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Canberra Today 14°/16° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / From Hughes to Hollywood

THE bright lights of Hollywood are calling actress Liv Hewson to star in an upcoming web series this month.

Liv Hewson… “One of the good things about Canberra is that it gives you the means to build your own opportunities.”
Liv Hewson… “One of the good things about Canberra is that it gives you the means to build your own opportunities.”
Nineteen-year-old Liv, from Hughes, has been training in Los Angeles through the Professional Actors Masterclass, an internationally renowned acting program she was recommended to apply for after attending classes through the Australian Institute for Performing Arts.

She has since signed with a top management firm and will star in a “tongue-in-cheek” web series called “Validate Me”.

“It’s an amazing opportunity and I’m honoured to be included,” she says. “The web series is a project in development driven by young actors creating content with a view to wider distribution in the future.

“We’re playing with the absurdity of the industry we work in and the anxiety that is rife in it, but also the joy of what we do.

“I’m really excited to be bouncing ideas off each other and supporting each other in getting material off the ground.

“The course teaches you a lot about performing and also prepares you for the reality of such a big and challenging workplace. It’s great to have space to learn about the specifics of how media is made in a place like Los Angeles, which can feel intimidating and scary if you’re not equipped with the right information.”

At the age of 14, Liv decided she wanted to pursue acting seriously and joined the Canberra Youth Theatre, a group she believes gives young performers the skills for a successful career in acting.

She has since done theatre and screen work and has won a Canberra Area Theatre (CAT) Award.

“One of the good things about Canberra is that it gives you the means to build your own opportunities,” she says.

“The Youth Theatre is wonderful in giving young performers the skill set required to generate their own work and survive as arts practitioners anywhere they choose.

“Festivals like ‘You Are Here’ and programs like The Street Theatre’s ‘First Seen’ are great opportunities for developing artists to get their work off the ground. You certainly have to put yourself out there and do the work, but I think it’s important to be able to do that”.

Liv, who credits Aussie actress Cate Blanchett as her main inspiration, hopes to use her own theatre training as a foundation for further screen acting and thinks moving to Los Angeles is a great opportunity.

“The chance to work and create new stories and characters with talented peers is just awesome,’ she says.

“It’s massive in terms of skill development and it’s a huge step forward for all of us.

“I would love to work on an independent film, they are beautifully complex and important stories are being told in that scene right now, which I would love to be a part of.

“I’m really passionate about the presence of complex and fully imagined women on screen. Ideally, I would love to be in a place of telling stories about real people who aren’t being represented.”

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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