Amanda Grace Leo doesn’t do things by halves. Earlier this year at Auckland’s Cabaret Festival, the multi-talented performer found herself belting out a tune just minutes after singing legend Hollie Smith had sung the exact same number.
“I’d picked At Last by Etta James, but then Hollie jumped up before me and sang it!” laughs Amanda.
“I had two minutes to find something else. Honestly, I should have asked her to do Bathe In The River with me. That’s my only regret!”
It’s the kind of story that perfectly sums up the 33-year-old actress, MC, wedding celebrant, singer and professional tarot reader – she’s confident, funny and totally unflappable.
“For a long time, I thought I had to choose between my worlds. But now I realise they were never separate – they were just waiting to meet.”
Born in New Zealand, raised in Singapore from age nine and returning to Aotearoa for university, Amanda grew up a “hybrid kid”.
Balancing two worlds
She explains, “I’ve got that Kiwi chill, but I also understand the Singaporean drive to achieve. Living between both worlds has given me perspective.”
Yet if you’d told teenage Amanda she’d one day make a living reading tarot cards, she would have laughed.
“I grew up in a Catholic household. My parents still go to church every week and, for a long time, I honestly thought tarot was evil. When I first started learning, I was terrified I’d get struck by lightning!”
That fear started to fade when the Brokenwood Mysteries star realised tarot wasn’t fortune-telling – it was more about self-reflection.
“I see it as a tool for intuition,” she tells.
“It’s connecting to what’s happening right now in your life. It’s not about predicting the future.”
Growing a global following
Beginning to read tarot professionally during the COVID pandemic, Amanda’s online sessions and livestreams quickly attracted a following. These days, her TikTok community stretches from Auckland to Singapore, where she’s especially popular with young women looking for guidance on love and self-worth.
“When I’m live, there are people who tune in every night,” says the Our Flag Means Death actress.
“We’ve built this little family. And every time I go back to Singapore, I pick up hundreds of new followers. “I once asked my followers why they come to me instead of other tarot readers. They all said the same thing: ‘It’s your confidence.’ I thought that was so interesting.”
That self-assurance partly comes from growing up between cultures with very different attitudes towards body image.
Navigating beauty standards
Amanda reflects, “In Singapore, beauty standards are brutal. Everyone wants to be tiny. In New Zealand, it’s much more relaxed. When I came back here for uni, it was the first time I saw women who looked like me and were just living their lives.”
Amanda uses her platform to spread a message of self-love and body acceptance.
“Everyone hates their bodies because of what they see online. I want to show people it’s possible to love yourself as you are. You can be curvy and still feel beautiful. Loving your body is a big part of loving yourself.”
Returning to musical theatre
Right now, Amanda’s busy rehearsing for new show HR The Musical #2: Things Just Got Personnel. The laugh-out-loud workplace comedy follows a group of overworked, underpaid employees navigating the chaos of modern corporate life. The show is a return to musical theatre for the singer.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done a proper musical,” she admits. “But being back in the rehearsal room singing and telling stories just feels like home.”
While acting is taking priority for now, she knows when this show is done, she’ll go back to her tarot talent.
“Someone once asked me for the Lotto numbers,” she laughs.
“I said, ‘Babe, if I could do that, I wouldn’t be here!’ But truthfully, I wouldn’t give this up. Tarot, acting and hosting is all the same thing to me. It’s about making people feel something. That’s what I love.”
HR The Musical #2: Things Just Got Personnel opens Tuesday 25 November at Auckland’s Q Theatre. For tickets, visit qtheatre.co.nz.
