Flinders Drama Centre - Class of 2004

		Class of 2004
Maya Aleksandra		On completion of Drama Centre in 2004, Maya moved to Melbourne and readily got work appearing in TVC's for *Jeans West* and *Ford Fiesta* as well as performing in the play *The Four Twins, for the VCA Directors Season. 2006 was devoted to travel for Maya, where she backpacked extensively around Europe and Asia, appearing in TVC's and television shows in China. Since moving back to Melbourne at the start of 2007, Maya has appeared as Skye in the feature film How to Change in 9 Weeks, with Guy Pearce and Miranda Otto, and as Hannah in the epic short film musical The Girl in the Moon, a TVC for KR Castlemaine* as well as undertaking a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Naturopathy. In 2008 she appeared in the play *A Stab in the Dark* for the Adelaide Fringe Festival. She recently became the face for *Bupa. Her TV show appearances include Wilfred, Winners and Losers* and *Neighbours*, in which she is currently playing the semi regular role of Snr. Constable Kelly.

Tim Budas		After graduating Tim was accepted to the acclaimed New York Film Academy for an intensive course in Screen Acting. His stage credits include Windmill Theatre Company's *Beautiful Words* and at Flinders he performed in *Love and Other Human Remains, Break of Day* , *The Treatment, Twelfth Night* and *Talk Radio. In 2002 he won the Opera performance series with his self-devised piece The Comedian. His film credits include a remake of Igma Bergman's Wild Strawberries* and a lead role in the short film *Cells. He also starred as the voice of He-Him in the People's Republic of Animation award winning animation Karaoke Nomad Squad. Tim performed the lead role of Humpy in The DaVinci Hump* during the 2007 season of Hunchbax Theatre Restaurant in Melbourne. His Australian screen credits include *McLeod's Daughters, Rush* and *The Pacific. He currently resides in Los Angelos and has worked on many short films and the TV Series Killing Time*.

Fiona Delaine		Fiona DeLaine is an Honours Graduate from the Flinders University Drama Centre and has studied Classical ballet, Tap and Jazz dance. She has worked extensively in all areas of the Performing Arts including Musical Theatre, Plays, Short films, TV commercials and voice over work. She has played the Principal Female lead for several of Adelaide's amateur theatre companies: The Metropolitan Musical Theatre Company, Therry Dramatic Society, OPUS Performing Arts Inc, The Hills Musical Company, St.Jude's Players and The MS Society on their charity musicals. Fiona has also worked as a Director for OPUS on their pantomime *James and the Giant Peach* and for Adelaide Youth Theatre on their 2013 Fringe Festival production of *You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown*. Adding to this, she has also worked as a choreographer and a dance and singing teacher. Fiona is a regular performer in the Adelaide Fringe Festival each year. She also works as a music teacher to Primary school aged children.

Noni Dunstone		Noni graduated from The Flinders University Drama Centre with Honours in 2004. In 2005 she received a grant from Sayab to undertake an Attachment/Mentorship with The Seattle Children's Theatre Company. She has performed and toured with Windmill Performing Arts in *The Green Sheep* for 3 seasons, and Echelon Productions in *Back To Before. Independent companies include, Oddbodies Productions playing the role of young Joan in Significant Others, The Crucible* with Eagles Nest Theatre, and *Mr Kolpert* for Act-O-Matic 3000. In 2007 she received a mentorship with Noni Hazelhurst, through the Helpman Academy. Her short film and TV credits include, *City Homicide, Like You Do, The Applicant, In to it* and *Odds On and Milk. Noni was nominated in 2006 for Best Performance in the SA Short Screen Awards, for her role in Like You Do. In 2006 Noni co-wrote the Adelaide Fringe show Hans and Karmin Do Sonny and Cher - The Beat Goes On* , rating four and five stars and financially assisted by the Helpmann Academy. Following this she gained a residency at the Bo Ho Bar roving as *Karmin* twice weekly during 2006/07, worked as a roving performer for the Adelaide fringe, 2007 and was a cabaret judge for Adelaide Fringe Festival 2008. She worote a one-person show, *Karmin Suitrout... Lets Get Mystical*, which appeared at the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival at the Butterfly Club and at Yah Yah's for the 2009 Melbourne Fringe.

Jennifer Lusk		Jennifer graduated receiving first class honours and the University Medal. She also received the Minter Ellison award for excellence, given by the Helpmann Academy for the best female graduating student. Highlight performances from Flinders include Olga in *Fire Face* and Felicia in *The Housekeeper. As a student she was also involved in the creative development of Where's the Green Sheep* with Windmill Performing Arts. She appeared in *A Midsummer Night's Dream* as Titania/Hippolyta and as the stepmother in *Cinderella* for Green Cyc. She has also worked on several short films, including the Tropfest entry *Skin Deep* and the 15/15 entry *Bleeding Hearts* for Inspiration Studios. As a writer, Jennifer won the 2003 Wirra Wirra short story award, the inaugural winner of the youth category and has had several short stories published. She produced her own play *Fitting Rooms* with her company Binka Boo Productions for the Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe Festivals in 2006 and wrote her short play *Wedlocked* which was chosen as a wild card entry in the Sydney Short & Sweet Festival. Jennifer is currently a freelance artist based in London.

Richard Magarey		Richard has been acting professionally since 2003, when he made his professional debut as the skatie in the South Australian Goodwill Superstores TVC campaign. In 2004 and early 2005 he worked on various short films and radio advertisements including *Karaoke Nomad Squad, the T.I.O. Personal Loans* ad campaign and the video game *Athenian Graffiti. In 2004 he also worked on the feature film Ultraviolet. Richard spent 2005 living in Melbourne working on short films, the Melbourne Fringe play Jesus vs. the Coga Ninja Clan* and training in Hong Kong style action and fight scenes with Showdown Productions, with whom he shot the short action film *Tools. He also performed in two seasons of Windmill Performing Arts children's production The Green Sheep. In 2006 Richard worked on the acclaimed South Australian short film Destinations, then after moving to Hong Kong, the feature films Irreversi* and *Flashpoint, episodes of Radio Television Hong Kong's Etv, Australian promos for Cartoon Network and school performances around Hong Kong with Chunky Onion Productions. Richard spent time in Cebu, Philippines late in 2006 and in 2007, where he hosted Miss FTV Philippines 2006* and *Born to Dance. Richard worked on the international feature film Deep Gold* and the horror film *Midnight Movie* in Los Angeles, and the pilot for the animated TV series *I was a Teenage Butterfly* in South Australia mid-2007. Rick has recently become a wrestling superstar in Hong Kong where he regularly performs as his alter-ego WuSoLui Ladybeard - a muscle-bound, pigtailed pop singer who fights in a lacy negligee. This has also led Rick to the recording studio as Ladybeard as well as working alongside martial arts legend Jackie Chan in a Visa commercial.

Joshua Penley		Joshua is a graduate of the Flinders Drama Centre and has many credits as a performer and director. With Gin and Vodka Productions he enjoyed acclaimed seasons of *Gypsy, A Musical Fable, The Crucible* and the South Australian premiere of *Spring Awakening - The Musical* in which he starred as Moritz. He has played Marius in five seasons of *Les Misérables, including three seasons with Shane Davidson Presents. Other favourite roles include Corny Collins in Hairspray, Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Timms in The History Boys, Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Action in West Side Story, Snoopy in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, Jack in Into the Woods* and Mike in *A Chorus Line. He has also worked as a presenter for Humphrey B Bear* and appeared on *McLeod's Daughters* for the 9 Network.

Stephanie Pinnock		As well as graduating from Flinders Drama Centre, Stephanie has also studied film acting at the New York Film Academy's Los Angeles campus in 2007, and completed numerous short films through her connections from the Academy. Her theatre work includes *Hayali's Mess* (2009), *A Stab in the Dark* (2008) and *The Hidden Family of Her: A Mask Exploration* (2007) all with Instigate Theatre. She has worked with Accidental Productions on *Bred to Perfection* (2008), and other projects with Short Theatre soon after graduation from Flinders. Her film and TV credits include Benjamina in the series *Crooked* (2006), and numerous short films with Code Productions, Mackbel Films, and Once Future Films. Her other training includes Meisner Technique from Jim Jarrett Productions in Los Angeles, Mike Leigh Film Process for Actors from Robert Marchand, various NIDA Open Program workshops,and basic Martial Arts Stunt Acting, Fight Choreography and Sword Work for Camera through MASK Entertainment. She has had approximately 5 years training in mixed martial arts from the Nino Pila International Academy of Martial Arts. In her final year at Flinders, Stephanie became the first recipient of the Malcolm Fox Travel Scholarship. This allowed her to spend time living with local people in Mongolia in 2005, and also attend the nation's Naadem Festival and International Theatre Conference while she was there.

Eddie White		Eddie founded The People's Republic of Animation with Hugh Nguyen and James Calvert in 2003. As the company's Creative Director, Eddie contributes many of the visionary ideas that inspire the studio's work through his writing, directing and design. Partnering with James Calvert, Eddie co-directed the short films *Fritz Gets Rich* (2005) and *Carnivore Reflux* (2006). Both films were nominated for AFI Awards in their respective years, and *Carnivore Reflux* won the trophy for Best Animation at the IF Awards in 2006. Eddie wrote and directed the short film *Sweet & Sour* (2007) - Australia's first official animated co-production with China – which was made in co-operation with the renowned Shanghai Animation Film Studio. The film won Best Short Animation at the Dendy Awards and the SBS Television Award at the St Kilda Film Festival. His most recent short film, *The Cat Piano* (2009), was narrated by Nick Cave and won the 2009 Bigpond Adelaide Film Festival award for Best Short Film. *The Cat Piano* was chosen to compete in the Official Selection at the 2009 prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival. Eddie has also written and directed TV pilots for Nickelodeon and TV commercials for Vili's and Mitsubishi.

Daniel Whyte		Daniel graduated with a BA with Honours from Flinders Drama in 2004. His interest in martial art films has taken him many times to Hong Kong where he has worked on the Benny Chan film Connected, Chris Chow's *Strawberry Clift, Four of A Kind, Ultra Violet* and *The Twins Effect. In Australia Daniel has made appearances on Kath and Kim, Neighbours* and played a nasty detective in the final series of *McLeod's Daughters. He also worked on Underbelly: Tell Them Lucifer Was Here* and the Channel 7 drama *Winners and Losers. His theatre credits include Heads & The Ecucation of Skinny Spew* for the VCA Director's Season and The Blue Room at Flinders Drama Centre. He also has several commercials and voiceovers under his belt including the face for Weber BBQ's. Daniel is also highly skilled in Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Boxing and Weaponry and is certified to teach Kung Fu under his Hong Kong based master.

Anika Xenides		Since graduating the Flinders Drama Centre in 2004, Anika has been working as an actor and dancer in Melbourne. Anika has featured in TVC's for *McDonalds* , *Honda* and *Coles* spring campaign. Other acting credits include Nola in *The Boys, Giuseppina in The Housekeeper* and the Model in *The Blue Room*. Anika is also trained in Salsa, Latin and Flamenco and teaches for Sway Studios, one of Melbourne's leading Salsa schools. She was a lead dancer in the performance troupe which performed in Melbourne and at the Sydney Salsa Congress 2006. Since then Anika has trained with teachers from around the world, including the Salsa World Champions, Oliver and Luda. In 2006 & 2007 Anika won the Copacabana International Salsa Competition in Melbourne and again in 2007 took away first place at the Tropicana Salsa Competition in Adelaide. Anika and her partner spent 2008 in Los Angeles training with world ESPN salsa champion Zulmara Torres and attending the 2008 LA Salsa Congress.