia Townsend on:  
[Wikipedia]  
[Google]  
[Amazon]
Nadia Townsend (born 27 November 1979) is an Australian actress and film
dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...
. She portrayed Allie Kingston in the
Channel 7 police drama, ''
City Homicide
''City Homicide'' is an Australian television drama series that aired on the Seven Network between 27 August 2007 and 30 March 2011. The series was set on the Homicide floor of a metropolitan police headquarters in Melbourne. The main characte ...
'', from 2009 to 2011. In 2009 she appeared in the United States produced science fiction thriller film, ''
Knowing'', playing Grace Koestler, alongside Nicolas Cage and
Rose Byrne
Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...
. She was assistant dramaturge on
George Miller's film, ''
Mad Max: Fury Road'' (2015).
Biography
Nadia Townsend was born in Sydney on 27 November 1979 and lived in
Gladesville
Gladesville is a suburb in the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gladesville is located 10 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde a ...
, the younger daughter of television presenter, producer and print journalist,
Simon Townsend
Simon Townsend (born 27 November 1945) is an Australian journalist who became a popular television host during the 1980s. He is now retired.
Vietnam War conscientious objector
In the mid-1960s whilst living in Woy Woy and working as a colum ...
(born 1945) and his second wife Rosanna ( 1950–2003).
She grew up with an elder brother (born 1978).
Their elder half-sister Lisbeth Kennelly (born 1968), had been put up for adoption soon after she was born: her parents (Simon and a former girlfriend) had already separated.
The Townsend family were reunited with Kennelly in 1992, she had also become an actress.
As a child, Towsend began ballet lessons but was removed for talking too much.
For secondary education she attended
Hunters Hill High School
(Latin for ''Work for Higher Endeavour'')
, established = 1958
, type = Public, co-educational, secondary, day school
, principal = G. Lill
, city = Hunters Hill
, state = New South Wales
, country = Australia
, ...
,
where she befriended fellow future actress,
Rose Byrne
Mary Rose Byrne (born 24 July 1979) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film ''Dallas Doll'' (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role i ...
, in a year 9 Science class.
Townsend studied at the
Australian Theatre for Young People
Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is a not-for-profit national youth theatre company located in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1964 by Eleanor Witcombe.
History
The first committee was formed in 1964 and co ...
, Sydney.
After meeting visiting United States film and theatre actor, producer and director,
Robert Bella, at age 18, she was accepted as a student at his
Atlantic Theater Company
Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater, whose mission is to produce great plays "simply and truthfully utilizing an artistic ensemble." The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their actin ...
, New York.
[Laurie Foell
Laurie Foell (born Laurence Foel on 10 February 1968) is an Argentinian-born Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayal of both Angela "Angie" Russell and her cousin Josie, in the successful Australian television soap opera ''Ho ...]
production, ''Chambres'', in March–April 2000 at
Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre,
Surry Hills
Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surroun ...
.
Her first television role was playing Clare Gormley in the ABC drama series, ''
Head Start'' (2001) for 18 episodes.
Townsend took the role of Bec in
Matt Bird
Matt Bird is an Australian film director.
Biography
Matt Bird is a Sydney-based director who in February 2013 became the first filmmaker to be selected as a Tropfest finalist for 3 consecutive years, the world’s largest short film festival ...
-directed horror thriller film, ''Blue Neon'' (2001).
She appeared in ''
Fireflies
The Lampyridae are a family (biology), family of Elateroidea, elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are bioluminescence, light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, ...
'' (February–June 2004) as Fiona "Fifi" Sharp, a rural fire-fighter, for ABC-TV, which was produced by
John Edwards
Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...
.
Townsend and her half-sister, Kennelly both acted in a theatre drama, ''Loss and Gloss'' (December 2004), co-written by mother-daughter writers, Helen and Sophie Townsend.
She took the lead role of Liz, an abductee, in the
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
feature film, ''
Puppy
A puppy is a juvenile dog. Some puppies can weigh , while larger ones can weigh up to . All healthy puppies grow quickly after birth. A puppy's coat color may change as the puppy grows older, as is commonly seen in breeds such as the Yorksh ...
'' (2005), alongside
Bernard Curry
Bernard Curry (born 27 March 1974) is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Jake Stewart in Wentworth, Luke Handley in Neighbours and Hugo Austin in Home and Away.
Career
Curry first appeared in ''Neighbours'' in 1995 as Luke Handle ...
as her abductor.
In 2008, Townsend relocated to Melbourne to study at the
Victorian College of the 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 ...
gaining her post-graduate degree in theatre directing.
In 2009, Townsend appeared in the US-produced film, ''
Knowing'', playing Grace Koestler, opposite Hollywood star
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...
and Byrne. From August 2009, she portrayed a detective, Allie Kingston, in the
Channel 7 police drama, ''
City Homicide
''City Homicide'' is an Australian television drama series that aired on the Seven Network between 27 August 2007 and 30 March 2011. The series was set on the Homicide floor of a metropolitan police headquarters in Melbourne. The main characte ...
'', starting in its
third season in the episode, "Meet and Greet".
She continued the role in
season four (2010) and its mini-series continuation, ''
City Homicide: No Greater Honour'' (2011).
In June 2013, she appeared in the theatre production of
Neil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American playwright, film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is best-known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, ''In the Company of Men'' (1997), which won awards from the Sundance Fi ...
's ''Helter Skelter'' at Old 505 Theatre, Surry Hills.
She is also a film
dramaturge
A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...
, a rare job in Australia; she had been mentored by
Nico Lathouris
Nico Lathouris is an Australian-born actor and writer of Greek descent.
Life and career
Lathouris has worked on the television series ''Police Rescue''. He appeared in George Miller's film ''Mad Max'' (1979) as a car mechanic. He also ran film ...
.
In 2015, she was assistant dramaturge to Lathouris on
George Miller's latest instalment of the Mad Max franchise, ''
Mad Max: Fury Road''.
She is a co-founding member of Turtle Lab, a performance laboratory.
In 2016, she appeared in the TV sci-fi thriller film, ''
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
'', playing Emma Laws.
"Nadia turns to ''Restoration''"
/ref>
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Nadia
Living people
Australian film actresses
Australian television actresses
Australian stage actresses
1979 births
Actresses from Sydney
Victorian College of the Arts alumni