Hannah Levien’s new Netflix show reminds her of bout on Brisbane stage

Toowong raised actor Hannah Levien says her career has gone “full circle” with her role in a new Netflix series reminiscent of her first professional gig in her home town back in 2007.

Actor Hannah Levien grew up in Brisbane.

Brisbane actor Hannah Levien says her career has gone “full circle” with her role in a new Netflix series reminiscent of her first professional gig in her home town.

Featuring in new Netflix series Brand New Cherry Flavour as Christine Woods, Ms Levien has been working abroad since she was headhunted by an American manager in 2011.

Raised in Toowong, Ms Levien said playing Christine had reminded her of her first professional role at Brisbane’s La Boite Theatre in 2007 in The Year Nick McGowan came to stay.

“That show was set in the 80s and this TV show that I’ve been doing for Netflix is set in the early 90s but has a lot of 80s references. I’ve been thinking a lot about that play.”

Hannah Levien grew up in Brisbane, Australia. Born to New Zealand parents, Hannah spent time in both countries. As a child she loved to read and create theatre shows with her five siblings. Her eldest sister read her Lord of the Rings when she was in the second grade. And Hannah cites that as a major influencing factor in her imagination. So much so that Hannah was banned from school briefly because she was inventing so many fantasy stories that she was starting to scare the other kids at school.

“It was my first gig around drama school days and the character I play in Brand New Cherry Flavour reminds me of the person I was playing back then so it feels like a full circle in a way.”

Her love for acting began at a young age, having studied drama in school at Somerville House before completing her undergraduate degree in fine arts at USQ in Toowoomba.

Ms Levien said working on Brand New Cherry Flavour had been a career highlight.

“I have a super fun character on it, I loved the writing right from the beginning. I could just see so many ways of who she was and how to inhabit that.”

She has also featured in successful productions The Horseman, Siren and The Magicians.