Natalie Bassingthwaighte biography
Sunday, August 10th, 2008 |
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Natalie Bassingthwaighte
Date of Birth :
1st September 1975
Location :
Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Natalie began acting at an early age starting in school productions and then progressing onto stage school, attending both the Wollongong School Of Performing Arts before going to The Australian College Of Entertainment, the later of which has had stars such as Delta Goodrem and Natalie Imbruglia as pupils.
Natalie has also been in several large theatrical productions such as Rent and Footloose and she remains keen to continue work in the theatre. She starred in the 2005 national production of Grease the musical.
On the small screen Natalie has appeared several times on programs such as The People’s Choice Awards, All Saints, Carols By Candlelight, beauty and The Beast, Good Morning Australia and Australian Idol.
Natalie starred in the Australian TV soap Neighbours from 2003 to 2006, which is shown in many countries around the globe, as the character Izzy Hoyland. Izzy is a complex character with a hard exterior which often causes strife upon interaction with others. Her good looks and a tendancy to a lack of sublety makes her a hit with the male populous but generally causes conflict with females. Izzy has also had a fairly unsettled past partially due to her mother finding religion which has proven to be a division between which is ongoing. Family comes in the form of her brother Max and his family Steph, Boyd and Summer who live at number 32 Ramsey Street. The character of Izzy was built up as the vixen of Ramsay Street and it played a big role in the drive of Neighbours to create excitment around it’s theme of evil in 2006. Whilst Izzy and her evil streak seemed to attract hatred from other characters and fans alike there were hints of geniune goodness from the character of Izzy. These tended to be overshadowed by a return to the malicious acts that seemed the norm for Izzy.
2006 saw the end of Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s involvement in Neighbours as she annouced that she was leaving to focus on her music career. Soon after her departure it was annouced that Natalie would appear in Neighbours in a guest role as the characters of Karl and Susan spent a holiday in the United Kingdom. The guest scenes were filmed towards the end of 2006 and Natalie joined Alan Fletcher and Jackie Woodburne to do various promotional work in the UK.
In 2005 Natalie took time out from her role in Neighbours to star as Sandy in a nationwide production of Grease.
Another huge part of Natalie’s career is her involvement in the electro dance band the Rogue Traders. This began in 2004 when she auditioned for the part of lead singer as the band relaunched themselves. The other band members took to Natalie immediately and Natalie began working with them. At first her involvement was kept quiet and it wasn’t until the band released their first single with her on board. As “Voodoo Child” hit radio stations Natalie was noticed by fans and the media picked up on Natalie, who was sporting a dark wig and gothic style clothing, and her involvement in the band. The popularity of Voodoo Child and frantic PR work by the band, which saw them appearing at various gigs around Australia and performing on several television shows. This popularity continued to grow throughout 2005 which saw the release of the bands second album “Here Come The Drums” which sold well and was helped along by continued publicity and PR work. 2006 saw the band release more singles from the Here Come The Drums album. The band also annouced that plans to released their music in the U.K and Europe. These releases were tied to Natalie leaving Neighbours in early June and their chosen single, Voodoo Child, began hitting U.K radio stations in May 2006 with a provisional release date of July 10th 2006.
Natalie tends to keep her private life to herself but has spoken about relationships on several occasions. She has been married once when she was younger though has stated that she doesn’t want to rush into marriage again. This marriage began when she was 23 however both Natalie and her partner soon began to feel their relationship had changed for the worse. They were divorced in 1998 around the time Natalie began her role as the star in the theatrical production of Rent. During her time on Neighbours Natalie was rumoured to be dating Ryan Eckersley, the assistant to the director of the show. This was confirmed by and in depth interview done with Australian O.K magazine in the summer of 2005 in which the pair suggested that they were moving in together. A report on the BBC Neighbours site shortly after reported that Natalie and Ryan were engaged though this soon dissapeared from the site as news about the report spread. Nothing more was heard of the pair until interviews Natalie did in the early part of 2006 in which she mentioned a partner. As the interviews continued it became clear that this was a new boyfriend and it was soon annouced that Natalie was dating fellow Rogue Traders band member Cameron McGlinchy. No further mention was made of Ryan and the relationship between Natalie and Cameron continued as the Rogue Traders grew further. The pair’s relationship was still fairly private, and Natalie continued to dodge any question which were too personal, but they appeared at several events (such as the 2006 Logie awards) as a couple.
Natalie is heavily involved in various charity events. She is an ambassador for the global children’s charity Variety and frequently attends charity events often singing and performing for an audience. She has also auctioned off several items of clothing, which are generally decorated and signed by Natalie Bassingthwaighte, in conjuction with organistations like Smash Hits Australia. Natalie has also taken part in compaigns such as RADD which sees celebrities helping spread the message against drink driving.
Natalie is currently focusing on the music side of her career. She has expressed a continuing desire to spend time in Los Angeles looking for new acting roles. Natalie is also set to release her own solo album in late 2006 / early 2007
