Today I'm going to learn about the actress Asher Keddie.
Mostly, I know her from Offspring. She played the neurotic and adorable obstetrician Nina Proudman.
After being introduced to Keddie via Offspring, I then watched her on the depressing show Love My Way. There she played a....
I think she was a production assistant? And she had a shoplifting problem.
Recently I saw Keddie in the second season of Rush. She played Jacinta, a journalist dating someone in the police force. When I saw her on the show, I thought it was just going to be a brief one time appearance, but she was actually on several episodes.
This week I saw Keddie on the second season of The Secret Life of Us. Her hair was darker and I thought she was much less attractive in this. That started freaking me out a bit. I mean about myself. What if my physical appearance is mediocre simply because of my hair color? What if getting my hair bleached would make me drop dead gorgeous? What if all these years I've been going around with the wrong hair colors?
I was thinking I should go to one of those websites that let you try on different hair colors? But I think I'm afraid to. If I do look a zillion times better blond, it's kind of a problem. Because I don't think I'd be good at keeping up with it. I already dye my hair subtle colors like different shades of brown and red. I fail to keep up, but it doesn't matter all that much. I don't think it's too obvious. But blond? I'd probably end up with brown hair on the whole top of my head, and then all else would be blond.
Then again, I'll probably have to get good at keeping up with my hair coloring because I'll soon go grey. I mean MAYBE I'll be one of those women who embrace ageing hair. If I do, it will probably be more out of laziness and cheapness than following a principle.
If I'm not lazy and cheap, maybe I'll go blond when I start turning grey. I mean if one of those websites tells me I'd be super beautiful if I didn't have brown hair.
Oh! You know what would be awesome? If grey is my magic hair color—the one that makes me as beautiful as Nina Proudman.
I should stop talking about hair and get on to deeper things.
Keddie's character on The Secret Life of Us was even uglier on the inside. She was clingy and overly helpful towards Jason. Then when he rejected her, she freaked out. She pointed out that she did so much for him, and he told her he had never asked her to. She didn't like that.
It's really wonderful when people are helpful, but it can get difficult if they demand something in return. Something illegal. Your undying affection. Obedience.....
Since seeing the episode with Keddie, I've wondered if I've ever acted that way towards someone. I can't think of anything from recent memory. If anyone would be the victim of that type of behavior from me, it would probably be Jack. I think it's a common and somewhat natural thing to happen between parents and children. We do so much for our children. Then when they do something we dislike, there's a tendency to feel wounded. Then we may make the mistake of lashing out. I've been watching Coronation Street lately, and Gail McIntyre is having these types of feelings towards her grown-up kids.
I'm not saying it's good that this happens between parents and children. It can be very annoying and somewhat suffocating. Manipulative! But it's just something that often happens, and people can kind of expect it.
Outside family situations, I think it's a bit more disturbing.
Another show I've seen it on lately is the second season of Bates Motel. Norma is befriended by people in town who are just a bit too eager to be her friend and help her out. The poor woman has a LOT on her plate. When she loses the plot one day and lashes out, they act very unforgiving towards her. There was that attitude of, we did so much for you! How dare you not give us 100% of your love, devotion, and obedience. And Norma WAS bitchy towards them. They deserved an apology. But I think in normal healthy relationships, people would be understanding of bad moods and forgive.
I also think there are people in the internet community who act like that—maybe especially in the blogosphere. There are people who will be overly nice to new bloggers. They'll take you under their wings. They'll comment on all your posts. They'll get their friends to comment. They'll give you these little awards to decorate your blog. But the underlying rule is you have to agree with everything they say on their blogs. If any of your comments show disagreement towards them, you'll quickly become the pariah.
Crap. I should really shut up and get onto learning about Asher Keddie. I think this going to be a very long post. Get your skimming eyes and fingers ready.
I'm going to start with Keddie's biography on IMDb.
They say she was born in Melbourne. They don't list a birthdate, which makes me wonder if there's something fantastic and mysterious. Maybe she's a vampire or Time Lord.
Keddie was married to a guy named Jay Bowen from 2007 to 2012. Then, last year, she married a guy named Vincent Fantauzzo. That's a fun name!
Keddie's anniversary to Fantauzzo is coming up in a couple of weeks.
Oh! Wow. Keddie JUST gave birth...like three days ago. It's her first baby.
I wonder how they're all doing.
They're probably exhausted.
I'm getting tired just thinking about them being tired.
One last thing on the biography page: Keddie did ballet in her childhood. She was going to audition for the Australian Ballet School when she was 14, but she dislocated her knee.
So is that an injury that cuts you out of ballet for life? Or was it more like she just got led to another path and never returned to the ballet one?
Here's Vincent Fantauzzo's website. He's a painter—an artist one, not a house painter.
What show was it where someone was hired as a painter, and they were the artist type. But the person who hired them was looking for someone to paint their house? I'm pretty sure it was an Australian show. Maybe House Husbands? Though I don't remember there being an artist on House Husbands.
Crap. This is going to bother me.....
Anyway. Vincent Fantauzzo is the one who painted the Archibald winning painting of Asher Keddie. I've seen it before, but had no idea it was painted by her husband.
Now I'm seeing that Keddie is a stepmother. Actually, IMDb mentioned it, but I ignored them.
Here's a painting, though, of Keddie's stepson. He's beautiful. I hope he's adjusting well to getting a new sibling.
Oh! Fantauzzo is also the one who painted the Archibald winning painting of Heath Ledger. It's quite amazing.
I like this guy's work.
I think the coupledom of Fantauzzo and Keddie is oozing with talent. I wonder if their kids will inherent any of it.
Now I'm looking at Asher Keddie's filmography. It's LONG. I'm already overwhelmed.
I'll do my usual disclaimer: I skip over one time appearances in TV shows I haven't watched (not including the first thing on the filmography). And I skip over movies in which I can't find much information.
Keddie's first screen thing was in 1985—an episode of the show Five Mile Creek. Keddie played a character named Emma. I'm guessing Emma was a child. Because I was a child in 1985, and I'm pretty sure Keddie is around my age. I imagine she's a few years younger.
Someone has posted the whole episode on YouTube. I'll skim through and see if I can find Keddie.
The show has a fun theme song.
There's a little girl at 2:21 looking at a sign and eating an apple. Could that be Keddie?
She appears again at 3:59. I'm pretty sure it's her.
Keddie did some other projects in 1985. I can't find much information about some of them.
So I'm going to jump to Fortress. It's a TV movie about a teacher who's kidnapped along with her students.
Here's a trailer for the movie.
I think that's Keddie at :08—the one in the purple shirt.
In 1986, Keddie was in a movie with The Christmas Story boy. This was called The Last Frontier. It's about an American woman (Linda Evans) who ends up living in Australia. She falls in love with an Australian man. The problem is he dies and leaves her a property plagued with debt. And there's a drought. Yikes.
There's more stuff here in which I can't find good enough information. Unfortunately.
I'm going to skip ahead all the way to 1994. Keddie appeared as Lisa in three episodes of a TV show called Janus. Lord Wiki says the show was about a criminal family.
In 1997, Keddie played the 17-year-old version of Karla in the miniseries Simone de Beauvoir's Babies. I know actors don't always play characters that are the same age as them. BUT if Keddie was the same age as Karla, that would mean she was born in 1980. That wouldn't make sense, though, because then she would have been five-years-old in Five Mile Creek. She looked much older than five.
I thought the miniseries sounded familar; and looking at the credits. I see Sonia Todd was in it. I probably came across the movie when I did my post on her. I also see that Jacek Korman was in the series. He's on The Secret Life of Us—plays Gabrielle's married lover.
I just looked more closely. Sonia Todd played the older version of Karla.
Also in 1997, Keddie appeared in several episodes of the TV show State Coroner. She played a woman named Claire Ferrari.
Here's a scene from the show. I'll see if Keddie is in it.
Nope.
It looks like the type of show that would scare and depress me. I think it's pretty much about the different ways we can all tragically die.
In 2002, Keddie was in a horror-comedy short called The Thing in the Roof. It's online, so I'll look at it a little bit later.
I'm going to jump back in time a little bit...and then forward. Between 1996 and 2003, Keddie appeared four episodes of Blue Heelers as three different characters. One character appeared in a season 7 episode, and then was back again for one episode of season 9. Maybe it was a family member of one of the main characters?
Well, no. The character's last name was Lonsdale, and I don't see any other characters with that last name. Although I guess sometimes people don't have the same last name as their family members. I don't have the same last name as Tim or any of my sisters. Keddie doesn't have the same last name as her husband.
At least one of the Lonsdale episodes is on YouTube. I'm going to watch a bit of it.
Keddie appears almost immediately at :32. She comes into the police station to tell the police people that there was an explosion. Her hair is dark like it was in The Secret Life of Us. I'm not sure, though, if it's dark blond or light brown. I'm dumb when it comes to stuff like that.
Now that I look again, I'm seeing that it's brown. Maybe it's darker than what it was on The Secret Life of Us.
Why am I going on and on about hair? It makes me sound so superficial. I try to keep that side of myself hidden.
I have to jump through time again. I'm not good at following timelines on IMDb.
So...Between 2000 and 2004, Keddie appeared as Samantha Piper in the show Stingers. She was in seven episodes.
Lord Wiki says Samantha was the sister of someone named Angie.
Oh! Angie was played by Kate Kendall. Lord Wiki just pointed out that Kendall now plays Laura Turner on Neighbours! That's very cool. I like learning things like that.
My favorite Australian television website says that in Samantha Piper's first episode, her arrival messes up her sister's assignment. The whole sting thing?
What is a sting thing? Isn't it where police people pretend to be something else?
Yes. Lord Wiki says I'm right. So I guess that would include the characters on on 21 Jump Street.
In 2006, Keddie was in The Society Murders. I remember this one. I think Matthew Le Nevez played the killer; and Keddie is his sister.
So...yeah. Here's a scene with Patrick and Nina not being Patrick and Nina. It's all a bit surreal.
In 2007, Keddie was in another murder movie. This one was called Murder in the Outback. And Damien de Montemas, who played the object of Keddie's affection in The Secret Life of Us, was also in the film. I wonder if they had any scenes together.
The murderer in this story is named Bradley John Murdoch. Though I don't see anything about him being related to Rupert Murdoch. I did wonder.....
Crap. I messed up on the timeline...AGAIN.
Rewind to 2004. This is when Keddie started working on Love My Way. She played Julia Jackson.
Here's some clips from from the show. Keddie doesn't say much in the beginning, but she has a more prominent scene starting at 1:30.
I'm going to jump back forward to 2007. This is when Love My Way ended. And also, Keddie was in a movie about John Curtin. She played Elsie junior, the daughter of John and Elsie Curtin. It's not often that children are named after their mothers. I think it happens much more often with fathers and sons. If I remember correctly, there was a comment made about it on Bates Motel, because there Norman is named after his mother Norma.
In 2009, Keddie was in another murder movie. This one was called Beautiful.
Lord Wiki is describing the plot to me, but I can't really follow it.
I'm going to watch the trailer instead.
There's a boy in the movie. He looks familar to me. I'll have to find out who he is. After I'm done watching the trailer.
Keddie appears at 1:05.
It's a mysterious serial killer type story. It looks quite intriguing.
You know who the boy might be. I'm going to make the guess before looking at the credits. I think he's from The Elephant Princess.
Yep. I'm right! His name is Sebastian Gregory, and he played JB. JB annoyed me a bit sometimes.
Also in 2009, Keddie was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I've seen all of the general X-Men movies, but not the ones specifically dealing with Wolverine. I don't know. I've never really been into him that much. I don't know if I'd be interested in seeing a movie that's just about Wolverine. Although I guess he wouldn't be the only character in the movie.
Keddie played a character named Dr. Carol Frost. She and Hugh Jackman aren't the only Aussies in the movie. I see Max Cullen in the credits. He starred with Keddie in Love My Way. And there's also Tim Pocock from Dance Academy.
There's probably more. It seems the movie has a huge cast.
Brief detour here. I was looking on YouTube for Asher Keddie X-Men scenes, and ended up finding this instead. It's a video of Keddie (age 9) performing on Young Talent Time.
That's pretty cute.
Back to Wolverine. According to Lord Wiki's cousin, Carol Frost was a nurse who worked for a guy named William Stryker. I guess she's a nurse who also has a PhD. Or people call her doctor just for the fun of it.
Wow. Asher Keddie was busy in 2009. This was the year she was on Rush. She was also on season two of Underbelly. She played Liz Cruickshank.
This blog says Cruickshank is a Victorian police officer. She fights against drug stuff.
Here's a promo for Underbelly. And again, in this show, Keddie is reunited with Jason from The Secret Life of Us.
I'm still not done with 2009.
Keddie was in a TV movie called Possessions. And here, Keddie is once again reunited with Max Cullen. I think Keddie works with the same actors over and over again.
Here's a trailer for the movie. It features a weird mummy painting.
I'm not sure if that's a bad trailer, or what. All I know is it didn't make me want to see the movie.
Here's a scene from the movie. Maybe it will be more compelling than the trailer.
No...not really.
It could be a very good movie, though. Maybe they're just doing a bad job advertising it. Or maybe they're doing a fair job, but the movie and I aren't a good match.
Now I'm finally ready to move onto 2010. This is when Offspring premiered. I think this is what Keddie is most famous for. Some people might disagree with me. Well, and then I'd disagree with them. We'd go round and round in a circle.
Well...wait. I'm so messed up.
I just re-looked, and Possessions came out in 2010. I make a big deal about leaving 2009, and I already did so.
Sorry about that.
There was a lot in 2009, but not as much as I thought.
As for 2010, Keddie was in another Prime Minister movie. This one was about Bob Hawke. Keddie played his second wife. Patrick Brammall from Offspring played Kim Beasley. I'm guessing I wrote about the movie when I did my post about him.
Yeah. I can't follow IMDb timelines and I can't remember stuff I've researched only about a few months ago. That's probably why I feel a bit lost sometimes.
In 2011, Asher Keddie played Ita Buttrose in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. I think this is another role in which Keddie is well known for. I think she won an award. And I know she also won an award for Offspring. I think that's how I first heard of Offspring in the first place. I was looking at recent Logie winners, and came across the show.
Here's a promo for Paper Giants. Some of the other actresses there look vaguely familar to me. But my mind can't place them.
The last thing on Keddie's filmography is a series called Party Tricks. I guess it was a miniseries. It's only six episodes. In this one, she was reunited with Rodger Corser, her police officer lover on Rush. It's about two people politically racing to become premier. I think Keddie and Corser are those two people.
Yeah. Lord Wiki says I'm right. And he also says it's brought to the world by John Edwards This is the guy the who brought us Offspring, The Secret Life of Us, Rush, Tangle, and almost every other Australian show that exists.
It almost seems like Australian television is run by a clique. And if you want to be in the business, you'd better be on the right side of it.
Well, that's not really true. There's Neighbours and Home and Away. I don't think John Edwards is involved with those shows. And there are a few other things. Still. I think it's a good idea to be on friendly terms with that man.
That being said, even powerful successful people have their failures. According to this article, Party Tricks was a flop. That happens sometimes. I'm kind of glad it happened. Sorry. It's just that John Edwards is like the king of modern Australian television. It's annoying when someone is overly successful. Well, it's annoying for someone like me—a person who frequently fails. (And is petty about it). But all that being said, I wouldn't want John Edwards to continue to have flops. One or two is enough. Then he should go back to having huge successes.
Now I'm going to read some interviews with Asher Keddie. Here's one from InStyle Australia. I didn't know there was an Aussie version of InStyle.
Keddie says the actress who has most inspired her own career is Meryl Street. I'm sure that's a common answer for actresses.
Keddie is asked what's been the biggest hurdle of her career. One of the things she says is,
You dissolve a large part of yourself when you take on different characters and that can be to the detriment of your emotional health sometimes.
I think that's very interesting. I've definitely thought of actors becoming different people when they take on different roles, but I don't think I ever thought of it in terms of their own self dissolving. It's kind of scary in a way. Maybe some actors lose the line that divides their own self from the character.
Is it the same with writers?
Do I ever lose myself when creating characters?
Maybe.
I don't think so.
I think more often I find parts of myself I didn't realize existed.
I'm going to move onto another interview.
Here's a 2012 one from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Keddie is described as a perfectionist.
In the interview, she says this about Nina and herself. I understand her need to fix things, I understand her desire to control her environment sometimes, to make it feel like she's standing on solid ground. I understand feeling confident one day and waking up the next and feeling vulnerable. It motivates me; I think it motivates her, too
I'm not sure I fully understand that. I've been reading quotes from Keddie in these two interviews. I find it sort of hard to follow some of the things she says.
Well, I'm not saying I don't understand her words. I get what she's saying about feeling confident one day and feeling vulnerable the next. But I don't really think it's a big deal that that she and Nina have that in common. Don't most people have mixture of confidence and vulnerability?
Then again. Maybe not.
Maybe if someone like John Edwards had no flops, he'd be feeling confident every single day.
And then there are people who feel vulnerable every day. They're probably depressed.
Still. I think most people switch back and forth between having confidence and losing it.
Sometimes I think I'm brilliant. I think this blog is fabulous. I think I'm beautiful and have this fabulous singing voice. Oh, and I'm also a great mom, listener, novelist, etc.
Then other days, I'm so embarrassed about this blog. I look in the mirror and see this outrageously ugly woman looking back at me. I start to think that the people who have complimented my singing were just messing with my head. I'm a terrible mother and I'm dreading the day that Jack's therapist gets him to see that I'm the one who caused all his problems in life.
I'm still trying to figure out what I'm seeing with Keddie. It's almost like she's somewhat distant and overly general. Maybe somewhat cerebral? Then again, it could be the way the interviews are edited.
I'm going to read another interview. This one is about season 5 of Offspring.
Keddie says she enjoyed working with a baby on the set, despite the advice given to actors to avoid that.
She also enjoys being a stepmom.
Now she has another little baby.
Here's an article about the baby.
The baby is a boy.
Keddie and her husband got married on a beach in Fiji.
While looking at recent news articles, I came across Lord Wiki's information on Keddie. He has a birthdate for her. She was born on July 31, 1974. She shares a birthday with Harry Potter!
What year was he born?
Lord Wiki's cousin just reminded me that it was 1980. So Keddie is a bit older than Potter. She's pretty close to my age actually...two years younger.
Lord Wiki says Keddie has won the Silver Logie for most popular actress four times in a row. Wow. That's impressive.
Both of her parents were teachers.
I think maybe I'll watch some interviews. I want to get a better sense of Asher Keddie.
Here's an interview with Adam Hills. I like him.
This is fairly old. It's about Paper Giants; so I think it's pre-Offspring.
The beginning is funny. Hills asks about the upcoming Logies. Will she win? Keddie says it could be up to him, whether he makes her look bad on his show. Then he says, Is it true you're a massive bitch?
Is it true?
Probably. Sometimes.
Most women are bitches at least some of the time. I know I am.
Oh! Now the joke is even funnier. Keddie was in competition with Adam Hills for the big Logie. I guess he failed to make people believe she was a total bitch.
Wait. Did she win for Paper Giants? I'm pretty sure she did.
No. I'm wrong. Lord Wiki says she lost. And so did Adam Hills. Stupid me. I forgot these competitions are usually not between just two people. Hamish Blake is the person who won.
This is very funny. Now they're talking about what faces they make when the camera is on them as the nominations are being read, and also the facial expressions used when learning they've lost. I'm wondering if that's the hardest part about being a successful actor. THAT moment there. And it's worse these days with Twitter, because if you make the wrong face, it's going to be all over the Internet.
Keddie says she deals with it by pretending she's a character. That's brilliant. I think it's a very good way of handling it. It's probably a good way of handling any difficult situation.
Now they're talking about Ita Buttrose's lisp. When I think of lisps, I think of Sarah Paulson. Are there any other actors who have lisps?
This website names Drew Barrymore as having a lisp. I never really noticed. I guess she does?
Sean Connery has a lisp?
I should move on.
I mean I should get back to watching the video.
Keddie and Hills talk about playing real people. Keddie says she had meetings with Ita Buttrose. She wasn't able to do the same when playing Bob Hawke's wife. She talked to her via Skype.
Keddie says when they were on Skype, Bob Hawke would pop his head in once in awhile to check things out.
There was an episode of Who Do You Think You Are that featured Keddie. Here's the promo for that. She has an ancestor that was a child star like her. There are actors in her family history. That's probably not too surprising.
Here's a video of Asher Keddie winning a Logie in 2012. Adam Hills is the one giving her the award. I wonder, when she walks up to the stage, is she's pretending to be another character? And when she pretends to be a character, does she make up a new one? Or does she use one she's already played? Maybe she's imagining she's Nina Proudman.
She looks very elegant.
The background thing behind Keddie is moving. It's making me a bit dizzy.
I'm going to watch the short film with Keddie: The Thing in the Roof.
They're talking about a killer who hides in the attic. That's kind of scary to me. We have something living in our attic. Maybe a rat or a raccoon. Could be a squirrel. But what if it's a person?
Or a monster.
The thing in this movie sounds like a zombie.
Asher Keddie's partner in the movie is Nathan from the Secret Life of Us.
This is very creepy.
It's good horror. They've managed to make Winnie the Pooh look scary.
I didn't really understand the ending.
I tried to find Asher Keddie's Twitter. I found this, but it's not verified. I don't think it's hers. I could be wrong.
This might be her husband's Twitter. It has links to an Instagram account that seems to be his. There are pictures of a child who resembles Keddie's stepson and also pictures of Keddie.
I'm going to look at who Vincent Fantauzzo is following on Twitter and see if the Asher Keddie account is one of them. I'm doubting he would follow a fake Asher Keddie account. Then again...doing so might be fun for him.
Well, I went through the list. I didn't see Asher Keddie. Though I saw a lot of other Offspring people. I had fun looking at his followers. I should do that more often. I mean not look specifically at who Vincent Fantauzzo is following. Once is probably enough. When you get up to three times, you're probably in stalker territory. But you know...in general. Look at who someone is following.
So....
I think I shall end this here.
Gotta put the laundry away....
Mostly, I know her from Offspring. She played the neurotic and adorable obstetrician Nina Proudman.
After being introduced to Keddie via Offspring, I then watched her on the depressing show Love My Way. There she played a....
I think she was a production assistant? And she had a shoplifting problem.
Recently I saw Keddie in the second season of Rush. She played Jacinta, a journalist dating someone in the police force. When I saw her on the show, I thought it was just going to be a brief one time appearance, but she was actually on several episodes.
This week I saw Keddie on the second season of The Secret Life of Us. Her hair was darker and I thought she was much less attractive in this. That started freaking me out a bit. I mean about myself. What if my physical appearance is mediocre simply because of my hair color? What if getting my hair bleached would make me drop dead gorgeous? What if all these years I've been going around with the wrong hair colors?
I was thinking I should go to one of those websites that let you try on different hair colors? But I think I'm afraid to. If I do look a zillion times better blond, it's kind of a problem. Because I don't think I'd be good at keeping up with it. I already dye my hair subtle colors like different shades of brown and red. I fail to keep up, but it doesn't matter all that much. I don't think it's too obvious. But blond? I'd probably end up with brown hair on the whole top of my head, and then all else would be blond.
Then again, I'll probably have to get good at keeping up with my hair coloring because I'll soon go grey. I mean MAYBE I'll be one of those women who embrace ageing hair. If I do, it will probably be more out of laziness and cheapness than following a principle.
If I'm not lazy and cheap, maybe I'll go blond when I start turning grey. I mean if one of those websites tells me I'd be super beautiful if I didn't have brown hair.
Oh! You know what would be awesome? If grey is my magic hair color—the one that makes me as beautiful as Nina Proudman.
I should stop talking about hair and get on to deeper things.
Keddie's character on The Secret Life of Us was even uglier on the inside. She was clingy and overly helpful towards Jason. Then when he rejected her, she freaked out. She pointed out that she did so much for him, and he told her he had never asked her to. She didn't like that.
It's really wonderful when people are helpful, but it can get difficult if they demand something in return. Something illegal. Your undying affection. Obedience.....
Since seeing the episode with Keddie, I've wondered if I've ever acted that way towards someone. I can't think of anything from recent memory. If anyone would be the victim of that type of behavior from me, it would probably be Jack. I think it's a common and somewhat natural thing to happen between parents and children. We do so much for our children. Then when they do something we dislike, there's a tendency to feel wounded. Then we may make the mistake of lashing out. I've been watching Coronation Street lately, and Gail McIntyre is having these types of feelings towards her grown-up kids.
I'm not saying it's good that this happens between parents and children. It can be very annoying and somewhat suffocating. Manipulative! But it's just something that often happens, and people can kind of expect it.
Outside family situations, I think it's a bit more disturbing.
Another show I've seen it on lately is the second season of Bates Motel. Norma is befriended by people in town who are just a bit too eager to be her friend and help her out. The poor woman has a LOT on her plate. When she loses the plot one day and lashes out, they act very unforgiving towards her. There was that attitude of, we did so much for you! How dare you not give us 100% of your love, devotion, and obedience. And Norma WAS bitchy towards them. They deserved an apology. But I think in normal healthy relationships, people would be understanding of bad moods and forgive.
I also think there are people in the internet community who act like that—maybe especially in the blogosphere. There are people who will be overly nice to new bloggers. They'll take you under their wings. They'll comment on all your posts. They'll get their friends to comment. They'll give you these little awards to decorate your blog. But the underlying rule is you have to agree with everything they say on their blogs. If any of your comments show disagreement towards them, you'll quickly become the pariah.
Crap. I should really shut up and get onto learning about Asher Keddie. I think this going to be a very long post. Get your skimming eyes and fingers ready.
I'm going to start with Keddie's biography on IMDb.
They say she was born in Melbourne. They don't list a birthdate, which makes me wonder if there's something fantastic and mysterious. Maybe she's a vampire or Time Lord.
Keddie was married to a guy named Jay Bowen from 2007 to 2012. Then, last year, she married a guy named Vincent Fantauzzo. That's a fun name!
Keddie's anniversary to Fantauzzo is coming up in a couple of weeks.
Oh! Wow. Keddie JUST gave birth...like three days ago. It's her first baby.
I wonder how they're all doing.
They're probably exhausted.
I'm getting tired just thinking about them being tired.
One last thing on the biography page: Keddie did ballet in her childhood. She was going to audition for the Australian Ballet School when she was 14, but she dislocated her knee.
So is that an injury that cuts you out of ballet for life? Or was it more like she just got led to another path and never returned to the ballet one?
Here's Vincent Fantauzzo's website. He's a painter—an artist one, not a house painter.
What show was it where someone was hired as a painter, and they were the artist type. But the person who hired them was looking for someone to paint their house? I'm pretty sure it was an Australian show. Maybe House Husbands? Though I don't remember there being an artist on House Husbands.
Crap. This is going to bother me.....
Anyway. Vincent Fantauzzo is the one who painted the Archibald winning painting of Asher Keddie. I've seen it before, but had no idea it was painted by her husband.
Now I'm seeing that Keddie is a stepmother. Actually, IMDb mentioned it, but I ignored them.
Here's a painting, though, of Keddie's stepson. He's beautiful. I hope he's adjusting well to getting a new sibling.
Oh! Fantauzzo is also the one who painted the Archibald winning painting of Heath Ledger. It's quite amazing.
I like this guy's work.
I think the coupledom of Fantauzzo and Keddie is oozing with talent. I wonder if their kids will inherent any of it.
Now I'm looking at Asher Keddie's filmography. It's LONG. I'm already overwhelmed.
I'll do my usual disclaimer: I skip over one time appearances in TV shows I haven't watched (not including the first thing on the filmography). And I skip over movies in which I can't find much information.
Keddie's first screen thing was in 1985—an episode of the show Five Mile Creek. Keddie played a character named Emma. I'm guessing Emma was a child. Because I was a child in 1985, and I'm pretty sure Keddie is around my age. I imagine she's a few years younger.
Someone has posted the whole episode on YouTube. I'll skim through and see if I can find Keddie.
The show has a fun theme song.
There's a little girl at 2:21 looking at a sign and eating an apple. Could that be Keddie?
She appears again at 3:59. I'm pretty sure it's her.
Keddie did some other projects in 1985. I can't find much information about some of them.
So I'm going to jump to Fortress. It's a TV movie about a teacher who's kidnapped along with her students.
Here's a trailer for the movie.
I think that's Keddie at :08—the one in the purple shirt.
In 1986, Keddie was in a movie with The Christmas Story boy. This was called The Last Frontier. It's about an American woman (Linda Evans) who ends up living in Australia. She falls in love with an Australian man. The problem is he dies and leaves her a property plagued with debt. And there's a drought. Yikes.
There's more stuff here in which I can't find good enough information. Unfortunately.
I'm going to skip ahead all the way to 1994. Keddie appeared as Lisa in three episodes of a TV show called Janus. Lord Wiki says the show was about a criminal family.
In 1997, Keddie played the 17-year-old version of Karla in the miniseries Simone de Beauvoir's Babies. I know actors don't always play characters that are the same age as them. BUT if Keddie was the same age as Karla, that would mean she was born in 1980. That wouldn't make sense, though, because then she would have been five-years-old in Five Mile Creek. She looked much older than five.
I thought the miniseries sounded familar; and looking at the credits. I see Sonia Todd was in it. I probably came across the movie when I did my post on her. I also see that Jacek Korman was in the series. He's on The Secret Life of Us—plays Gabrielle's married lover.
I just looked more closely. Sonia Todd played the older version of Karla.
Also in 1997, Keddie appeared in several episodes of the TV show State Coroner. She played a woman named Claire Ferrari.
Here's a scene from the show. I'll see if Keddie is in it.
Nope.
It looks like the type of show that would scare and depress me. I think it's pretty much about the different ways we can all tragically die.
In 2002, Keddie was in a horror-comedy short called The Thing in the Roof. It's online, so I'll look at it a little bit later.
I'm going to jump back in time a little bit...and then forward. Between 1996 and 2003, Keddie appeared four episodes of Blue Heelers as three different characters. One character appeared in a season 7 episode, and then was back again for one episode of season 9. Maybe it was a family member of one of the main characters?
Well, no. The character's last name was Lonsdale, and I don't see any other characters with that last name. Although I guess sometimes people don't have the same last name as their family members. I don't have the same last name as Tim or any of my sisters. Keddie doesn't have the same last name as her husband.
At least one of the Lonsdale episodes is on YouTube. I'm going to watch a bit of it.
Keddie appears almost immediately at :32. She comes into the police station to tell the police people that there was an explosion. Her hair is dark like it was in The Secret Life of Us. I'm not sure, though, if it's dark blond or light brown. I'm dumb when it comes to stuff like that.
Now that I look again, I'm seeing that it's brown. Maybe it's darker than what it was on The Secret Life of Us.
Why am I going on and on about hair? It makes me sound so superficial. I try to keep that side of myself hidden.
I have to jump through time again. I'm not good at following timelines on IMDb.
So...Between 2000 and 2004, Keddie appeared as Samantha Piper in the show Stingers. She was in seven episodes.
Lord Wiki says Samantha was the sister of someone named Angie.
Oh! Angie was played by Kate Kendall. Lord Wiki just pointed out that Kendall now plays Laura Turner on Neighbours! That's very cool. I like learning things like that.
My favorite Australian television website says that in Samantha Piper's first episode, her arrival messes up her sister's assignment. The whole sting thing?
What is a sting thing? Isn't it where police people pretend to be something else?
Yes. Lord Wiki says I'm right. So I guess that would include the characters on on 21 Jump Street.
In 2006, Keddie was in The Society Murders. I remember this one. I think Matthew Le Nevez played the killer; and Keddie is his sister.
So...yeah. Here's a scene with Patrick and Nina not being Patrick and Nina. It's all a bit surreal.
In 2007, Keddie was in another murder movie. This one was called Murder in the Outback. And Damien de Montemas, who played the object of Keddie's affection in The Secret Life of Us, was also in the film. I wonder if they had any scenes together.
The murderer in this story is named Bradley John Murdoch. Though I don't see anything about him being related to Rupert Murdoch. I did wonder.....
Crap. I messed up on the timeline...AGAIN.
Rewind to 2004. This is when Keddie started working on Love My Way. She played Julia Jackson.
Here's some clips from from the show. Keddie doesn't say much in the beginning, but she has a more prominent scene starting at 1:30.
I'm going to jump back forward to 2007. This is when Love My Way ended. And also, Keddie was in a movie about John Curtin. She played Elsie junior, the daughter of John and Elsie Curtin. It's not often that children are named after their mothers. I think it happens much more often with fathers and sons. If I remember correctly, there was a comment made about it on Bates Motel, because there Norman is named after his mother Norma.
In 2009, Keddie was in another murder movie. This one was called Beautiful.
Lord Wiki is describing the plot to me, but I can't really follow it.
I'm going to watch the trailer instead.
There's a boy in the movie. He looks familar to me. I'll have to find out who he is. After I'm done watching the trailer.
Keddie appears at 1:05.
It's a mysterious serial killer type story. It looks quite intriguing.
You know who the boy might be. I'm going to make the guess before looking at the credits. I think he's from The Elephant Princess.
Yep. I'm right! His name is Sebastian Gregory, and he played JB. JB annoyed me a bit sometimes.
Also in 2009, Keddie was in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I've seen all of the general X-Men movies, but not the ones specifically dealing with Wolverine. I don't know. I've never really been into him that much. I don't know if I'd be interested in seeing a movie that's just about Wolverine. Although I guess he wouldn't be the only character in the movie.
Keddie played a character named Dr. Carol Frost. She and Hugh Jackman aren't the only Aussies in the movie. I see Max Cullen in the credits. He starred with Keddie in Love My Way. And there's also Tim Pocock from Dance Academy.
There's probably more. It seems the movie has a huge cast.
Brief detour here. I was looking on YouTube for Asher Keddie X-Men scenes, and ended up finding this instead. It's a video of Keddie (age 9) performing on Young Talent Time.
That's pretty cute.
Back to Wolverine. According to Lord Wiki's cousin, Carol Frost was a nurse who worked for a guy named William Stryker. I guess she's a nurse who also has a PhD. Or people call her doctor just for the fun of it.
Wow. Asher Keddie was busy in 2009. This was the year she was on Rush. She was also on season two of Underbelly. She played Liz Cruickshank.
This blog says Cruickshank is a Victorian police officer. She fights against drug stuff.
Here's a promo for Underbelly. And again, in this show, Keddie is reunited with Jason from The Secret Life of Us.
I'm still not done with 2009.
Keddie was in a TV movie called Possessions. And here, Keddie is once again reunited with Max Cullen. I think Keddie works with the same actors over and over again.
Here's a trailer for the movie. It features a weird mummy painting.
I'm not sure if that's a bad trailer, or what. All I know is it didn't make me want to see the movie.
Here's a scene from the movie. Maybe it will be more compelling than the trailer.
No...not really.
It could be a very good movie, though. Maybe they're just doing a bad job advertising it. Or maybe they're doing a fair job, but the movie and I aren't a good match.
Now I'm finally ready to move onto 2010. This is when Offspring premiered. I think this is what Keddie is most famous for. Some people might disagree with me. Well, and then I'd disagree with them. We'd go round and round in a circle.
Well...wait. I'm so messed up.
I just re-looked, and Possessions came out in 2010. I make a big deal about leaving 2009, and I already did so.
Sorry about that.
There was a lot in 2009, but not as much as I thought.
As for 2010, Keddie was in another Prime Minister movie. This one was about Bob Hawke. Keddie played his second wife. Patrick Brammall from Offspring played Kim Beasley. I'm guessing I wrote about the movie when I did my post about him.
Yeah. I can't follow IMDb timelines and I can't remember stuff I've researched only about a few months ago. That's probably why I feel a bit lost sometimes.
In 2011, Asher Keddie played Ita Buttrose in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. I think this is another role in which Keddie is well known for. I think she won an award. And I know she also won an award for Offspring. I think that's how I first heard of Offspring in the first place. I was looking at recent Logie winners, and came across the show.
Here's a promo for Paper Giants. Some of the other actresses there look vaguely familar to me. But my mind can't place them.
The last thing on Keddie's filmography is a series called Party Tricks. I guess it was a miniseries. It's only six episodes. In this one, she was reunited with Rodger Corser, her police officer lover on Rush. It's about two people politically racing to become premier. I think Keddie and Corser are those two people.
Yeah. Lord Wiki says I'm right. And he also says it's brought to the world by John Edwards This is the guy the who brought us Offspring, The Secret Life of Us, Rush, Tangle, and almost every other Australian show that exists.
It almost seems like Australian television is run by a clique. And if you want to be in the business, you'd better be on the right side of it.
Well, that's not really true. There's Neighbours and Home and Away. I don't think John Edwards is involved with those shows. And there are a few other things. Still. I think it's a good idea to be on friendly terms with that man.
That being said, even powerful successful people have their failures. According to this article, Party Tricks was a flop. That happens sometimes. I'm kind of glad it happened. Sorry. It's just that John Edwards is like the king of modern Australian television. It's annoying when someone is overly successful. Well, it's annoying for someone like me—a person who frequently fails. (And is petty about it). But all that being said, I wouldn't want John Edwards to continue to have flops. One or two is enough. Then he should go back to having huge successes.
Now I'm going to read some interviews with Asher Keddie. Here's one from InStyle Australia. I didn't know there was an Aussie version of InStyle.
Keddie says the actress who has most inspired her own career is Meryl Street. I'm sure that's a common answer for actresses.
Keddie is asked what's been the biggest hurdle of her career. One of the things she says is,
You dissolve a large part of yourself when you take on different characters and that can be to the detriment of your emotional health sometimes.
I think that's very interesting. I've definitely thought of actors becoming different people when they take on different roles, but I don't think I ever thought of it in terms of their own self dissolving. It's kind of scary in a way. Maybe some actors lose the line that divides their own self from the character.
Is it the same with writers?
Do I ever lose myself when creating characters?
Maybe.
I don't think so.
I think more often I find parts of myself I didn't realize existed.
I'm going to move onto another interview.
Here's a 2012 one from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Keddie is described as a perfectionist.
In the interview, she says this about Nina and herself. I understand her need to fix things, I understand her desire to control her environment sometimes, to make it feel like she's standing on solid ground. I understand feeling confident one day and waking up the next and feeling vulnerable. It motivates me; I think it motivates her, too
I'm not sure I fully understand that. I've been reading quotes from Keddie in these two interviews. I find it sort of hard to follow some of the things she says.
Well, I'm not saying I don't understand her words. I get what she's saying about feeling confident one day and feeling vulnerable the next. But I don't really think it's a big deal that that she and Nina have that in common. Don't most people have mixture of confidence and vulnerability?
Then again. Maybe not.
Maybe if someone like John Edwards had no flops, he'd be feeling confident every single day.
And then there are people who feel vulnerable every day. They're probably depressed.
Still. I think most people switch back and forth between having confidence and losing it.
Sometimes I think I'm brilliant. I think this blog is fabulous. I think I'm beautiful and have this fabulous singing voice. Oh, and I'm also a great mom, listener, novelist, etc.
Then other days, I'm so embarrassed about this blog. I look in the mirror and see this outrageously ugly woman looking back at me. I start to think that the people who have complimented my singing were just messing with my head. I'm a terrible mother and I'm dreading the day that Jack's therapist gets him to see that I'm the one who caused all his problems in life.
I'm still trying to figure out what I'm seeing with Keddie. It's almost like she's somewhat distant and overly general. Maybe somewhat cerebral? Then again, it could be the way the interviews are edited.
I'm going to read another interview. This one is about season 5 of Offspring.
Keddie says she enjoyed working with a baby on the set, despite the advice given to actors to avoid that.
She also enjoys being a stepmom.
Now she has another little baby.
Here's an article about the baby.
The baby is a boy.
Keddie and her husband got married on a beach in Fiji.
While looking at recent news articles, I came across Lord Wiki's information on Keddie. He has a birthdate for her. She was born on July 31, 1974. She shares a birthday with Harry Potter!
What year was he born?
Lord Wiki's cousin just reminded me that it was 1980. So Keddie is a bit older than Potter. She's pretty close to my age actually...two years younger.
Lord Wiki says Keddie has won the Silver Logie for most popular actress four times in a row. Wow. That's impressive.
Both of her parents were teachers.
I think maybe I'll watch some interviews. I want to get a better sense of Asher Keddie.
Here's an interview with Adam Hills. I like him.
This is fairly old. It's about Paper Giants; so I think it's pre-Offspring.
The beginning is funny. Hills asks about the upcoming Logies. Will she win? Keddie says it could be up to him, whether he makes her look bad on his show. Then he says, Is it true you're a massive bitch?
Is it true?
Probably. Sometimes.
Most women are bitches at least some of the time. I know I am.
Oh! Now the joke is even funnier. Keddie was in competition with Adam Hills for the big Logie. I guess he failed to make people believe she was a total bitch.
Wait. Did she win for Paper Giants? I'm pretty sure she did.
No. I'm wrong. Lord Wiki says she lost. And so did Adam Hills. Stupid me. I forgot these competitions are usually not between just two people. Hamish Blake is the person who won.
This is very funny. Now they're talking about what faces they make when the camera is on them as the nominations are being read, and also the facial expressions used when learning they've lost. I'm wondering if that's the hardest part about being a successful actor. THAT moment there. And it's worse these days with Twitter, because if you make the wrong face, it's going to be all over the Internet.
Keddie says she deals with it by pretending she's a character. That's brilliant. I think it's a very good way of handling it. It's probably a good way of handling any difficult situation.
Now they're talking about Ita Buttrose's lisp. When I think of lisps, I think of Sarah Paulson. Are there any other actors who have lisps?
This website names Drew Barrymore as having a lisp. I never really noticed. I guess she does?
Sean Connery has a lisp?
I should move on.
I mean I should get back to watching the video.
Keddie and Hills talk about playing real people. Keddie says she had meetings with Ita Buttrose. She wasn't able to do the same when playing Bob Hawke's wife. She talked to her via Skype.
Keddie says when they were on Skype, Bob Hawke would pop his head in once in awhile to check things out.
There was an episode of Who Do You Think You Are that featured Keddie. Here's the promo for that. She has an ancestor that was a child star like her. There are actors in her family history. That's probably not too surprising.
Here's a video of Asher Keddie winning a Logie in 2012. Adam Hills is the one giving her the award. I wonder, when she walks up to the stage, is she's pretending to be another character? And when she pretends to be a character, does she make up a new one? Or does she use one she's already played? Maybe she's imagining she's Nina Proudman.
She looks very elegant.
The background thing behind Keddie is moving. It's making me a bit dizzy.
I'm going to watch the short film with Keddie: The Thing in the Roof.
They're talking about a killer who hides in the attic. That's kind of scary to me. We have something living in our attic. Maybe a rat or a raccoon. Could be a squirrel. But what if it's a person?
Or a monster.
The thing in this movie sounds like a zombie.
Asher Keddie's partner in the movie is Nathan from the Secret Life of Us.
This is very creepy.
It's good horror. They've managed to make Winnie the Pooh look scary.
I didn't really understand the ending.
I tried to find Asher Keddie's Twitter. I found this, but it's not verified. I don't think it's hers. I could be wrong.
This might be her husband's Twitter. It has links to an Instagram account that seems to be his. There are pictures of a child who resembles Keddie's stepson and also pictures of Keddie.
I'm going to look at who Vincent Fantauzzo is following on Twitter and see if the Asher Keddie account is one of them. I'm doubting he would follow a fake Asher Keddie account. Then again...doing so might be fun for him.
Well, I went through the list. I didn't see Asher Keddie. Though I saw a lot of other Offspring people. I had fun looking at his followers. I should do that more often. I mean not look specifically at who Vincent Fantauzzo is following. Once is probably enough. When you get up to three times, you're probably in stalker territory. But you know...in general. Look at who someone is following.
So....
I think I shall end this here.
Gotta put the laundry away....
