It has to be the dream job for any young actress hoping to make it big in the Big Apple. Fourteen year old Kiwi talent Stefania Owen has been snapped up to play the sister of the infamous Carrie Bradshaw in a new TV prequel to Sex and the City.
The teen, who hails from a tiny town near Porirua, was chosen from hundreds of other girls to portray Dorrit, Carrie’s wild and rebellious 14-year-old sister, in the TV adaption of The Carrie Diaries. The series is set in the days before Mr Big, Manolo Blahniks and the endless supply of cosmopolitans we saw on the hit series, starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
Now filming her scenes alongside Anna Sophia Robb, who plays the young Carrie, the gorgeous Stefania, who featured in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, has traded her hometown Pauatahanui for the streets of New York, and says she’s “so excited” to have been picked to play Dorrit.
“It was the most exciting news ever. I didn’t really expect it, it was a straight offer and I was like, ’Yes!’,” she told Newstalk ZB. While her family is obsessed with watching the entire Sex and the City series to help her research, Stefani is in New York City on the set of The Carrie Diaries preparing with her co-stars.
Stefania’s just starting to make the big time in the US, so New Zealand Woman’s Weekly decided to see how brightly the lights of Hollywood are shining on our other Kiwi acting sensations.
Karl Urban
Aucklander Karl Urban has appeared in some of the biggest movie franchises in the past 10 years and he’s just about to reprise his role of Dr Bones McCoy in the Star Trek sequel. The Wellington-born star has been a fan of Star Trek since he was a kid and actively pursued a role in the first film. His performance was praised by fans for staying faithful to the original TV character. He’s also starred in both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Bourne Supremacy.
Melanie Lynskey
The work’s been rolling in for Melanie, who appears with Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley in the upcoming comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. New Plymouth-born Melanie has become popular in Hollywood since she cemented her role of Charlie’s stalker, Rose, in Two and a Half Men. She’s also going to star in the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’scult novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Charles Mesure
His roles in many Kiwi TV shows have helped Charles hit the big time in Hollywood. Now he’s winning hearts across America in his latest role, as hunky construction contractor Ben Faulkner in Desperate Housewives, a man whose love life is about to get very messy.
Charles (40) was the leading actor in TV2’s Street Legal, and also starred in City Life, This is Not My Life and Xena: Warrior Princess. Since moving to Hollywood, Charles has had parts on Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case, Bones and Without a Trace, before striking it lucky in Desperate Housewives.
Russell Crowe
Occasional rock star Russell has finally got his singing break in Hollywood: he’s been cast in the role of the obsessive Inspector Javert in the big-screen version of Les Miserables. The cuddly Kiwi actor has
slimmed down for the film, which boasts an all-star cast including Hugh Jackman, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried.
A photo of Russell just released from the set shows that the long runs and swimming laps he’s been tweeting about have paid off. The Kiwi star is a long-time professional musician, who’s been dying to prove that he can also strut his stuff on stage as he did in a production of the famous Rocky Horror Show in New Zealand in the mid-1980s.
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