Olivia Deeble, now 19, has grown up on our television screens – from Little Lunch to Home & Away, to Secret Society of Second-Born Royals.
And although the opportunities have been incredible, the actress confesses that growing up “under the microscope” hasn’t always been easy.
WATCH: Olivia Deeble’s Last Day on Home & Away
“I grew up on television and on people’s TVs since a very young age and I think having a shift from being a girl to a woman was really hard because I was under the microscope a little bit. So I was quite harshly judged for what I did and I think it took me a while to figure out the kind of woman I wanted to be because everyone had an opinion on it,” Olivia tells New Idea, before going on to count herself as one of the lucky ones.
“I’m pretty lucky, I’ve never had like trolls or people being super awful. It’s just when I was young being paparazzied without my knowledge or people having opinions on my weight or what I should do to myself – that’s really hard as a young woman because I’m trying to figure out myself and who I want to be.”
Despite this, the 19-year-old admits that she doesn’t begrudge people having an opinion on her, as that is part of the industry she is in.
“Once you’re a public figure and you’re in the public eye you need to know that people are allowed to have an opinion on you, but it’s up to you whether you let that opinion affect you, or how much you take their opinion into your stride.”
Olivia has been a public figure for quite some time now, joining Little Lunch as Tamara Noodle when she was just 12 years old, before moving on to Home & Away where she starred as Raffy Morrison and eventually leaving the show to join Disney+’s Secret Society of Second-Born Royals.
The actress cites these jobs as “defining periods of (her) life”, explaining that the latter gig was essential in her professional training.
“Home & Away really set up my training and was so important and vital and has made me the experienced and professional actor that I am.”
Despite leaving the soap in 2019, Olivia tells New Idea that she is still in contact with her former co-stars, revealing that she checks in on her Home & Away fam, with whom “there’s always unconditional love”.
During her stint in the Bay, the 19-year-old worked closely with James Stewart and Emily Symons, deeming them “incredible mentors” to this day.
“They just continue to tell me to work hard and work on my passion and that I was a good actor and I just needed to go and be happy. James Stewart did give me this fantastic piece of advice that there needs to be a balance – don’t just do acting because it’s a good role, do it because you love it.”
For her latest project, Olivia has teamed up with actors Gary Sweet, Eric Bana and Magda Subanski, for Audible’s new murder-mystery podcast, The Orchard, where she plays the role of Thalia.
WATCH: Olivia Deeble in Disney+ movie Secret Society of Second Born Royals (Article continues after video)
While the 19-year-old tells New Idea she didn’t work with Magda, she did spend time with Gary and Eric. And she even has a close connection with Gary.
“Gary knows my family – my grandpa and my mum. So we kind of had this little: ‘Oh hey, you know this person, you know this person’ and that was really lovely. They were all lovely people, you know, as Aussie performers always are. It was really awesome.”
Sadly, Olivia’s grandfather, actor Reg Gorman, recently passed away. The young actor confesses that she wants “nothing more than to work with him again”.
“Ironically, the first thing I ever did was with him (her grandfather). The very first time I ever performed was with him. And then I wrote and produced a television series at the start of this year and his last role was in that, so that was really beautiful. I want nothing more than to work with my grandpa again.”
Despite the recording for the podcast coming with its challenges – i.e. the performers having to be on separate ends of the room – thanks COVID – Olivia confesses that she was “really excited when the opportunity arose” as she was always a “big audio kid” growing up, largely due to her dyslexia.
“I was an avid Audible kid – I’m dyslexic so reading was kind of always a bit difficult for me because I’d jump over words or kind of couldn’t follow a story,” the 19-year-old says, overall deeming recording the podcast a “fascinating experience”.
The Orchard is part of Audible’s new Plus Catalogue; a selection of thousands of listen-all-you-want titles now included in membership, at no additional cost.
