Tasia Zalar (born 1992) is an Indigenous Australian actress and musician. She was nominated for Most Popular New Talent at the Logie Awards for her role as Shevorne Shields in the ABC series Mystery Road.[1] She appeared on Elle Australia's List of 2019.[2]

Tasia Zalar
Zalar in 2016
Born1992 (age 31–32)
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
OccupationActress
Years active2009–present

Early life

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Zalar was born in Cairns in Far North Queensland.[3] She is of Gunggandji, Kaurareg, Gugu Thaypan, Mualgal, Gumulgal, and Wuthathi heritage.[4] She attended Trinity Bay State High School.[5] She played football and marngrook with the North Cairns Tigers growing up.[6] She moved to Melbourne at 19 and splits her time between there and Townsville.[7][8]

Career

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Zalar began her career when she was 15 in the titular role of the short film Nia's Melancholy, which premiered at the 2009 Message Sticks Festival. She then made her feature film debut as Coral in Uninhabited and her television debut as Bridget Titui in the ABC1 miniseries The Straits.[2]

In 2018, Zalar began starring as Shevorne Shields in the neo-Western series Mystery Road. In addition to receiving a Logie nomination, she won two Equity Ensemble Awards alongside her cast mates. In film, she appeared in the Vale Light installment of the 2019 horror anthology Dark Place, the 2021 sports drama Streamline, and the sequel to the zombie apocalypse film Wyrmwood.[9]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2009 Nia's Melancholy Nia Short film
2010 Uninhabited Coral
2015 Bluey Bluey Short film
2017 Blight Tracker Short film
2018 Kapara Lydia George Short film
2019 Dark Place Shae Anthology: Vale Light
2019 Closed Doors Girl Short film
2021 Streamline Patti Hill
2021 Wyrmwood: Apocalypse Grace

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2012 The Straits Bridget Titui 7 episodes
2014–2015 Wentworth Jianna Riley 2 episodes
2017 The Warriors Ava 2 episodes
2018–present Mystery Road Shevorne Shields Main role
2018 Wrong Kind of Black Chicky Miniseries
2019 Get Krack!n Willow 1 episode

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Work Result Ref
2019 Logie Awards Most Popular New Talent Mystery Road Nominated [10]
Equity Ensemble Awards (shared) Won
2021 Won [11]

References

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  1. ^ "Tasia Zalar will be our next rising star". Courier Mail. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Introducing The Stars Of The 2019 ELLE List". Elle. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  3. ^ Taylor, Lucy (15 May 2020). "Why Tasia Zalar Is Our Girl Of The Moment". Marie Claire. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Five Questions with Tasia Zalar". Umbrella Entertainment. 19 August 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  5. ^ Thompson, Hayley (24 February 2009). "Professional Touch". Cairns Post. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Interview: Tasia Zalar". Cinema Australia. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  7. ^ Davis, Kylie (2 September 2019). "Tasia". Duo. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Cairns: Mystery Road's Tasia Zalar nominated for Logie". Cairns Post. 29 June 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2021.(subscription required)
  9. ^ Kay, Jeremy (21 June 2021). "Arclight Films boards world sales for Cannes on zombie thriller 'Wyrmwood: Apocalypse' (exclusive)". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  10. ^ Idato, Michael (30 June 2019). "ABC, Ten win big, Tom Gleeson takes gold at Logie Awards". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  11. ^ "'Mystery Road', 'Retrograde', 'Hungry Ghosts' win Equity Ensemble Awards". 10 May 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
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