So when she landed a spot in an Indigenous arts mentorship program, and was given an opportunity to expand her skill set, she decided to be brave and try acting.

And it was a gamble that paid off for the now 28-year-old, who has quickly made a name for herself in the industry since making her acting debut at the age of 25. Maynard has landed a string of major roles which have kickstarted her career on stage and screen and she was recently named as a ‘Rising Star’ for 2023 by the Casting Guild of Australia, which recognises the brightest up and coming talent on Aussie screens.

Maynard was thrust into the global spotlight earlier this year when she appeared in Deadloch – a highly-anticipated crime/comedy series filmed in Tasmania which was commissioned by Amazon and broadcast to more than 200 million viewers worldwide.

That was quickly followed by two ABC productions: drama series The Messenger and historical comedy Gold Diggers. And early next year Maynard will hit screens in the new season of Netflix series Heartbreak High, a show that – in series one – was listed in the top-10 Netflix shows in 43 countries, including those in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia.

Maynard has received high praise from industry heavyweights and is currently preparing for her next role in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Stolen.

To have had such a busy and exciting three years of working in major productions is heartening for Maynard, who almost didn’t step out of her comfort zone to give acting a try.

But she credits the unwavering support of Tasmanian producer Annette Downs for giving her the confidence to take that leap.

“I’d always been the singer in my community and that was the thing people always focused on when it came to me,’’ explains Maynard who completed a Bachelor of Music at the University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music in 2017.

“I loved singing but part of me always wanted to be an actor. But I always kept it to myself. And I think I did that because I assumed that it would never happen for me.

“I had that fear of failing. I also didn’t see many people that looked like me (on stage or screen).’’

But that changed in 2018 when Maynard received a mentorship grant in conjunction with Arts Tasmania and Performing Lines Tas, an organisation Annette Downs was then senior producer of.

“The person I credit most for where I’m at right now is Annette Downs, an incredible producer from Tasmania who is one of the most amazing people I know and look up to,’’ Maynard enthuses.

“I’ve got to be careful, or I’ll cry,’’ she adds.

“Annette is one of those people who came into my life with nothing but care and support. She listened to what I wanted and she made it happen. I’ve always found it difficult to ask for help. And I was at the point in my life where I just needed someone to take the reins and help me get through the muck and say ‘here’s a clear goal and here are the steps to get there’.’’

As part of the mentorship, Maynard initially thought she wanted to be a writer.

“I was inspired by plays I was seeing and I talked to a couple of dramaturges,’’ Maynard recalls.

“I loved writing – I still do. But it was my version of playing it safe. I was given the opportunity to get mentorship in whatever creative field I wanted to. And I thought ‘when is this opportunity ever going to happen again?’. So I used it to burst through my bubble of self-doubt. I said ‘Hey, I think I want some acting lessons’. And Annette fully supported that decision.’’

Maynard did a few acting classes but didn’t feel that she’d found her groove.

But then Downs put her in touch with acclaimed Tasmanian actor and director Ben Winspear for some private lessons, and Maynard says this is where magic happened.

“He’s just an incredible human being,” Maynard says of Winspear.

That appreciation was mutual – Winspear quickly identified talent in Maynard and gave her a script to read for The Bleeding Tree – a production he was putting on with his actor wife Marta Dusseldorp through their production company Archipelago Productions.

“I devoured it,’’ Maynard recalls.

“I thought ‘Wow, this is insane in the most beautiful way’.’’

She did a reading from the script in front of arts power couple Winspear and Dusseldorp at their Hobart home.

She didn’t realise initially, but she’d actually landed a part in the production.

And suddenly, the girl that had always been a musician felt she’d finally found her calling as an actor, performing a lead role in a small cast of three on stage in an intense 90-minute show alongside Dusseldorp (an “amazing” actor), and Jane Johnson (“another incredible actor”) at Hobart’s Theatre Royal.

“I had no experience in this world, I didn’t even realise I got the job,’’ Maynard recalls with a laugh.

“I mean, I had a sneaking suspicion. But I didn’t really know how these things worked.’’

Many actors spend years trying to break into the industry, doing TV ads and other small roles before landing their first major gig.

Maynard is well aware that her path into acting has been a little different.

But she believes her willingness to dive into the unknown, embrace what comes and learn as much as she can on each of the jobs she has worked on, has served her well.

“I think that’s one of the things I’ve just thrived on, being thrown into the deep end,’’ she says.

She describes The Bleeding Tree as “incredible”.

“I loved every second,’’ Maynard says.

“I knew the gravity of what I was getting into and I wanted to do really well. But the other side of me was so excited, I (almost) couldn’t stand it.’’

The project was postponed due to Covid, but Maynard says that was a blessing, as it gave her more time to hone her craft.

“I was thankful for that time, I had extra growing up to do,’’ she says.

“I was 25 when I started acting and in my opinion I feel like every extra bit of life experience, all the life lessons, make me into a better performer.’’

The show received rave reviews, with high praise for Maynard’s professional stage debut.

But Maynard didn’t want her acting career to end there.

“I was determined for that not to be the case,’’ she says.

“So I said ‘I really want to be in TV or movies, how do I do that?’.”

She used the remaining funds from her mentorship grant to hire a camera operator and put together a show reel.

And she was soon snapped up by an agency wanting to represent her.

“It all happened rather quickly,’’ Maynard says.

“They loved me … and I was just so keen.”

She began attending auditions, and was faced with plenty of rejection. Which was disheartening, but in hindsight she says it was probably for the best.

“I spent a year auditioning and I was getting a lot of ‘nos’,’’ Maynard explains.

“When I look back I’m so glad I had that year and got used to hearing ‘no’. Because I finally got a ‘yes’ – with Deadloch.’’

The series – which can be viewed in Australia on Prime Video – was written by Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney and produced by Guesswork Television (which also produced hit Australian comedy series Rosehaven) as well as OK Great Productions and Amazon Studios and was filmed entirely in Tasmania.

Maynard, a proud Trawlwoolway woman, enjoyed the chance to work on a TV project in her home state.

She also loved working with experienced actors including Kate Box, Madeleine Sami, Nina Oyama, Tom Ballard, Alicia Gardiner, Susie Youssef, Pamela Rabe, Kris McQuade and Katie Robertson.

“I’ve been very lucky, I’ve worked with some incredible performers,’’ Maynard says of her career so far.

“I’ve learnt – or maybe stolen – from every single one of them,” she adds with a laugh.

“These are people who are so comfortable with vulnerability, I want to be able to do what they do. What can be said with a million words can be said with one look. And I love that. I’m really nerdy when it comes to acting. I love watching scenes unfold.’’

When she’s working on a TV set she’s always asking the camera person or the lighting person or the make-up artist questions, about how they do things, and why they do things a certain way, because she’s so hungry to learn.

“I’m really geeky in that way,’’ she laughs.

“I wouldn’t be in the industry if I wasn’t passionate.’’

Maynard spends a lot of time thinking about how her days unfold on set – “what I did that day, what I didn’t do, what can I do better” – and says “being on a project is very consuming in a really nice way.’’

Maynard was actually working part-time for advocacy and support organisation Life Without Barriers while filming Deadloch. But by the time filming wrapped she had landed her next gig – a lead role in The Messenger – so in the space of a week she finished Deadloch, worked her final days at Life Without Barriers, and packed her bags and moved to Sydney for a few months to film.

She’d never been away from home for that length of time, and having landed a major role she was needed on set every day, which was a change from Deadloch where she was in a supporting role and was only needed on set three days a week at most.

“I was on set every single day,’’ she says of The Messenger.

“But I loved it, I was like a duck to water.’’

Next came ABC series Gold Diggers (available to watch on ABC iview now). The show was filmed in Maldon, an old gold mining town in regional Victoria and Maynard commuted from Hobart, flying in and out during breaks in filming.

“That was a crazy time, in the best way possible,’’ she says.

“I was going back and forth to Melbourne. It was an hour-and-a-half journey out to Malden and it was like another world. Everyone who worked on that show was amazing. And it was the first role I had that was purely comedic. One of the great things about Gold Diggers – and actually all the projects I’ve been in – is that I’ve been allowed in on the process to contribute to my character.’’

As someone who considers writers to be “rock stars” given their huge creative talent, Maynard was thrilled to see a couple of her improvs made the final cut in Gold Diggers.

Most recently she returned to Sydney to join the cast of Heartbreak High, where she plays Zoe Clarke, an opinionated celibacy advocate.

The first season of the Aussie show attracted a worldwide following and high praise for its honest depiction of what life is like for today’s teenagers.

In the first three weeks of being released it ranked in the top-10 Netflix shows globally and also amassed more than 42.6 million viewing hours during that time.

Maynard admits she felt daunted by the project, but quickly discovered there was nothing to worry about.

“It was the most fun experience,’’ she says of filming season two, which airs early in 2024.

“Every project I’ve worked on has been amazing and this did not disappoint. It was a lovely cast. Which was great because I was so scared. It was the first time I was working on something that was already established. It was the second season. And I thought what if I don’t fit in?’’

“I was a fan of the show before I got on it. I decided to reward myself after a massive year with Deadloch and The Messenger, I just needed to watch something that was going to make me feel happy, and (Heartbreak High) was it.’’

The other thing she loved about filming Heartbreak High was returning to Sydney because she “wasn’t as scared to be there” this time around.

“I’m such a little Tassie girl,’’ Maynard laughs, adding that it took her a while to adjust to big-city life.

Maynard grew up in Hobart’s northern suburbs with her parents and two younger brothers and says she was “an absolute anomaly in my family” as no one else was musically-minded.

But she says her ambitions were always encouraged regardless.

“I come from such a supportive community, I have the love and support from so many people in the Aboriginal community,’’ Maynard says.

“I was always told I could do anything. And it was the same with my parents, they always told me I could do anything, they’d say ‘we believe in you’.’’

Maynard attended Glenorchy Primary School, followed by Montrose Bay High School and Claremont College, where she had leading roles in various theatre productions and musicals.

“I really kind of knew, secretly (that I wanted to act),’’ Maynard says.

She decided to study at the Conservatorium of Music as a way to better inform her musical knowledge. She was also determined to complete a degree, as tertiary education was not something that was widely undertaken by people in her extended family.

“Everything I was doing with music was from instinct, and there’s nothing wrong with that,’’ Maynard says.

“But I wanted to understand everything better, and communicate better.’’

Maynard grew up idolising actor Deborah Mailman, one of the few Indigenous performers she saw on screen. She is heartened to see that there’s a greater diversity of performers on stage and screen now, and she loves that she is part of a new generation of Aboriginal performers coming through the ranks. She hopes she is making her community proud and is setting a positive example for young Indigenous children who may be looking for their own role models on TV.

“One of the best things now, is that there are so many Aboriginal actors in my generation coming up,’’ Maynard says.

“And to see all the little kids in my community, I feel confident in knowing they will see us and know that they can do it too.’’

She is excited to see how representation continues to evolve as her career develops, with a wider range of Indigenous stories now being told – primarily by Indigenous artists.

“There are more black, Indigenous and people of colour on screen, as well as behind the scenes,’’ Maynard says proudly.

She is currently preparing mentally for her next job – Stolen – a month-long Sydney Theatre Company Production which starts in early June.

“In my opinion it is one of the most important plays ever written for Aboriginal people,’’ Maynard says of the production, written by Indigenous playwright Jane Harrison and helmed by Indigenous director Ian Michael.

Stolen tells the stories of Jimmy, Ruby, Shirley, Sandy and Anne – five members of the Stolen Generation whose lives are irrevocably altered by their experiences in a social and political system that sought to erase their cultural identity.

“It’s a really heartbreaking play to watch, everything that is said is true,’’ Maynard says.

“It’s probably going to be the most confronting thing I’ve ever worked on. I’m a little bit scared, I know it’s going to be a lot. My great grandmother was a member of the Stolen Generation so being able to tell stories like hers is incredible.’’

Maynard isn’t entirely sure what her acting future holds beyond that job, but she’s keen to “explore all sides of human nature” throughout her career.

“The best thing about acting, which I love, is that you get to play characters that are very different to yourself,’’ Maynard says.

“I’d love to be a villain. And do more dramatic performances. And do some more comedy.’’

She’d also love to write plays and TV pilots, and will call on her cousin, award-winning playwright Nathan Maynard, for mentorship.

Maynard’s only disappointment is that she didn’t discover acting sooner, although she admits she wouldn’t have been ready if she’d started as a teen.

She’s certainly making up for lost time now.

“It’s amazing, doing something that you love,’’ Maynard says.

“I kind of pinch myself all the time, I think ‘wow, I get to do this for a living’. And I hope I continue to have those ‘pinch me’ moments throughout my career. I feel really lucky to be here. And I want to do everything I can to keep it going. I don’t ever want to feel settled in what I’m doing, I always want to be learning and striving to be better. I think that’s one of the best parts (about performing) – striving to be your best self.’’•