Anna Torv

Who is Anna Torv?

I shall find out soon.

This is totally off the subject, but I wanted to share it. And when do I ever stay on the subject, anyway?

Yesterday I wore the dress I bought in Hawaii. I am totally in love with it. My niece used to wear this dress we bought her, all the time. Every time we saw her, she'd wear that dress. I'm thinking I should do the same with my dress. I can wear it everywhere. Well, that was my plan originally....BEFORE I actually put the dress on.

When I wore the dress, for some reason, I couldn't stop speaking in a southern accent. I have no idea what the deal was. I do have accent issues. I randomly speak in different ones. But it's usually from hearing it for awhile. If I watch an Australian show, I'll start using an Australian accent. After I watch True Blood, I'll speak Southern. If I watch Harry Potter, I'll speak British. But I don't think I've ever had clothes effect my accent. As soon as I took the dress off, I went back to my generic American accent.

Maybe it was just a freak thing and won't happen again. And it's not that bad anyway. I like southern accents.

Okay. Yeah. Anna Torv. Let's get back to her.

Lord Wiki says she's on Fringe. I've watched that a few times. Tim and I watched the first episode. I don't know if it was then or after the second episode, that I decided I didn't like it. But much later I saw a bit of another episode, and it looked kind of good to me. Maybe I should try to get back into it after Lost is gone. Lord Wiki just reminded me that J. J. Abrams is one of the creators of Fringe. He's also partly responsible for Lost. So there you go.

Baby Anna was born in Melbourne, sometime in June 1979. I guess Lord Wiki doesn't know the exact date.

She grew up on the Gold Coast in Queensland. She attended Benowa State High School. Later, she attended NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts). That's the place from which many Aussie actors get their acting education.

Daddy Torv was an Estonian born in Scotland. Mommy Torv had a sister who was a writer. That sister was married to Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch owns FOX which is the network that houses Fringe. There's some interesting connections here.

For a short time, Torv was married to Mark Valley. I think he might have been on Fringe. But I know him from Days of our Lives. He played Jack Deveraux from 1993-1997.

Now I'm going to go to IMDb for career stuff.

First of all, they say Torv was NOT born in June 1979. They say her birthday is 15 April 1978.

Her first professional screen appearance was in an Australian TV movie called White Collar Blue. That was in 2002. It was about crime in Sydney. Torv played neighbor—a character with no name. I'm guessing it was a very small part.

Lord Wiki says the movie became a TV show.

Also in 2002, Torv did thirteen episodes of a TV show called Young Lions. This sounds familar to me. Lord Wiki says it was another police thing. Torv played Irena Nedov.

Here's some scenes from the show. Irena is sad and alone. But maybe ice-skating can make her happy again. Oh! And now she gets a kiss.

In 2003, Torv was in a movie with the girl who swallows bees and searches for Alibrandi. This was Traveling Light. This movie website has a review of it. Pia Miranda plays a woman training to be a teacher in 1970's Adelaide. But her real passion is photography. Torv plays a friend...maybe of Miranda's character, but I'm not exactly sure. The writing here confuses me a bit. Sorry.

Here's a scene from the movie. She appears at :15.

In 2004, Torv did two episodes of McLeod's Daughters. She played Jasmine McLeod. Who would that be?

Well, Lord Wiki said the character was played by two actresses. Torv did the two episodes and then another actress did more.

Jasmine was the youngest daughter of Hugh McLeod. I wasn't sure who he was. I'm trying to learn all this.....

Okay. Hugh is the uncle of Claire and Tess....Jodi too, I suppose. So then Jasmine would be one of the cousins. Her older sister is Grace who was played by Abi Tucker.

Here are some scenes. That show is awesome. I miss it. Tess is so adorable.

From 2004-2005, Torv was in twenty episodes of The Secret Life of Us. She came in towards the end of the series. This was probably when old fans of the show were complaining about how the cast had changed too much.

Torv played Nikki Martel. She's featured in this promo for the show. I like how it's done.

 It seems Nikki is a bit of a bitch.

In 2006, Torv was in The Book of Revelation. I'm not sure whether or not I've heard of this movie before. It's about a kidnapped man, and it sounds like he was raped. I know I ran into a movie before about female on male rape.

Okay. Yeah. Deborah Mailman is in the credits. I must have encountered the movie on the day I researched her.

Mailman and Torv also worked together on The Secret Life of Us. I'm not sure how much their characters interacted. Were they friends? Enemies?

Here's a behind the scenes thing regarding the movie. It involves dancing stuff.

In 2007, Torv lent her voice to a video game called Heavenly Sword. She plays a character named Nariko. Here's a fan video for the game. I like that song. What is it? I'm sure I've heard of it before. I probably saw it another fan video.

Nariko has her own Facebook page! You can become a fan.

Here's a scene from the game. You can hear Torv speaking.

Also in 2007, Torv did a British TV movie version of Frankenstein. Torv played a nurse. Her character doesn't have a name. Does that mean it was a small part? It seems kind of strange, to me that she'd have such a small role at this point in her career. Maybe it's a more substantial role than it looks.

Torv did another British project in 2008. This was the TV show Mistresses. It was about four female friends....maybe kind of like Sex and the City? Torv wasn't one of the main women. She did only four episodes.

Here's some scenes. It's a wedding planning type story. And then it seems the bride and wedding planner had an affair. I'm trying to figure out if both characters are lesbians on a regular basis; or did they just make an exception for each other? Well, from the show's official site, I'm getting the idea that Torv's character was a lesbian who who was planning a wedding to another woman. The wedding planner (Jessica) goes mostly with men.

Fringe started in 2008. If I'm remembering correctly, this was Torv's first American project. Or am I forgetting something? The show is kind of like X-Files. It involves the government, science, and WEIRD stuff.

In 2009 and 2010, the show earned Torv a Saturn nomination. The 2010 winners haven't been announced yet. She could win. I hope she doesn't, though. Not that I have anything against Torv. It's just I want Anna Paquin to win!

Lord Wiki is reminding me more about the show. Torv plays an FBI agent named Olivia Dunham. I wonder if she'd get along with Dana Scully. They should totally do a cross-over!

Here's a scene from the show. It's the last one from season 1. Torv is good at looking quietly perplexed.

It's a parallel universe type thing. I remember seeing a bit of this a month or so ago. In what I saw then, the other characters thought that Olivia was dead. They were all sad. Then she woke up, and told them that she had been in a parallel universe. I guess the scene I watched just now was her entering that universe.

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I guess I'll watch some interviews now.

Here's one with David Letterman. This was just before Fringe premiered. Wow. It's nice to see an Australian who still has an Australian accent!

Torv says she used to be good at public speaking....as a child. Then when she was older, she had an awful experience. I guess she got a sudden case of stage fright. That happened to me in high school. I started to do an oral report. I don't remember being nervous at all. Then suddenly, I couldn't talk. I just sat there stuttering.

Torv says her childhood was nice. There were a lot of geese. That's cool. Her mom would let her have the day off school when a gosling was born.

I'm confused. Torv talks about feeling guilty about something she did to the eggs. The way she says it, it sounds awful. Letterman says he assumed she made an omelet or something. If I'm hearing it right....all she did was hold the eggs. I think she feels she deprived the babies of being born naturally? Is it that big of a deal? I don't know. But I can relate to feeling guilty about stuff.

Torv argues with the idea of their being dangerous animals in Australia. She downplays the whole thing, saying the only shark she's ever seen was in Florida. And she reminds us Americans that we have bears.

Torv says that no one can live in the middle of Australia. I think she's living in an alternate universe....one that doesn't include places like Alice Springs.

Here's a Jimmy Kimmel interview. Torv and Kimmel talk about Rugby stuff. Torv's favorite player is Wally Lewis.

Then they talk about Thanksgiving and how Americans so often ask Australians why they don't celebrate it. It is a really dumb question. It's an American holiday, so why would Australians celebrate it? But I guess it's kind of like Christians assuming everyone celebrates Christmas and Easter.

What might be a less stupid question is one about harvest festivals. A lot of cultures have one of those. I don't think Australia does. Or maybe they do? Does Easter celebrate the harvest at all?

Kimmel describes Americans as self-absorbed, curious, and not afraid to ask a stupid question. Yeah. That probably describes us pretty well...or at least some of us. It definitely reminds me of my family, probably myself included.

This is so funny. Jack just called his cousins. I guess his aunt or uncle answered. Jack was so polite. I have no idea where he learned that. It's not like I've practiced phone manners with him. We hardly even use the phone. I should make sure to praise him for it.

Oh! Wait. Maybe he learned it from Tara when we were in Hawaii. She had very polite phone manners.

Torv says she was in the outback when she was signing contracts for Fringe. It was hard for her to find a fax machine and all that. I think this disproves her idea that no one can live in the middle of Australia. Oh wait.....unless she's referring to The Outback Steakhouse. Maybe she signed the contract while eating a Bloomin' Onion.

Torv says she's very busy with work, and hasn't had much time to explore NYC.

Okay. I'm going to watch this Ellen interview and then I'm going to quit. Ellen asks why Australians keep doing American shows. Why don't they keep their accent? Maybe she should ask her wife that!

Torv says that since her character is an FBI agent, it makes sense that she be American. Really? Do you have to be born and raised in America to be in the FBI?

Well, the FBI website just says you have to be an American citizen. It does not say you need to have an American accent. There is no reason why someone with an Australian heritage couldn't be an FBI agent...as far as I can see.

I'm really liking this conversation, though. The accent thing fascinates me. DeGeneres mentions her wife and how she has no Australian accent left. Torv says she's married to an American (Mark Valley), and she talks about how you pick up pieces of the accent. I saw this happening last week to all of us. You have two families living together....one Australian, and one American. There were accent exchanges happening. Tim and Jack aren't like me. They don't randomly speak in different accents. But when they're with Australians, they DO pick up a little bit of it. I don't think they realize they're doing it, though.

Now they're talking about a good deed Torv has been doing. She acts as a foster parent to cats. I think our cat (Mu Shu) lived in a foster home for awhile. I'm not sure for how long. We got him at the shelter when he was a year old.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

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