Mouche Phillips (born 1973) is an Australian actress and

theatre producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hire ...

, best known for her television roles as Aviva "Viv" Newton in '' Home and Away'' (1989–90) and Eva Sykes in police procedural series '' Water Rats'' (2000–01).

Early life

Phillips was born in Sydney, and attended Woollahra Public School with several other future actors, including Home and away co-star

Justine Clarke Justine Clarke (born 16 November 1971) is an Australian actress, singer, musician, author and television host. She has been acting since the age of seven and has appeared in some of Australia's best-known TV shows. She is best known as a presen ...

and singer

Deni Hines Dohnyale "Deni" Sharon Hines (born 4 September 1970) is an Australian singer who has been releasing music since the early 1990s, with chart success in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Europe. She is the daughter of American-Australian singer M ...

, and then St Catherine's School, Waverley from 1984 to 1989. Her father, Tony Lunes was a yacht skipper working in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, United Kingdom.

Career

Phillips began her career in 1985 by playing the character of Jackie Wilson in the children's television show Butterfly Island. She then starred as "Beatie Bow" in the 1986 feature film ''

Playing Beatie Bow ''Playing Beatie Bow'' is a popular Australian children's novel, written by Ruth Park and first published on 31 January 1980. It features a time slip in Sydney, Australia. Plot summary Lynette Kirk has been a happy child, cheery about her paren ...

'' when she was twelve years old. She later appeared in many

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

serials, including '' A Country Practice'' and '' Rafferty's Rules''. On 5 July 1989, she premiered as a cast member of the popular series '' Home and Away'', on which she played Aviva "Viv" Newton. She left the series on 25 May 1990. Phillips was sharing a house with

and began auditioning the week after Clarke had left the serial. Phillips told a writer from ''

Look-in ''Look-in'' was a children's magazine centred on ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior ''TVTimes''". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994.Kennedy Miller Productions Kennedy Miller Mitchell (known before 2009 as Kennedy Miller) is an Australian film, television and video game production house in Potts Point, Sydney, that has been producing television and film since 1978. It is responsible for some of Austra ...

in the 1980s. She was cast in the ABC series '' G.P.'' before, at the age of 17, moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England. Aged 19, she was accepted into the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

. After returning to Sydney in the mid-1990s, Phillips began producing pub theatre with a group of friends, Jeremy Cumpston, Simon Lyndon and

Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton (born 23 June 1974) is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his appearance in the ''Star Wars'' films ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2005) as a young Owen Lars, a role he reprised i ...

, later to be known as the Tamarama Rock Surfers theatre group. She later starred in PorkChop Productions' first show, a production of ''

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'' is an absurdist, existential tragicomedy by Tom Stoppard, first staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1966. The play expands upon the exploits of two minor characters from Shakespeare's ''Ham ...

''. That led to her being appointed PorkChop's full-time producer, which led her to develop material to stage at the Sydney Opera House. Phillips produced '' Last Cab to Darwin'' for PorkChop Productions which was staged at the Opera House in Sydney and at the Black Swan State Theatre Company in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. In 2000, Phillips appeared as a guest in the police series '' Water Rats'' where she played Eva Minton-Sykes, wife of Gavin Sykes until 2001. In 2009 she appeared in the third season of the series '' H₂O: Just Add Water'' where she played Mrs. Taylor, a science teacher, until 2010. She joined the cast of '' Secrets & Lies'' where she played Vanessa Turner, the wife of the doctor Timothy Turner on 3 March 2014.

Personal life

Phillips married Sy Milman on 21 September 2002; the couple had three children and they divorced in 2010. She is currently the owner and

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

of Ripe Productions and took the position of creative producer for Byron Theatre in 2010. She also works as the Sponsorship Manager for the Byron Bay Writers Festival and as the

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the Byron Bay Soul Street New Year's Eve Event. She also works as the Sponsorship Manager for the Byron Bay Writers Festival She directs a theater program for the Byron Theatre, also has taught several children focused on functions of camera, improvisation and has assisted as a children's casting director and acting teacher.

Memberships and associations

* Ripe Productions – Owner (June 2001 – Present) * Byron Theatre – Creative Producer (2010–present) * Byron Bay Writers Festival – Partnership Manager * Byron Bay Soul Street New Year's Eve Event – Curator

Filmography

Film

Television

Producer

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Mouche 1973 births Living people Australian film actresses Australian stage actresses Australian child actresses Australian voice actresses Dramaturges Australian dramatists and playwrights Talent agents Australian theatre managers and producers Australian radio actresses Australian soap opera actresses Actresses from Sydney Australian women in business Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses