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Georgina Naidu

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Georgina Naidu
Naidu in 2017
OccupationActress
Years active1990–present

Georgina Naidu is an Australian actress, stage writer and university lecturer. From Melbourne, she began acting from an early age and completed her professional training with the Victorian College of the Arts in 1994. She began her film career taking small roles, such as Mary in the 1998 film Dead Letter Office. Her television career has also been formed of many guest roles in Australian drama series. Her role as Phrani Gupta in the 1998 Australian Broadcasting Corporation drama SeaChange heightened her profile. The actress continued to play numerous roles in film and television over the two decades that followed. She also studied law and became a university lecturer.

Naidu has often concentrated on theatre work and has starred in many theatrical productions. She also writes plays and in 2005 she opened her one-woman show, Yellowfeather, at the Sydney Opera House. Her show is an autobiographical piece that focuses on her life and went on to tour internationally. In 2011, she appeared as Georgina in the drama At Home With Julia and the show's cast won an 2012 Equity Ensemble Award. In 2017, Naidu secured the main role of Helena Chatterjee in Newton's Law, which aired on the ABC network. Other ongoing roles included Marla in The Time of Our Lives and Toni Chadha in the drama series Playing for Keeps. In 2019, Naidu reprised her role in SeaChange and continued appearing in numerous Australian drama series.

Early life

Naidu is from Melbourne and has Anglo-Indian ancestry.[1] Naidu has claimed that her family knew she wanted to act following an impromptu dance piece at the age of three.[2] She took part in amateur acting from 1984 until 1991 with the St Martin's Youth Theatre in South Yarra, Victoria.[3] Naidu went to the Victorian College of the Arts and graduated in 1994.[4] She had also trained at Prahran College of Performing Arts in 1991.[3] One of her early roles came in 1990, when she played an extra in the Paul Cox film Golden Braid.[3] She later studied law at La Trobe University.[5] When she first started attending auditions Naidu was shocked because she felt that casting directors were "pigeon holing" her because of her ethnicity. After her first year of auditioning she became passionate about trying to change things.[6]

Career

Naidu has taken part in various theatre productions over her career in-between securing roles in television and film.[3] Her television career began with small roles in the children's shows The Gift and Lift Off. Then came a guest role in the Australian drama series G.P.[2][3] She soon gained a supporting role in the 1998 film Dead Letter Office as the office worker Mary.[7][8] The actress also secured other guest roles in the late 1990s in the films Road to Nhill, Mallboy and the television series Blue Heelers.[2]

In 1998, Naidu secured one of her most prominent television roles, playing Phrani Gupta in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation drama SeaChange. The role made her a favourite with viewers.[9][10] Naidu liked the role because Phrani is not a clichéd Indian woman, adding that "[Phrani] is industrious, has good business sense and can turn her hand to anything."[2] At the time Australian actors organised a strike over pay disputes. Her SeaChange co-star Kevin Harrington claimed that Naidu had been underpaid by those in charge of the programme.[11]

Following SeaChange Naidu secured guest roles in Blue Heelers, Stingers, Guinevere Jones and Something in the Air.[3][12] She appeared in six more theatrical productions during 2003 and 2004.[12] She then played various roles in the Belvoir production of Run Rabbit Run, at the Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, and continued to pursue on camera work, taking a role in legal and medical drama MDA and acted in the short film Tackle.[12]

Naidu also writes theatre productions. On 20 September 2005, her autobiographical play Yellowfeather opened at the Sydney Opera House.[13] It was delivered as a one-woman show and featured Naidu documenting her life with a comedic tone.[14][1] The full stage production toured around Australia and then internationally.[14] The following year she appeared in Gorkem Acaroglu's live stage documentary The Habib Show.[15]

In the ten years that followed, Naidu continued to secure guest roles on various Australian television series including Tripping Over, Satisfaction, City Homicide, Mr & Mrs Murder, The Time of Our Lives, Winners & Losers and The Beautiful Lie.[16] She also played Paula in the 2009 film The Boys Are Back.[17] That year she also returned to the theatrical stage for The Melbourne Town Players production of Attract/Repel.[18] In 2011, she appeared in the ABC1 drama At Home With Julia as Georgina.[3] The show's cast won a 2012 Equity Ensemble Award for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast in a Television Comedy Series".[19] 2013 saw her return to theatre with the stage tour of Ganesh Versus The Third Reich.[20]

In 2016, Naidu guest starred in Offspring, Wentworth and Please Like Me.[16][21] That year in August it was announced that Naidu had secured the main role of Helena Chatterjee in Newton's Law and had begun filming.[22] The series debuted on 9 February 2017 on the ABC network and it was created by Deb Cox, who also created SeaChange.[23] Also in 2017, she took another main theatre role in Lally Katz's production Minnie & Liraz and made a guest appearance in the season finale of Rosehaven, playing Jocelyn.[21][24] She also had a part portraying a university lecturer in the film Ali's Wedding.[14][3] Naidu secured the supporting role of Toni Chadha in the 2018 Network Ten drama series Playing for Keeps.[25] She then made a guest appearance in an episode of Network Ten's How to Stay Married.[26]

In 2019, Naidu reprised her role as Phrani Gupta for a new series of SeaChange.[27] 2021 saw Naidu play several roles on Australian television. She played Alison Chen in ABC's drama series Harrow, Alice Pike in ABC's comedy Fisk and Prisha Kapoor in the Netflix mini-series Clickbait.[27] She then took on the role of school teacher Mrs Allen in Paramount+ comedy drama Spreadsheet.[27] In 2022, she took on the role of Aunty Barb in SBS drama, A Beginner's Guide to Greif.[27]

Naidu is a member of the Main Stage Green Room Panel which helps recognise talent in theatre productions and a member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance Equity Diversity Committee.[14] She also works as a university lecturer and legal researcher.[14]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Golden Braid Diner Film extra
1995 G.P. Henrietta Guest role
1995 God I Missed You Baby Lina Short film
1997 Road to Nhill Dr. Ewing Film
1998 Dead Letter Office Mary Film
1998–2000, 2019 SeaChange Phrani Gupta Supporting role
1999 Blue Heelers Bronywn Salter Guest role
2000 Mallboy Lipstick Woman Film
2000 Cheek to Cheek Katherine Davenport Short film
2002 Stingers Dr. Baragwanath Guest role
2002 Something in the Air Ms. Gibbs Guest role
2002 Guinevere Jones Marion Haynes Guest role
2003 MDA Siobhan Ray Guest role
2004 Tackle Susan Short film
2005 Blue Heelers Rosallie Parker Guest role
2006 Tripping Over Dr. Ngabo Guest role
2009 Dirt Game Doctor Guest role
2009 The Boys Are Back Paula Film
2010 Satisfaction Angela Bangrove Guest role
2011 City Homicide Nazia Durrani Guest role
2011 At Home With Julia Georgina Main role
2013 Mr & Mrs Murder Janine Guest role
2013 Vessel Devon Guest role
2013 The Time of Our Lives Marla Guest role
2013–2014 Winners & Losers Dr. Naveena Malik Guest role
2015 The Beautiful Lie Joni Guest role
2016 Wentworth Dr. Chappell Guest role
2016 Offspring Linda Mason Guest role
2016 Please Like Me Nurse Guest role
2017 How to Life Dr. Kathleen Guest role
2017 Newton's Law Helena Chatterjee Main role
2017 Ali's Wedding University Lecturer Film
2017, 2020 Rosehaven Jocelyn Guest role
2018 Playing for Keeps Toni Chadha Guest role
2018 How to Stay Married Principal Vencat Guest role
2021 Harrow Alison Chen Guest role
2021 Fisk Alice Pike Guest role
2021 Clickbait Prisha Kapoor Guest role
2021 Spreadsheet Mrs Allen Guest role
2022 A Beginner's Guide to Grief Aunty Barb Guest role
2022 Run Rabbit Run Andrea Movie
2023 Love Me [28] Sonia 2 episodes
2023 Warnie Tribunal Lawyer 1 episode
2023 In Limbo Shenali 6 episodes
Sources:[3][27]

References

  1. ^ a b Ross, Kay. "Media details". caap.org.au. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "SeaChange – Georgina Naidu". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 October 2000. Archived from the original on 18 October 2000. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Georgina Naidu" (PDF). Lisa Mann Creative Management. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  4. ^ Kary, David (8 April 2006). "Monthly Archives: April 2006". Sydney Arts Guide. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  5. ^ "The 24 Hour Experience by Em Andersenn". Pozible. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. ^ Menon, Aneeta (25 May 2017). "Over the fence: What do our Neighbours look like in 2017?". Indian Link Australia. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  7. ^ "Dead Letter Office (1998)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Dead Letter Office". Variety. 17 August 1998. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  9. ^ "SeaChange – Phrani Gupta". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 October 2000. Archived from the original on 13 October 2000. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Law court drama series starring Indian Australian to debut in Feb". The Indian Sun. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Melbourne actors go on strike". The Age. (Fairfax Media). 17 July 2003.
  12. ^ a b c "Run Rabbit Run program" (PDF). Belvoir. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Georgina Naidu". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Meet the Team – Cybec Electric 2017". Melbourne Theatre Company. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  15. ^ Perrett, Bill (10 September 2006). "The Habib Show". The Age. (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  16. ^ a b "Meet the Team – Minnie & Liraz". Melbourne Theatre Company. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  17. ^ "The Boys Are Back (2010)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  18. ^ Piening, Simon (25 September 2009). "Attract/Repel – The Melbourne Town Players". Australian Stage. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  19. ^ "Australian television ensembles honoured by their peers". Equity Ensemble Awards. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  20. ^ "Ganesh Versus The Third Reich". Festival TransAmériques. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  21. ^ a b "Season 2017 Casting Update". Melbourne Theatre Company. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  22. ^ "Shooting begins on Claudia Karvan starrer Newton's Law from Miss Fisher team". If Magazine. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  23. ^ Carroll Harris, Lauren (9 February 2017). "Newton's Law: it's light and sweet – but maybe that's what we need right now". The Guardian. (Guardian Media Group).
  24. ^ McManus, Bridget (1 December 2017). "Picks of television viewing on Wednesday, December 13". The Sydney Morning Herald. (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  25. ^ "PFK credits Ten 102" (PDF). Tenplay. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  26. ^ "HTSM Ep4 Credits" (PDF). Tenplay. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  27. ^ a b c d e "Georgina Naidu" (PDF). Creativerep.com.au. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  28. ^ http://australiantelevision.net/love-me/series2.html
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