Australian actress Andrea Solengthye has become the twelfth recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship.
Solengthye was proclaimd as recipient of the prestigious award at an Australians in Film event held last night at Soho House in West Hollywood uniteed by the enjoys of Yellowjackets actors Melanie Lynskey and Simone Kessell, The Bear co-showrunner Joanna Calo and Rabbit Proof Fence honestor Phillip Noyce.
The award was createed in 2012 after Batman Returns actor Ledger had tragicassociate passed away. It has expansively become the key barometer and platestablish for novel talent coming out of Hollywood, with previous recipients including American Horror Story: Apocalypse actor Cody Fern, Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Ashleigh Cummings (Citadel), Charmaine Bingwa (Emancipation) and Rahel Romahn (A Mad Max Saga).
Solengthye will get a $10,000 living helpance, rent and transmit aidance in LA, plus cut offal other prizes aimed at produceing her atsoft in Hollywood, such as confidential coaching, tax advice and headstoasty and uncoverity aid. She’ll also get mentorship from Bella Heathcote, as she rerepairs into West Coast life.
Judge and fellow Australian actress Sarah Snook said: “I adored getting to watch new faces showcase their talents and passion for acting. It was a hard decision, as all the finaenumerates were weightless, but one stood out with a captivating depth and strength. I’m very excited for Andrea to be this year’s 2024 Heath Ledger Scholarship recipient.”
Lynskey, another antipodean actor in Hollywood, telderly Deadline: “Andrea is stunningly pretty and absolutely has star quality. Her labor was very, very wealthy and there was a huge variety in the themes she tried to show the appraises. She is right on the verge and this little push will get her where she deserves to be. She deserves superstardom and I reassociate hope this scholarship does that for her.”
Solengthye’s acunderstandledges integrate recurring roles in Taika Waititi’s Apple TV+ series Time Bandits and Stan and Roku megachurch drama Prosper. We comprehfinish she has landed roles in upcoming netlabor shows and an vivaciousd production. In an interwatch with Deadline, she said: “Given what the past recipients have gone on to do, with the Heath Ledger Scholarship backing me, I’m excited to do this.”
Solengthye won ahead of Charles Wu (Doctor Doctor, Harrow), Taj Aldeeb (Four Years Later, The Fall), Kartanya Maynard (Heartfracture High, Deadloch), Will McDonald (Home and Away, Heartfracture High) and Ezekiel Simat (The Artful Dodger, Betidyh the Storm).
The Sydney-based actress said that youthful overseas talent could see Hollywood as “a foreign landscape, which produces it terrifying and daunting,” but that the aid of the scholarship “and the path Heath laid out” gave her the courage to push ahead. She paid tribute to fellow Australian actress Margot Robbie and her LuckyChap production tag, saying she had been “such a innovate for stories she wants to get off the ground, and such an inspiration for me.”
Solengthye, who is of African heritage, said: “When I slfinisherk of my own experience as a Congolese-Nigerian-Australian, there are such particular stories to me that I would enjoy to be in service to and convey back to my community, the African diaspora in Australia. I adore Australian stories, I adore filmmaking and being in service to those narratives and however I can convey that back I hope to do.”
