Hills Grammar’s most outstanding students
From famous musicians, actors and comedians to medical researchers and financial leaders, Hills Grammar has some pretty outstanding alumni. SEE WHO MADE THE LIST
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Hills schools were asked to nominate their most outstanding former students and the response has been overwhelming.
We present the most notable alumni from Hills Grammar in Kenthurst, a school which has produced some of Australia’s most beloved entertainers.
Van-Anh Nguyen, concert pianist
Van-Anh Nguyen is a world class concert pianist, composer, recording artist and TV presenter.
She has released seven albums and her single Billie Jean reached number one on the classical charts.
Her bubbly personality and emotive playing has graced the Sydney Opera House, Segerstrom Center of the Arts in California, Jones Hall in Texas and many more performance spaces around the world.
Ms Nguyen received a music scholarship to Hills Grammar and graduated from the school in 2004.
Dr Amelia Hynen
Dr Amelia Hynen is a microbiology researcher who works at Policy Cures Research, a not-for-profit organisation funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
After finishing at Hills Grammar in 2008 Dr Hynen went on to study a Bachelor of Science in Biology at Macquarie University.
In her final year of undergraduate study, she completed a research scholarship at the Macquarie University Hospital examining the biochemistry of brain blood vessel abnormalities.
Her Honours project in biomedical research characterised the Australian Epidemic Strain 1 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a chronic bacterial lung infection in cystic fibrosis.
Upon completion she was awarded first class Honours and the Dean’s Merit Award for Academic Excellence.
Dr Hynen continued her academic research career in 2013 undertaking a Doctorate of Philosophy in bacteriology characterising explosive cell lysis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton is a familiar face to most Australians, known for his theatre, TV and movie work.
He has appeared in a string of well known Hollywood films including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), The Great Gatsby (2013), Black Mass (2015), Loving (2016) Red Sparrow (2018) and The King (2019).
He received a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the movie Loving.
Mr Edgerton came to prominence as one of the lead actors in the cult Australian TV classic The Secret Life of Us and playing opposite Cate Blanchett in A Streetcar Named Desire for the Sydney Theatre Company.
In 2015, Edgerton received a nomination for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing - First Time Feature Film for The Gift, a psychological horror film he wrote, directed, co-produced and starred in.
In 2018, he wrote, directed and starred in the drama Boy Erased.
His talent and love of Drama was evident from the beginning of his time at Hills Grammar where he starred in every play he could get involved with!
Adrian Cunningham
Adrian Cunningham is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and world traveller. With fluent command of the saxophones, clarinet, and flute, he is one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in Jazz today.
Mr Cunningham is the recipient of the Hot House Saxophone Award for 2017.
His band, Professor Cunningham and His Old School was the winner of international band competition World Jam, (Madrid- 2016, 2017) and Best Band award at 2017 Harlem Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania).
Dean Willemsen
Dean Willemsen is an entrepreneur who in 2018 was named in the top 100 rich list.
A true entrepreneur, Dean sought out odd jobs in his community to buy his first motorbike when he was 10, established a thriving garden nursery business at 15, and bought his first house at 21.
A trained carpenter he co-founded construction group Prime Build, which has gone on to win contracts with Kmart, Aldi and Myer.
Willemsen founded end-to-end property developer Clearstate in 2011.
Rebel Talbert
Rebel Talbert is the first female NSW Rural Fire Service Assistant Commissioner.
In her current role Ms Talbert has led the development of the Service’s Rapid Aerial Response Teams program increasing the capability of remote and regional firefighting teams.
Talbert started working for the NSW RFS in 2003 and a volunteer with the Kenthurst Brigade since 2002;
In 2010, she undertook a six month secondment to the Victorian Office of the Emergency Services during the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. During this time she assisted the Federal Bush Fire Warnings Task Force in updating the Fire Danger Ratings scale and led the establishment of nationally consistent warning messages for bush fires.
Robert Ovadia
Robert Ovadia’s career in journalism commenced in his early teenage years as a member of the inaugural committee of the Hills Grammar Gallimaufry and as Chief Editor of ACCENT.
He studied Communications and French at Macquarie University before beginning his journalism career in regional television, Wagga Wagga.
Mr Ovadia’s career has taken him to London, Melbourne and Sydney, where he is currently a senior reporter with Network Seven.
Mr Ovadia is a dual Walkley Award winning journalist with a reputation for toughness, integrity and strong sense of justice.
Delta Goodrem
Delta Goodrem’s first album Innocent Eyes was one of the highest-selling debut albums in Australian history and she became the first-ever artist to have five #1 singles on the Australian charts from a debut album.
She was named the ARIA Albums Artist of the Decade in 2010 having sold more albums and singles than any other artist over the decade.
Since then, Ms Goodrem has achieved 17 Top-10 hits, four #1 albums, and over 8 million records sold worldwide.
In 2015 and 2016, Ms Goodrem played to critical acclaim in the role of Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical CATS and from 2011, appeared as a coach on the highly rated TV Show, The Voice.
Rebecca James
At 22 Rebecca James co-founded what is now the largest independent digital advertising and customer experience agency, Lavender.
At 27 she was the youngest Managing Director in her field.
A number of years later, she became Chief Marketing Officer for ME and was voted #12 in the top 50 CMOs in Australia.
Her next appointment was with Prospa as Chief Marketing and Enterprise Officer and most importantly, mum to baby Jude.
In 2018 Ms James was approached to lead the financial services company as CEO of Flexigroup. She is one of only 14 women to run an ASX listed business in Australia.
Other notable alumni
Nash Edgerton, film director and actor
Melissa Overman, general manager at news.com.au
Michelle Jenneke, hurdler
Andrew Hansen, comedian and author
Stuart-Kumar -Terry – Author of The Science that Changed the World
Barnaby Howarth. Author of Playing in Puddles, motivational speaker
Kelly-Anne Love, artist
Joanne Beveridge and Nicole Delprado, creators of Sydney Sleuther
Tiger Chen, actor
Rachael Carpani - actor
Andrew Seaton and Nick Mutton – director and producer of Mint Productions