Sianoa Smit-McPhee is an Australian actress and singer. From 2005 until 2007, she played

Bree Timmins Bree Timmins is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Sianoa Smit-McPhee. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 4 April 2005. The character was written out in 2006 and she m ...

in the Australian soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

''. She starred in '' As the Bell Rings'', the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series '' Hung'', and '' The Kettering Incident''. She has also appeared in the feature films '' All Cheerleaders Die'' (2013) and '' Fallen'' (2016).

Early life

Smit-McPhee was born in Adelaide to Sonja Smit and Andy McPhee, an actor and former professional wrestler. She has six siblings from her father's three marriages, including Kodi Smit-McPhee, who is also an actor. Smit-McPhee attended Croydon Primary and Allenby Gardens Primary, before she moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

with her family when she was seven years old. Her father got her into acting when she was three years old and she starred in a number of commercials.

Career

After signing to her father's agents, Smit-McPhee secured a role in police drama ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted th ...

'' as a girl with

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

. She had to cut her long hair for the role. Shortly after, she won the role of

in the long-running Australian TV series ''Neighbours'', which she played from 2005 to 2007. After leaving ''Neighbours'', Smit-McPhee starred in the children's television series '' As the Bell Rings'', which aired on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

. She also starred in the 2008 short film ''Hugo'', which had its Australian premiere at the Canberra Short Film Festival. The film centres on a school girl (Smit-McPhee) who finds a moth-boy and tries to win a science competition with him. From 2009 to 2011, Smit-McPhee starred in the

series '' Hung'' as Darby Drecker. Smit-McPhee made her feature film debut in the 2011 American sports film ''

Touchback In American football, a touchback is a ruling that is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to travel ...

'', alongside

Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...

. In 2012, she featured in the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...

's television film '' Firelight'', as well as the series ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', also known colloquially simply as ''Always Sunny'', is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and co-developed by Glenn Howerton for FX (TV channel), FX. It premiered on August 4, 2005, and stars Charl ...

''. The following year, she starred in '' All Cheerleaders Die'', alongside her former ''Neighbours'' co-star Caitlin Stasey. Smit-McPhee and her husband also wrote and produced the song "Take a Bite of My Heart", which was featured in the film and performed by her. In 2014, she guested in an episode of ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...

'', and appeared in the thriller film '' Mall''. After living in Los Angeles for around ten years, Smit-McPhee moved back to Australia to launch her music career. She played at the

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

in March 2017. She also appeared in '' The Kettering Incident'', which was filmed in Tasmania, and the 2016 feature film '' Fallen''.

Personal life

Smit-McPhee has been married to American music producer John Rush since 2012.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* Living people Actresses from Adelaide Actresses from Melbourne Australian expatriate actresses in the United States Australian child actresses Australian soap opera actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Australian television actresses Australian film actresses 21st-century Australian actresses {{Australia-actor-stub