2008 Graduates Advanced Diploma of Arts in Stage and Screen Acting
Geri Berman
Geri was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa and has always had an incredible passion for the arts. She studied Drama, English and Film at the University of Cape Town before being accepted into the Actors College of Theatre and Television in 2005 to complete “The Core”. She was very excited to remain in Sydney after 2005 to further her acting skills after being enrolled in the Advanced Diploma course. She has played diverse roles such as Natalya Patrovna from Ivan Turgenuv’s A Month in the Country, and Elizabeth from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Geri has continued to push the boundaries as a performer and has thus grown with dynamism as an actor. She remains passionate to continue her pursuit of the arts in Australia.
Tara Clark
Tara’s interests within the arts are wide and varied. She has performed as a dancer in both ballroom and jazz styles, as a musician on bass guitar and drums, as a magician, a juggler, orator and actor. If not acting, on stage or screen Tara has dabbled in writing, directing, cinematography and production and costume design. Her passion is in seeing creative ideas realised, no matter what they be. During her time at the ACTT she has played Vesna from “In Angel Gear“, Amelia Sedley from the stage adaptation of “Vanity Fair“ and Anna Karenina from the epic adaptation of the same name.
Elise Conway
Through her time at ACTT Elise has taken on many dramatic roles ranging from “Lizzie” in Wolf Lullaby, aged 10; to “Beatrice” in View From a Bridge, aged 45. Whether it is a scripted character such as “Twiggy Entwistle” from Bombshells or her self devised “Nadia“ from last years Cabaret, her comedic skills will leave you rolling on the floor gasping for air. She has a tunnel vision when it comes to her passion for acting and is as dedicated and driven as they come. Taking from her knowledge she has received by the A-list tutors at ACTT, she also part time teaches drama to beginners. Some of her passions outside of acting are tennis, drums, concert going and Pilates.
Mark Dessaix
Mark has been developing his performance skills since the age of 8 as a way of standing out amongst his siblings. Growing up in a house of Rugby League and dressups he was terrible at one and enthusiastic about the other. As you can see, he is not playing for the Roosters. He began taking this love seriously when he Joined the Forest Youth Theatre Company at the age of 17 and went on to play lead roles on The Venetian Twins, Dimboola and Les Misrables. He started working on classic texts with the Crossbow Theatre Company in Mary Queen of Scots, Measure for Measure and Much Ado About Nothing. In between plays he has travelled and lived throughout Australia, the UK, Ireland, Asia and Europe. He has suspended all travelling urges to focus on his time at ACTT and has been fortunate to have a taste of roles such as Uncle Vanya, John Proctor and the loveable underdog William Dobbin in Vanity Fair. He likes swimming, running and climbing trees. His favourite sound is thunder, his favourite colour is Light Blue – but not too light.
Layla Estasy
Layla joined the Actors College following a journey rich with creative exploration. Her tenacity and passion for craft has lead her to seek and benefit from some of the best tutoring and training on offer. Following her involvement with London’s Internationally acclaimed Shared Experience, she found a new home at Australia’s flagship youth theatre, ATYP, which provided her with the honour of performing at the Sydney Opera House as part of the 2004 Sydney Festival. Having already relished the chance to work with such visionaries as Gavin Robbins and Jo Turner, among others, Layla is currently rehearsing as La Poncia in Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, under the direction of Maeliosa Stafford.
Kieran Foster
Kieran Foster’s first production was with Shopfront Theatre in 1998 where he co-wrote and starred in ‘Rated X’, playing the role of STEVE. The show was a success and went on a National tour in 1999, playing at High Schools across the country. The following year Kieran studied drama full-time at ACA. In 2002 Kieran worked on a variety of television shows and ads in small parts, including ‘Home & Away’ and ‘Coca Cola’. In 2003 Kieran played BEN, one of the lead characters in ‘Go West’ at Riverside Theatre, Parramatta. ‘Go West’ returned in 2004 for a second season at SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross. In 2006 Kieran enrolled in the 3 Year Full-Time Advanced Diploma at the Actors College Of Theatre & Television. During this time he has played the roles of CHANCE WAYNE in ‘Sweet Bird Of Youth’, MIKE/FRANKIE in ‘A Lie Of The Mind’, TORVALD HELMER in ‘A Dolls House’ and DAN in ‘Closer’.
Jesseca Hodgson
Creative and enthusiastic since childhood, Jess has always loved the arts, surrounding herself with dance, singing and acting. In 1999 she landed the leading role in the musical ‘The No- Where Boy’ and it was this role that started her active pursuit of the arts. After moving from Melbourne to Sydney in 2000 she was fortunate enough to be accepted as a new high school graduate into the Actors College of Theatre and Television in 2006. Throughout her time at ACTT she has been cast in various roles in cabarets, film projects and theatre productions such as ‘Mary Warren’, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, ‘Hope’ Louis Nowra’s The Jungle and ‘Becky Sharp’- Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. Jess is loving the challenges that studying at ACTT brings, developing her personal craft and understanding who she is as an actor. Jesseca is more passionate about acting now than she has ever been and hopes to use her talent to impact the lives of others.
Naomi Livingstone
Naomi was working in advertising sales when she realised she could no longer ignore her passion for acting, first ignited in high school drama class.It was an evening short acting course at ACTT that offered her escape from the office grind, inspiration and a real sense of being creatively alive that drove Naomi to pursue acting as a vocation. Now completing the Advanced Diploma of Arts in Stage and Screen Acting, Naomi has appeared in college productions as Nikki in Louis Nowra’s The Jungle, Joan in Shaw’s Saint Joan, Anna in Patrick Marber’s Closer and Abigail in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible amongst others. Naomi also has a solid background in Dance, having studied Classical, Modern, Tap and Jazz at David Atkins’ Dynamite Dance Studios. She brings a dancer’s discipline into her work and is grateful to this training for giving her a physical vocabulary in which to explore character. Naomi has a BA in Communications/Journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney and a Post-graduate certificate in Commerce/Media Sales from the University of New South Wales.
Silvana Lorenzo De Shute
A performer by nature, Silvana was born and raised in Sydney, acting in school plays and entertaining anyone who’d watch. She carried this love of spectacle to South America when she returned with her parents to their native Uruguay. Having returned to Australia not long after, Silvana maintained her interest in the creative arts, completing a certificate in 2D CAD & Fashion Design but yearned to return to performance. After her HSC, she embarked on a Bachelor of Arts Degree at USYD. Unsatisfied she decided to pursue her passion wholeheartedly and she took several short courses at NIDA, Attic Studios (Glebe), The Actors Centre (POA) and even at The Birmingham School of Speech & Drama (BSSD) in the UK. With ACTT and beyond, Silvana has since played many roles including Harper – Angels in America, Sandra – The Boys, Beth – A Lie of The Mind and Gloria and Bev in The Jungle. She’ll next be playing Magdalena under the direction of Moelisa Stafford in Fedrico García Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba.
Andy Madden
Andy spent his childhood split between Australia and Ireland and subsequently grew up with a love of both sport and the arts.While always having and interest in acting appearing in various high school productions including Romeo and Juliet and An Ideal Husband it was not until he returned from a year traveling after finishing his HSC in 2002, that he decided to pursue a career in acting. While his time at ACTT Andy has enjoyed playing roles such as Astrov from Uncle Vanya, Eddie from View From The Bridge,and more recently the roles of Metzger and Sean from Louis Nowra’s The Jungle directed by Pete Nettel. Andy influences include Steven Berkoff and David Mamet. Andy hopes to one day relocate to England where he would like to work with contemporary playwrights such as Jez Butterworth and Roy Williams.
Oleg Pupovac
Originally from Serbia, Oleg studied in American schools around the Middle East where he was exposed to many high school musicals and plays. It was in Beirut where he discovered his love for performing which led him to pursue a career in acting. At ACTT Oleg has played numerous roles including Bernie from David Mamet’s Sexual Pervesity in Chicago and Tom Junior from Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth. He is looking forward to completing his final year and testing the Australian market, where he hopes to venture off into other shades of the performing arts such as writing, directing and producing.
Salman Shad
After attending Hunter School of Performing Arts and traveling the world gaining life experience Salman then found his way back to Australia where he decided to take his acting training to a professional level. In 2006 he successfully auditioned for the Advanced Diploma at ACTT after hearing about the College’s unique acting methods and diverse teaching styles. Salman has been involved in productions such as Cowboy Mouth, Rocket to the Moon, Hamlet, Little Shop of Horrors and Guys and Dolls.
Lâle Teoman
Lâle first took to the stage at age 13 in a production of ‘Peter Pan’ at ‘The Brooke Theatre’ in The Blue Mountains. She then went on to perform in ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ at ‘The Everglades Garden Theatre’ with ‘Too Many Women Productions’. Throughout her High School years she took courses at ‘ATYP’, as well as performing in High School productions of ‘The Tempest’, ‘Sun Kisses’, and ‘Sweet Road’. After finishing school she moved to Sydney where she completed a course at ACA before starting the three year advanced diploma at the ‘Actors College of Theatre and Television’. During her time at ACTT, Lâle has had the pleasure of working with directors such as Gavin Robins, Maeliosa Stafford, Aarne Neeme, and Patrick Dickson. She is currently in rehearsals for the production of ‘The Jungle’ with director Pete Nettell.
Helen Vienne
Helen has had an interest in the performing arts from an early age. She was enrolled in westside performing arts at age eight and was involved in many musical productions such as the wizard of oz, Hans Christian Anderson, The King and I and Grease. Helen began taking classes at The Australian Theatre for Young People at age 12 and continued there until age 17. She also excelled in her high school drama studies and was ranked first in the course for both her preliminary and HSC year. Her time at ACTT has been one of great growth and has opened up her horizons as a performing artist.
Tanisha Williams
With a drama teacher as a mother it was hard for Tanisha not to fall in love with acting at a young age. After graduating from high school, she moved to Sydney to pursue her acting career. She has completed many short courses at ATYP and Re-Actor at Fox studios and played the roles of Julie and Crista in Steven Sewell’s Dust directed by Kim Hardwick. After successfully auditioning for ACTT in 2006, she has performed numerous roles including Anna Petrovna in Chekhov’s Ivanov, Lorraine in Sam Shepard’s ‘A Lie Of The Mind’ and Miss Pinkerton and Mr Sedley in William Thackeray‘s ‘A Vanity Fair’. Tanisha is looking forward to completing her final year at ACTT and professionally entering the acting industry.
