Kate Elliott
Updated October 28th, 2003 (with more to come)
Kate co-starred in "Adventures in the Sin Trade" as Yakut the Shamaness (See the link to page #2 below for more about these episodes). The willowy actress tends to specialize in characters who seem ethereal and bird-like on the surface, yet possess a strong resourcefulness and at times a mischevious ingenuity.
Born December 30th, 1981, she's a member of the New Zealand Youth Theatre Company, and studied eight years at the Performing Arts School. She specialized in dance (Ballet, Funk & Jazz), and singing, and according to the IMDB, plans to record a pop CD. She's also been a member of Theatresports, an international improv company.
She's played a variety of characters on stage: from Ophelia in Shakespeare�s "Hamlet" to Yente the matchmaker in "Fiddler On The Roof".
In the New Zealand legal drama, "Street Legal", she played Melanie Wyeth, a strong-willed law student who doesn't take no for an answer (and who dreams of being an actress). Kate describes her character this way: �Melanie�s four years older than me and that was one of the reasons I wanted to play her. She�s assertive, intelligent and strong-willed, but she�s also vulnerable. She�s trying to figure out what she wants to do and who she wants to be.�
Like her "Sin Trade" co-star Sheeri (Otere), Kate went into a professional career as soon as she left school, to learn in an actual working environment, which can be tougher, but also a lot more fun: �Right at the beginning of the scene Daniel spat a large piece of apple on my face and then there�s ACTION. I got the apple off my face in time, but I had to hold my face straight. It's actually the take that they used, and you can tell that I'm on the verge of giggling. In the end, it actually made it really nice for the scene because it meant that Melanie looked a little bit embarrassed and a bit shy�.
Her character is something of a daddy's girl, and tends to dote on him (even while she has her eyes set on his co-worker his own age): "Melanie wishes that he were a lot happier and wants to help him but she can't work with his negative attitude towards everything so ends up mothering him instead."
[Information about "Street Legal" taken from their old site]
In Fall of 2000, and January of 2001, Kate left her recurring role as Yakut on "Xena, Warrior Princess" to join a futuristic spin-off by the same creators, "Cleopatra 2525" (See page 3 for more a little bit more about this show). She played Lily, naive sister of Sarge (Victoria Pratt). A few pictures from her last episode, "The Watch", appear below:
[Click on any to enlarge]
Kate went on to star in a feature film, "No One Can Hear You", filmed in Auckland, New Zealand and released internationally. Kate played high school student Lisa Burchell, daughter of the town's reporter (Kelly McGillis). Mrs. Burchell has her hands full with her two spirited daughters. Lately, a serial killer has been offing friends of Lisa's. The town is crawling with eligible, pouting hunks her age, and they're all suspects! Can Mrs. Burchell find the killer before he finds Lisa? And will Lisa ever find out who's been sending her typewritten pages of lousy love poetry?
(Above Kate explains to her co-star what it felt like to dress in Yakut's shamaness outfit!)
[Click on any to enlarge]
Click on the above pic to see more, including pics of Kate and the cast at the premiere party.
Recently Kate completed a romantic comedy directed by Harry Sinclair (who's also an actor: he played "Isildur" in "Lord of the Rings"). She plays Chlo, whose husband (Dean O'Gorman) is notoriously unfaithful. Apparently, the film was the result of a great deal of improvisation and took some time to complete, so it complimented Kate's training quite nicely. It debuted in Cannes May 2002, and is slated for release soon.
Ironically, Kate co-stars with Dean O'Gorman, who played "Young Iolaus" (Herc's good buddy) in the "Hercules" spin-off, "Young Hercules". Kate's co-star (and pal) on "Xena", Sheeri Rappaport, also just finished a movie ("The United States of Leland") co-starring Ryan Gosling, who played "Young Hercules" himself! It's a small world, is what I'm saying!
"Toy Love" news site
Coming up, Kate has filmed "Crime Story" earlier this year. It's described in this way:
CRIME STORY is an intimate contemporary tale of two different families.
Young single mother Leanne is determined to do things differently. Her fierce love for her child, and care for her damaged brother Brent, pulses at the heart of this complex examination of just what is at stake within families when things are down to the wire.
Kate Elliott (TOY LOVE) stars as Leanne, with newcomer Jared Turner as her brother Brent. John Noble, soon to be seen as Denethor in THE LORD OF THE RINGS, features as patriarch Howard Peet whose family is changed forever the morning Brent bungles a burglary in their up-market city home.
"Crime Story" news site
Other news: Kate has starred in the newly released horror film, "The Locals", with another thriller on the way, "Fracture", and is currently filming a movie about New Zealand short story author Katherine Mansfield, a contemporary of Virginia Woolf who died young.
