It’s no secret that Australia is renowned for producing some of the best and brightest talent in Tinseltown. From Hugh Jackman to Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie to Chris Hemsworth, Kate Blanchett to Jai Courtney, we could go on… and on… and on (there’s certainly a LOT of them).
Let’s face it, we’ve got some serious talent Down Under, and the movers and shakers in Hollywood know that if you want an actor with some serious chops, you can’t do much better than looking our way for a performer who can show the rest of the world how it’s really done. Which is why it’s probably no surprise that a new generation of Aussies is beginning to make some big waves overseas these days, and we’ve picked five young Aussie stars you’d be best to keep an eye on in the future.
Teagan Croft
The Osiris Child, Titans
At only fifteen years of age, Sydney-born Teagan Croft is already making quite a name for herself as Rachel Roth a.k.a. Raven in the hit DC series Titans. Starting her career in the infamous nesting ground of Home and Away’s Summer Bay, she also starred in Aussie sci-fi film The Osiris Child.
Currently, Croft is gearing up for a third season as the half-demon daughter of Trigon, as Titans season three is slated for a late 2020 release on the DC Universe streaming service.
Joshua Orpin
Preacher, Titans
Teagan isn’t the only Aussie star to join the ranks of DC’s Titans, and the show’s second season also introduced fellow Aussie Joshua Orpin as Conner Kent a.k.a. Superboy. Melbourne’s Joshua appeared in a number of short films before landing his first big role in 2018 made for TV movie The Blake Mysteries: Ghost Stories. He has also appeared in a minor role in the cult series Preacher, before becoming the cloned son of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.
Like Teagan, Joshua is returning to the Titans in the show’s third season later this year.
Madeleine Madden
Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Tidelands, The Wheel of Time (upcoming)
Madeleine Madden is no stranger to her craft, having been in front of the camera since she was a mere eight years old. At age 13, she became the first teenager in Australian history to deliver an address to the nation, when she spoke about the future of Indigenous Australians in 2010.
Madden’s list of Australian film and television appearances is longer than many actors twice her age. And she’s now beginning to make international waves thanks in part to her recent performance in last year’s live-action Dora the Explorer film adaptation, but also due to the enormous news of her landing a lead role in Amazon’s upcoming TV adaptation of the fantasy epic The Wheel of Time. With enough source material to make Game of Thrones seem like a brief commercial break, there’s a good chance Madden will be front and centre in one of the biggest and most hotly anticipated television series of this coming decade.
Markella Kavenagh
Romper Stomper, The True History of the Kelly Gang, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings (upcoming)
Markella Kavenagh has only been acting professionally for the past couple of years, making her first appearance on Stan’s Romper Stomper series before joining Madeleine Madden in the 2018 Picnic at Hanging Rock series. Her first film appearance in 2019’s The True History of the Kelly Gang saw her share the screen alongside Hollywood heavyweights Russell Crowe, Nicolas Hoult and Charlie Hunnam, but her biggest role is still ahead of her.
The Wheel of Time isn’t Amazon’s only fantasy epic currently in production, and Kavenagh was the first actor announced to join the cast of what has already hit the history books as the most expensive television series ever produced, the much anticipated Lord of the Rings series. Setting Amazon back a quarter of a billion US dollars just to purchase the rights from the Tolkien estate, Kavenagh has managed to land a central role in a series bound to hit the history books more than once.
Tyroe Muhafidin
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings (upcoming)
Joining Kavenagh in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series is the relatively unknown Australian-Indonesian actor Tyroe Muhafidin. It will be Muhafidin’s first major role, and what a series to get a start in! Having only previously appeared in a handful of short films and the webseries Caravan, the second age of Middle-earth will prove to be an amazing teaching ground for the young star, and no doubt will secure him a bright future for many years to come.