Adelaide actor Mavournee Hazel on her rise from Neighbours to NCIS: Sydney
Gun South Australian acting export Mavournee Hazel is setting tongues wagging in her new role on NCIS: Sydney, the premier of which has broken records.
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CBS is finding success in taking its NCIS franchise Down Under, with the naval crime show becoming the most-watched series premiere ever on Paramount+.
Since the Australia-based spinoff’s debut on the network on November 14, nearly 10 million viewers have caught a glimpse of the series either on the network or on the streamer, which almost doubles the already impressive 5.64 million live same-day viewers.
Based on three days of viewing, NCIS: Sydney has become the most-streamed CBS network premiere ever on Paramount+, according to Paramount Global.
The series also seems to be popular among Aussies, becoming the most-watched local series since the launch of Paramount+ in Australia.
The hype around NCIS: Sydney is a boon for Adelaide’s Mavournee Hazel, who stars in the show.
From Neighbours to NCIS: The rise of Mavournee Hazel
There wasn’t a light bulb moment for Adelaide’s Mavournee Hazel.
It was always just bubbling away inside her. Her innate desire to perform.
She’d concoct elaborate plays for her younger siblings. Then assume the mantle of director as she made them act out her plots in the back yard of their Adelaide Hills home.
Her imagination ran wild from fairies and frippery, to somewhat darker themes such as returning to the cubby house to find out “their place” had been burnt down and everyone was dead.
Hazel, 27, jokes she put them through hell, making them play the scenes non-stop until she was satisfied they were saying their lines correctly.
When Hazel was about eight, she told her mum she really wanted to do acting classes.
“I wish I could tell you there was this pivotal moment,” Hazel laughs, as we chat over Zoom, as part of her massive day of publicity for her latest role in the Aussie version of the huge international franchise NCIS.
“You know, like I was watching something like The Wizard of Oz that made me go ‘I want to do that’. I just feel it was something I was born with.”
Her parents recognised this and backed her all the way, never once trying to deter her or advising she should probably have a back-up plan.
Instead her mum trawled through newspapers looking for acting workshops.
It was kismet when her mum underlined an ad for a class with casting director Wizzy Evans.
The weekend workshop was headlined by actress Doris Younane – who called Adelaide home for years while she filmed the much-loved drama McLeod’s Daughters.
Hazel’s mum had to fight for her then-13-year-old to be included – organisers were concerned there’d be too much bad language, (“Mum said, ‘She’s heard it all before. She swears like a sailor’,” Hazel laughs).
Younane relented and, from that first encounter, spotted Hazel’s enormous talent and potential, took her under her wing, worked on her show reel with her, referred her to her agent. And the rest is beautiful history.
Younane, who’s most recently been seen in TV series Five Bedrooms and The Clearing, recalls that first meeting.
“When we first crossed paths she was looking for someone to mentor her I guess,” she shares.
“Teach her all she needed to know to pursue acting.
“She was so passionate and so very, very good so it was a no-brainer. I couldn’t walk away from her talent.
“Without any hesitation, I approached my brilliant agent Sue Barnett and she too saw what I saw.”
And Hazel’s commitment was real – when Younane moved to Sydney and established West Side Actors Studio, she followed.
But it goes way beyond a mere professional connection.
“We are best friends, I love her dearly and will always be in her corner,” Younane says.
She was most certainly in Hazel’s corner when Younane and husband Billy Papakostantis moved her into their Melbourne home in the thick of Covid.
The first time, Hazel was with her parents, baking banana bread and flicking through old family photos.
Caught in the middle of Melbourne’s harsh lockdown 2.0 (and subsequent 3.0, 4.0 … you get the picture), Hazel was living alone, her place was filled with black mould, and she was completely overwhelmed at the prospect of being shifted to a hotel.
Originally just for six weeks while her place was fixed up, Hazel stayed with the pair for more than 18 months or so, dubbing them her guardian angels.
“I was just really lucky to be able to move in with them,” she says.
“I couldn’t not see anyone for weeks. I’ve only got my thoughts and it gets lonely. We’re not solitary creatures, we are pack animals.”
And while the 262 days of Covid lockdown wreaked havoc on her career, the silver lining was finding love. Again thanks to Younane.
The AACTA-nominated actress – in her usual indomitable fashion – once counselled Hazel to never date an actor, but she made an exception for Josh McKenzie who was working with Younane on the second season of Five Bedrooms.
“She said to me, ‘I know you’re not interested in seeing anyone right now, but you need to meet this guy’,” Hazel remembers.
“We were at (a Melbourne bar) and he walked towards us and I was like, ‘OK, there’s my person. There he is.’”
McKenzie was similarly smitten at first sight, and then the relationship went to the next level quickly, with the pair moving in together, again thanks to the constraints of Covid.
They’ve barely been apart since, except for this year with their conflicting work commitments.
Hazel is grateful to have found someone who has the understanding of their demanding craft.
“I have just found peace and understanding with Josh,” she says.
“This is the first year that we’ve both been working at the same time. We fell in love as out-of-work actors, and now that we’re both working – we just can’t believe how lucky we are.
“It’s incredible to be able to come home and to be able to share with my partner the ins and outs of like the politics on a set, and just feel so heard and understood.
“I’m very, very thankful for that.”
The flexible nature of their schedules means they can traverse the country to be with each other.
Hazel was in Perth when we next caught up, our original interview cut short by the time constraints of a mega-publicity day.
McKenzie was finishing up on his role on the second series of the Foxtel Group drama that scooped the pool at this year’s Logies.
“We were really kind of intimidated by what that would look like in the past, but now that we’re doing it, it’s just, we’re just partners, you know?” she explains.
“It’s like where you go, I go – where I go, you go.”
Younane laughs as she recalls telling Hazel in no uncertain terms to stay away from actors.
“But love is love so what can you do,” she says.
“I kinda knew Josh was right for her – he has a beautiful heart and is easy on the eye.
“So, so glad it has worked for her. They are adorable together and I know she is happy.
“There is something special about Mav and the world is about to find out.
“She is one to watch.”
The world is definitely about to find out about Hazel.
Australians have already been wowed by her talent with her incredible body of work which includes three years on Neighbours as Piper Willis, to Halifax Retribution where she made an impression on one of Australia’s favourite actors, Gold Logie winner Rebecca Gibney.
And last year’s Shantaram for Apple TV+ as the girlfriend of lead actor Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame.
She’s currently starring as Bluebird “Blue” Gleeson on NCIS: Sydney – the fifth, and first-ever, international spin-off of the much-loved global series.
The OG NCIS notched up its 20th season in 2022.
Its 21st season was pushed back following the Hollywood writers’ strike. That actually turned out to be a bonus for the Australian version.
Originally only planned for a local release, it will now be seen internationally to help fill holes in the network’s schedule.
There’s an air of confidence around Hazel that she didn’t have three years ago when we first chatted about her role on Halifax playing Gibney’s on-screen stepdaughter.
Sitting at the first table read for the crime drama series, next to not just one, but two award-winning actors with Claudia Karvan also part of the cast, Hazel was pretty sure producers had made a mistake.
Or it was just a fabulous dream from which she was about to wake any minute.
For the first time in her career, she feels a real appreciation for her own skills and what she can bring to the table.
“I don’t know if it’s a result of Covid or if it’s just age and just being more comfortable in who I am and believing in what I can do,” Hazel shares.
While she’s long been championed by strong women such as her mum and Younane, this time it was a man in NCIS Sydney, showrunner Morgan O’Neill, who backed her from her first audition.
“He fell in love with what I was doing with Blue,” Hazel says.
“I had brought myself, like any actor, I’ve brought myself to any character that I’ve auditioned for, but it was just waiting for the stars to align and for my interpretation to match that of everyone else on the team.
“And I’m so thrilled for a job like this – that was how I envisioned Blue and for all of her quirks to be my own and what I bring.
“And then to have Morgan and everyone else to agree – that gave me a lot of confidence in myself as well.
“The cast that I’m working with they’re just such safe, capable and credible actors so to step on set every day and feel supported and safe is incredible.”
That cast also includes Todd Lasance, whose extensive resume includes international roles in Without Remorse, Black Site, The Vampire Diaries, and The Flash, plus on Aussie shows Anzac Girls, Crownies, Home and Away, and McLeod’s Daughters and prolific Australian actor William McInnes who was most recently on The Newsreader.
“Surreal is probably the only word I can use to describe it,” Hazel says.
“I mean, of course, I bawled my eyes out of joy that morning.
“I’m immensely proud and grateful to be a part of this first international iteration of this franchise. But also to be able to show our crew’s talent on a global scale as well.
“To get this international recognition that Australia does have the skills and the talent to be up there with the big dogs.”
It’s a case of art imitating life for Hazel, with the planets all aligning for her on-screen alter ego.
Blue also backs up that serendipity with a ton of hard work. She’s part of the Australian Federal Police Outreach Program and, fortunately for her, the usual forensic scientist is unavailable so she gets to join the team in the international murder investigation set on the stunning landscape that is Sydney Harbour.
“Blue has been such a joy to play and the way that she sees the world is unlike anyone else around her,” Hazel says.
“She notices patterns and things that others can’t, and deciphers codes.”
Mastering the scientific jargon was akin to learning a new language.
“I was really adamant to learn my scripts early and just go over them, and over them again and go over the pronunciation of specific chemistry jargon that would roll off her tongue but would sound clunky in my own mouth,” Hazel explains.
“So with the way that she comes into a room and delivers information, which is how we see her a lot of the time, and it’s chunk after chunk of her explaining narcotic signatures and biology results – I needed to have this level of understanding and be able to talk about it like I was just making breakfast in the morning because it really is that simple to her.
“But I had to learn how to explain it to my fellow cast and also the audience. So I really had to understand what I was saying on a cellular level.”
When she’s not immersed in learning the language of her latest character on set, she loves reading and she’s recently finished The Valley of The Dolls and would love to see a new version updating the 1967 film.
Or she can be found cooking, when she has access to a kitchen and is not in a hotel.
She laughs as she recalls the first meal she whipped up to impress McKenzie.
“I cooked this pasta, and then down the track I found out he doesn’t eat pasta ever,” she says.
“It was like, ‘Bless your heart, babe, for eating it for me.’”
A new favourite of theirs is Greek soup avgolemono, the recipe from Younane.
Otherwise they both love watching television, and there’s no fighting over the remote as they fortunately share the same tastes and have devoured all the British comedy and police procedurals from Shetland to Happy Valley.
Hazel ensures she returns home to Adelaide as often as her frequently hectic schedule will allow.
The enforced separation of the Covid years when state border closures kept her apart from her beloved family – and especially her constantly growing and changing young nieces – still rankles.
There’s also a certain level of comfort in coming home.
“Adelaide will always have this connotation and this comforting relationship with me because, you know, it’s where I grew up and it’s where I go to unwind and relax,” Hazel says.
“And also because, I guess – although I did a series there when I was much younger – in my adult life, I haven’t worked as much there.
“The landscape … I immediately know I can just be me here. I’m not having to play someone else. I can relax and just be Mournee with my family.”
Turns out she needn’t have worried that her dictatorial director nature had permanently scarred her siblings. Her younger sister recently took her aside to thank her.
“She said, ‘I’m really thankful for the childhood that you gave us,’” Hazel shares.
“And she said to me you forced us to play outside and use our imaginations and you created this whimsy and imagination for us. You put glitter in the garden and said, ‘The fairies have been.’ She said, ‘I look back on my childhood and playing with a lot of fondness.’
“I was like ‘awwww’.”
Hazel looks forward to weaving that sense of whimsy throughout her career.
“I feel like I’ve continued to do that through my acting,” she says.
“It’s like this sanctioned activity where I can still get to play. And pretend. And make believe. But now it’s a very real and valid space.”
NCIS: Sydney, Fridays, Paramount+
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