The ones to watch in 2021 — South Australia’s rising stars of showbiz, sport, food and politics
Some are faces as fresh as daisies. Others will be a little more familiar. But they all have one thing in common- they’re all set for big things in 2021.
Lifestyle
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A month in to a brand new year, today the Sunday Mail lists some of our picks for the names we’ll be talking about in 2021 and beyond.
TATIANA GOODE
Like many 17-year olds heading into their final year of high school, Tatiana Goode is preparing a big 2021 ahead.
But while most student might just be worried the uncertainties of the school year starting this week and beyond, Goode has her sights on dreams way beyond the scholastic year.
In the latter part of 2020, she landed a role in the hit Christmas film A Sunburnt Christmas which was praised by audiences and critics alike.
“It was such a great experience,” she says. “All the cast and the crew and the director Christiaan (Van Vuuren) were really great to work with. They all knew it was my first film or anything like that, so they really helped along the way.”
But Goode’s introduction to the world of acting happened almost by mistake.
“I only went along to the acting class because my friend was going and I thought it might be fun, but she dropped out after a few weeks and I kept it up,” she says.
Goode is now signed to one of Adelaide’s top casting agents Ann Peters who says the young gun is a “very talented student and this is just the beginning for her.”
Since A Sunburnt Christmas auditions and future offers have already started pouring in for Goode, but she’s determined to make her new dream work alongside finishing her final year of school as well.
“School were really supportive last year when I had to take time off, so we will see what happens.”
ERIN PHILLIPS
SA sporting icon Erin Phillips might just be Adelaide’s queen of reinvention. As the daughter of Port Adelaide great Greg Phillips, sport seemed to always be a part of her destiny and the 35-year-old made her dreams come true when she hit the big time playing basketball and now AFLW at the highest level.
But 2021 will see Phillips’s career take another turn after she signed on to co-host the Mix 102.3 breakfast show alongside Mark Soderstrom.
The new kid on the radio block is still finding her feet alongside the media veteran, but seems to be enjoying her career sea-change and audiences too are warming to her after just a few weeks. The real test will be when the first lot of radio ratings drop in early March and radio pundits can see if Erin and Soda can replicate success that Mix has become accustomed to over the past decade.
DARCIE BROWN
In 2019, quick Brown became the youngest person – male or female – to be signed by the Adelaide Strikers when she was 16. She made her Women’s Big Bash League debut in October, 2020 at the age of 17, and took an incredible 3-13 on debut. All while she was doing her Year 12 exams from the WBBL sporting hub in Sydney. Went on to win the WBBL’s Young Gun award for the best player under 23. Bowling at speeds around the 120km/hr mark, places her well and truly on the Aussie selectors’ radar.
MARK KAMLEH
Talk about the Midas party touch. When events are concerned, Mark Kamleh has a knack for producing gold. Chances are you’ve seen him around town. Kamleh was the founder of Hommus Where The Heart Is (a Middle Eastern food stall), Tiger Mountain (a food stall that pops up next to The Exeter during Adelaide Fringe) and Syrian Mobile Disco (a mobile food stall serving Arabic barbecue treats and tunes out of the back of his convertible Ford Capri). Kamleh’s father moved from his homeland of Syria to the UK when he was 18 and when he eventually moved to Australia, ran a restaurant on Hindley St. His knack for cooking rubbed off on his son. Their heritage lives on through Kamleh’s culinary handiwork.
When he’s not cooking up an Arabic storm, Kamleh can usually be found spinning beats. No one fills a dance floor quite like him.
More recently, Kamleh teamed up with wine scribe and Tasting Australia beverage director Nick Stock. Together, the creative chaps curate and host wonderful wine and food events such as Refreshment Island – a wine tasting event on the Island in Rymill Murlawirrapurka Park in Adelaide’s CBD and Spring Dozen – a wine tasting event featuring exciting South Australian wine brands. Watch this space.
JACKSON HATELY
The 20-year-old South Australian flew into the Crows’ West Lakes coop in the AFL off-season after telling Greater Western Sydney he wanted to head home. He played 13 games in two seasons at GWS since being drafted by the Giants with pick No. 14 in 2018. A tall, big-bodied midfielder, he could well become the natural replacement for Adelaide’s former club champion Brad Crouch who left the Crows for St Kilda.
JAMES HOPKINS AND TYLER GRACE AUSTIN
When UK-born, Queensland-raised James “Jimmy” Hopkins boarded a plane to Europe two years ago, he left a South Australian wine scene bristling with excitement. Hopkins is the founder of The Fruitful Pursuit (behind-the-scenes wine experiences) and hit London to introduce his intimate events and the next generation of Australian wines to Blighty. He returned to Adelaide and the wine scene is better off for it. Hopkins was recently joined by his partner in business and love, Tyler Grace Austin and together they run The Maker & Me series – intimate weekly two-hour lock-ins with exciting winemakers in the CBD. The focus is on hyperlocal producers; the type of folk with a knack for storytelling. It’s not just the quality of the booze served – although one-off verticals and the odd rare museum release, small batch bangers and the odd experiment are highlights – it’s the company you’re in while you sip. The secret is in the curation. That’s what Hopkins does best.
The pair also runs Wine Playground here and interstate. Austin is a powerhouse in her own right. After winning Australian Young Waiter of the Year in 2018, she began frequenting France and cities across Australia as an event manager. Just before relocating to Adelaide, she was assistant head sommelier at Brisbane’s Otto Ristorante.
ROBERT SIMMS
The Adelaide City Councillor is hardly a new face on Adelaide’s political landscape having served in local government and a brief stint in the Federal Senate. But expect to see a lot more of Simms in 2021 after the Greens party elected him to take the number spot on the ticket at the 2022 election for the state Upper House seat, after long-time MLC Mark Parnell announced his retirement.
The 26-year old has been a passionate member of council and a savvy media operator, so expect him to be making further inroads as he works towards the next State election.
ZAC TYLER AND AMELIA RYAN
After a difficult 2020 due to COVID, creative couple Ryan and Tyler faced a crossroads their careers in the arts: they could go all in or get out. They decided on the former.
With their producing partners Torben and Richelle Brookman of GWB Entertainment, Ryan and Tyler are behind our newest Fringe hub, The Queens, while his production company Release Creative is also presenting headline Fringe shows 27 Club and Disco Wonderland.
“2020 was such a time of uncertainty for our sector and what’s bringing us so much joy is that we’re creating a space for friends and peers,” says Ryan, a cabaret performer and producer who will stage her own show Unsung at The Queens with Libby O’Donovan. While Tyler has directed and produced Ryan’s shows before, this is the first time the couple has worked together on a major project.
“We’ve set up a home office for the both of us, which is new territory,” says Tyler.
Ryan laughs: “We’ve discovered we are much better at making the big venue decisions rather than the simple choices … like what to cook for dinner. That still creates the biggest debate of our workday.”
STELLIE
Singer Gabriella Pansini, better known by her stage name Stellie, made a splash on the music scene last year with her single Love Me First, which has now been streamed over 700,000 times. Making her debut at WOMAD, the 21-year-old was working three different retail jobs before she released Love Me First to the world. By the end of 2020 she’d quit her day job, headlined her own show and released a self-titled EP. Needless to say, we’re excited to see more of Stellie in 2021 as she chases the footsteps of Adelaide names like Sia and Tkay Maidza.
Surprise twist in station-switching TV stars’ secret split
The Adelaide media power couple have both been linked to other industry identities after quietly parting ways.
Mum’s horror as son’s friend makes nightmare discovery
The Adelaide mother has paid tribute to her son after receiving news no parent can imagine.