SA’s rising stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee among the 2022 up-and-coming talent
They’re young, talented and 2022 is going to be their year. Some you’ll recognise, others you need to know. Meet SA’s next big things in entertainment, fashion and the arts.
Lifestyle
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Meet our rising stars of 2022. They’re an eclectic bunch but they all have one thing in common — this year is going to be their year.
Abby Potter
This 29-year-old’s ready to take on the world in 2022 with her sustainable fashion label, House of Campbell.
And, why not? It has already been on the runway at New York Fashion Week in 2019 and at last year’s Afterpay Australian Fashion Week, our country’s only international fashion event.
“I have never felt more excited or creative than I do heading into this year,” Potter, who is a 2013 graduate of TAFE SA’s fashion course, says.
“Like most industries, the pandemic really turned this industry on its head. While the conventional way of running a fashion business was disrupted, I was able to shift my focus on what the future of the business could be.”
House of Campbell is a tribute to Annie Campbell, Potter’s maternal grandmother who was a seamstress specialising in fashion garments and wedding gowns.
From the time Potter was five, Annie instilled in her “a deep love of bold fashion and an appreciation of craftsmanship”.
In a move that is sure to appeal to the growing number of consumers consciously buying local, Potter has made the decision to bring House of Campbell’s design and production back home to Adelaide – expanding the brand’s studio space in the CBD to allow this.
“We are investing in production technologies in 2022 to remain competitive, both locally and across the globe,” Potter says, adding the pandemic helped House of Campbell grow in different directions. “It also gave us an opportunity to provide our customers with more tailored services that we wouldn’t normally be able to produce, offering bespoke and bridal pieces which will continue into 2022.”
And, if that isn’t enough, Potter is also in talks with a global online retailer.
Shantae Barnes-Cowan
It’s been a fairly busy couple of years for the Whyalla woman – the 18-year-old juggled filming two movies and a miniseries while finishing Year 12.
Barnes-Cowan first burst on to our screens with a stunning debut in the first season of Total Control with award-winning actor Deborah Mailman praising her abilities.
She’s currently starring in the eight-part fantasy TV series Firebite in the lead role of Shanika, an Aboriginal Australian hunter battling a colony of vampires in the middle of the South Australian desert. Films Wyrmwood Apocalypse and miniseries Sweet As are also due for release this year.
Jamila Main
To see Jamila Main perform on stage with such vitality and physicality, audiences might never guess that the Adelaide actor and playwright has disabilities.
But once the curtain falls and the applause fades, Main returns to the wheelchair they use to deal with the debilitating pain caused by two chronic conditions.
“While I am performing, my pain goes away, which is the only time I am pain-free,” the queer artist, who also works as a disability inclusion consultant, says.
“It brings me so much joy – I really feel like I was put here to be a storyteller.”
The invisible nature of their disability has also posed challenges for Main, particularly when it comes to public perception.
“My pain has been affecting my mobility. I can stand and run around a stage for an hour or two, but I can’t do that all day, so I often use a wheelchair.
“Afterwards the pain really hits me and I will struggle to walk after performing. Just because I look non-disabled on stage, doesn’t mean I am.”
Main was 21 and studying acting at Adelaide College of the Arts when “this horrific, crippling pain hit me”.
It was years before the cause was identified as endometriosis. Last year Main, now 27, was also diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both hips.
Main is now in creative development for their play How to Eat Rabbit, supported by a grant from the City of Adelaide and an award from Griffin Theatre in Sydney, with a view to presenting it in one or both cities in 2023.
Another of their plays, Benched – which has already had three runs here – will have seasons in Sydney and Melbourne this year.
“I’m very happy with how my career is going … this year I am all booked up until June, and hoping to have a few more projects for the rest of the year.
“I’ve been writing film scripts, which is a new medium for me.”
Main also has a role in Shadow, a feature film by Victoria’s Back to Back Theatre, due for release later this year.
“I’m also working with them this year on a research project, investigating barriers to the inclusion of disabled actors.”
If that’s not enough, Main is also working as an “endometriosis consultant” for a Melbourne playwright, whose central character has the condition, and with Nexus Arts on a disability access video.
“Selfishly, I am available to help people improve their disability inclusion,” they say with a laugh.
“I really feel strongly that disabled actors should be cast in roles that are disabled, rather than someone pretending – we are already really under-represented.”
Keylan
Male models are a rare breed and ones with global potential are even scarcer.
But if anyone in Adelaide was going to find one, its Finesse Models Australia director Brigette Mitchell.
After all, she manages supermodels Lily Nova and Akiima — who have worked with top brands such as Gucci and Chanel and starred together in a campaign for MAC Cosmetics.
Mitchell is understandably excited about her latest find, Keylan, who she says has “everything” you could ever want in a male model.
“He’s good-looking, smart and tall, with the right measurements,” she says.
Signed with mother agency Finesse and Vivien’s Model Management in Melbourne, Keylan can look forward to photographic and runway gigs.
In his early 20s and a final year animation student, Keylan has already spent time honing that craft in New York.
We’re thinking that – thanks to modelling – it won’t be long before he has many more stamps on his passport.
Emma G
Emma Georgiadis is Emma G to fans of her podcast which won her gold in the Bullseye category at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards.
The 34-year-old describes the podcast, Empowerhouse, as a “passion project” which she started to empower women to be “the best version of themselves”.
To date, her high-profile “powerhouse” guests have included Taboo co-founders, Young Australian of the Year 2021 Isobel Marshall and Eloise Hall, AFLW star Erin Phillips and artist Tsering Hannaford.
When she isn’t podcasting, Emma G visits schools to run Enlighten Education workshops for young women. On top of all that, she also has a demanding day job at Triple M as an announcer and anchor.
Kodi Smit-McPhee
At just 25 years old, Adelaide actor Smit-McPhee is already a cinema veteran.
He cut his teeth opposite Eric Bana in the 2007 AACTA Award-winning drama Romulus My Father, before starring two years later alongside Viggo Mortensen in post-apocalyptic survival film The Road. He’s worked steadily since, but now he’s set to really make his mark in Hollywood.
Smit-McPhee is eyeing Oscars glory in 2022, thank to his scene-stealing turn as a frail young boy in Jane Campion’s mesmerising Western-drama The Power Of A Dog.
He’s already secured a best supporting actor Golden Globe for the performance, which has earned him rave reviews around the world.
Smit-McPhee will return to the big screen this year in the Baz Luhrmann Elvis musical biopic as the “father of country music” Jimmie Rodgers.
Marlon x Rulla
Rulla Kelly-Mansell and Marlon Motlop, aka Marlon x Rulla, are two proud indigenous men with a story to tell.
They dropped their debut single – Black Swan – in 2021 to critical acclaim, opened for Midnight Oil and scored themselves a spot on the 2022 Womadelaide line-up.
Watch this space, there’s more to come.
Danny and Michael Philippou
Chances are you’ve already heard of Danny and Michael Philippou, the crazy YouTube pranksters better known as RackaRacka, who in 2019 famously filled a car with water and drove it through a bottle shop, earning them a date in an SA court.
But the Adelaide twins are set to make waves for different seasons in 2022, when they launch into their first feature film, a horror flick called Talk to Me.
In production since mid-2020, the movie – about friends who conjure spirits after finding an ancient, embalmed hand – will finally start shooting in Adelaide next month, with funding from Screen Australia and SAFC, and backing from Causeway Films (The Badabook).
Their YouTube channel might have 6.5 million subscribers, but the LA-based brothers are hoping their social media success can be replicated in Hollywood, with about 15 other projects, from movies and TV shows, already in the works.
Penny Hospitality
In an extremely tough time for SA’s hospitality industry, this entrepreneurial group is shining through.
Led by director Hugo Pedler, the young creative team at Penny Hospitality has launched into a series of inventive projects designed to “bring life and excitement to the post-Covid world”.
While the virus isn’t going anywhere, Pedler and his ambitious crew haven’t been deterred.
They’ve taken on the iconic East End space which once housed Jock Zonfrillo’s award-winning Orana restaurant and the Universal Wine Bar.
In its place on Rundle Street is a new two-level eatery and bar, Two-Pot Screamer, which focuses on “fun, fine dining”, and they’re confident of succeeding where others have failed.
The group has also revamped the offering at legendary Henley Beach venue Joe’s Kiosk, and attempted to bring a late-night outdoor music festival, Mango Motel, to the banks of the River Torrens this summer. Unfortunately SA’s strict no-dancing policy forced them to shelve their plans.
Teenage Joans
The Adelaide punk duo – Tahlia Borg and Cahli Blakers – only formed in 2018 but they’ve already kicked some massive goals.
They dominated the 2021 South Australian Music Awards, scooping six gongs including Best Group and Best Song, after taking out Triple J’s coveted Unearthed High competition the year before.
G-Nation
Following in the girl power footsteps of the Spice Girls and Little Mix, SA’s very own girl group G Nation have made a name for themselves around Adelaide since forming in 2018.
Taylah (18), Isla (17), Mateja (16), Rylee (17), Alessia (17) and Emma (18) all met through the Australian Company of Performing Arts in Thebarton and had released several independent singles and performed at local gigs like Adelaide’s Carols By Candlelight in Elder Park.
But in 2021, G-Nation were thrust into the national spotlight when they made it all the way to the grand final of The Voice, under the mentorship of British superstar Rita Ora.
The Voice saw G-Nation put their unique spin on the likes of Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer and Bye Bye Bye by N*Sync with videos of their performances now racking up millions of views online.
While they might not have taken out the title, the reality TV gamble seems to have paid off – Universal Music Australia is currently said to be negotiating a record deal with the girls.
G-Nation’s next quest is global domination. The girls are set to compete in Eurovision: Australia Decides next month on the Gold Coast. Their big dream is to represent our country at the famous European song contest, following in the footsteps of Dami Im, Jessica Mauboy and fellow Adelaide superstar Guy Sebastian.
Zaachariaha Fielding
He has already topped national charts as the voice of music duo Electric Fields, and now Zaachariaha Fielding is making his mark on the visual art scene.
Fielding was a finalist with paintings in both last year’s Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards and the Art Gallery of SA’s 2021 Ramsay Art Prize for Australian contemporary artists under 40.
He is represented by the APY Art Centre Collective, which has also exhibited his work at its gallery in Light Square.
“I was raised on desert country in the eastern Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and come from a long line of multi-disciplinary artists,” Fielding says.
“I am compelled to make work that honours the visual language of my ancient culture.
“The iconography reflects the way I live my culture in the present, as a constant feature of my world, and visualises how I interact with the beings that populate the Tjukurpa (creation stories) I’ve inherited.”
Zachariah’s father Robert Fielding is also an acclaimed visual artist who started out at the Anangu owned and operated centre Mimili Maku Arts, and is himself a two-time winner at the NATSIAAs.
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