Hello!
I'm an Australian Actress and Restaurateur based in L.A. I grew up in restaurants, and oddly enough – my performance career also started here.
When my parents would close the family restaurant for a staff Christmas party, I saw opportunity for entertainment.
I would move tables and chairs aside and "surprise" everyone as I appeared as one character or another. Holding my audience captive, I would force an interlude on their party with a show I had been secretly planning for weeks. One time a cowgirl, courtesy of a Melbourne showbag costume, the next regaling the songs from my favourite musicals.
The movies then came to me in the early 90's when the Australian film 'Proof' starring Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker, Muriel's Wedding) was filmed in my family's restaurant. This gave my young self a true understanding of (and amazement for) the craft, both in front of and behind the camera. I knew this world was the place for me.
Years of performance study and independent productions later, my screen debut came in 2002 in the black and white short film 'The Way Back' by multi-award winning Producer Lizzette Atkins. This went on to win the Golden Gate Award Narrative Short at the San Francisco International Film Festival in the following year.
Guest appearances followed on popular Australian series 'Blue Heelers', 'Last Man Standing' and the series finale of 'The Secret Life of Us'; the three-time silver Logie Award-winning Australian television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia which screened in Australia on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK.
Recently I had a recurring role as Maria Buraczek on the iconic soap opera 'Neighbours', the longest running drama series in Australian television.
2017 also saw me cast as Italian-speaking immigrant Carmella Colonna in the period drama series 'The Doctor Blake Mysteries'.
Requiring that I speak only in Italian, I performed alongside talented Actor, Comedian, Director and Producer Frank Lotito (my on screen husband) and had the privilege of working with award winning director Fiona Banks. 'A Good Drop' premiered on ABC TV in mid 2017.
This was not the first time I've had the pleasure of lending my bilingual skills to a role. In 2004, I appeared in the comic role of a Sicilian waitress in the multi-award winning eight part television documentary 'John Safran vs God' which was broadcast on SBS TV of Australia.
My introduction to the world of web series was via the key Supporting Role of Chloe in web series 'Subclass 417', which was produced in conjunction with and distributed by Melbourne Web Series Festival. This amazing team and production went on to win a heap of awards both nationally and internationally, and lead me to roles in a number of other web series, including a surprise cameo co-host gig in Max De Bowen's "Inside Web Series".
Filmmakers have frequently cast me in period pieces of the glamorous 40s, 50s and 60s, and I certainly don't mind getting dolled up like a Hollywood icon. I starred in dance-punk duo DZ Deathrays’ music video for TripleJ Hottest 100 track, 'Gina Works At Hearts'. My performance in the role of Gina was quoted as "seductive, tragic and addictive"; a vision of Director, Noel Smyth, drawing out a nasty twisted tale:
“Striking a pose halfway between 40s burlesque and a neon-tinted strip club nightmare, we’re first introduced to Gina (played by Linda Jean Bruno) as a talented and beautiful singer, backed by a small jazz band made up of DZ’s Simon and Shane. However all is not as it seems, as the video follows the track’s titular protagonist and slowly reveals the true sad reality of her life.”
In 2017 I went on to appear in my first Australian independent feature film as Diamond in 'The Last Supper Of The Damned', which won the 2017 Orson Welles award at the California Film Awards.
I believe I owe my various styles and techniques to life and training in Europe, the United States and Australia, and on set where I am constantly developing my craft. I've trained with renowned Hollywood acting coach Margie Haber (who has promised me she'll be my wedding celebrant in Italy one day), the late, darling Elizabeth Kemp, Abbe Holmes and practised extensively with the well-respected screen acting Director, Writer, coach and life-changer Aleksi Vellis of Film Space. I have also frequented courses at Victorian College of the Arts, National Theatre Drama School, Howard Fine Acting Studio and am a regular student at 16th Street Acting Studio in Melbourne.
Attending Los Angeles comedy institutes; The Second City, Lesly Kahn and Groundlings has extended my training in the challenging and exciting realm of comedic improvisation. Although - I feel like my life is a dramedy, so that was a pretty easy transition!
I was surprised to have been voted as one of the "most beautiful undiscovered Australian actresses" on IMDB in 2012. It must have been by one of my two fans(!). You should join them - up until now it seems to be an exclusive group...
