Mouche Phillips


Mouche Phillips is an Australian actress, voice actress and theatre producer, best known for her television roles as Aviva "Viv" Newton in Home and Away and Eva Sykes in police procedural series Water Rats.

Early life

Phillips was born in Sydney, and attended Woollahra Public School with several other future actors, including Home and away co-star Justine Clarke and singer Deni Hines, and then St Catherine's School, Waverley from 1984 to 1989.

Career

Phillips began her career by starring as "Beatie Bow" in the 1986 feature film Playing Beatie Bow when she was twelve years old. She later appeared in many Seven Network serials, including A Country Practice and Rafferty's Rules.
On 5 July 1989, she premiered as a cast member of the popular series Home and Away, on which she played Aviva "Viv" Newton. She left the series on 25 May 1990. Phillips was sharing a house with Justine Clarke and began auditioning the week after Clarke had left the serial. Phillips told a writer from Look-in that she liked to be kept busy on set. She explained that "people" were often left trying to find her because she was not where she should have been. Phillips told Graeme Kay from BIG! that the role had taken up too much of her time and she preferred having a free schedule.
She later starred in a number of the Kennedy Miller Productions in the 1980s. She was cast in the ABC series G.P. before, at the age of 17, moving to London, England. Aged 19, she was accepted into the Central School of Speech and Drama.
After returning to Sydney in the mid-1990s, Phillips began producing pub theatre with a group of friends, Jeremy Cumpston, Simon Lyndon and Joel Edgerton, later to be known as the Tamarama Rock Surfers theatre group.
She later starred in PorkChop Productions' first show, a production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. That led to her being appointed PorkChop's full-time producer, which led her to develop material to stage at the Sydney Opera House. Phillips produced Last Cab to Darwin for PorkChop Productions which was staged at the Opera House in Sydney and at the Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth.
In 2000, Phillips appeared as a guest in the police series Water Rats where she played Eva Minton-Sykes, wife of Gavin Sykes until 2001. In 2009 she appeared in the third season of the series where she played Mrs. Taylor, a science teacher, until 2010. She joined the cast of Secrets & Lies where she played Vanessa Turner, the wife of the doctor Timothy Turner on 3 March 2014.

Personal life

Phillips married Sy Milman on 21 September 2002; the couple had three children and they divorced in 2010. She is currently the owner and creative director of Ripe Productions and took the position of creative producer for Byron Theatre in 2010. She also works as the Sponsorship Manager for the Byron Bay Writers Festival and as the curator of the Byron Bay Soul Street New Year's Eve Event. She also works as the Sponsorship Manager for the Byron Bay Writers Festival She directs a theater program for the Byron Theatre, also has taught several children focused on functions of camera, improvisation and has assisted as a children's casting director and acting teacher.

Memberships and associations

Film

YearTitleRoleDirector
1986Playing Beatie BowBeatie BowDonald Crombie
1993Butterfly IslandJackie WilsonFrank Arnold
1997ReprisalLaviniaRobert Marchand
1998Never Tell Me NeverMeredithDavid Elfick

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1987The Haunted SchoolMagpieMiniseries
1988Dadah Is DeathMichelle BarlowMiniseries
1988Butterfly IslandJackie WilsonTV Series
1988The Dirtwater DynastyMary EastwickMiniseries
1988Princess KateSarahTelevision film
1989G.P.SarahTelevision film
1989–1990Home and AwayViv NewtonTV series; 130 episodes
1991Golden FiddlesDaphne CraigMiniseries
1991ChancesNicki TaylorMiniseries
1996Pacific DrivePJTV series
1996SweatRobyn BarryTV series; episode: 1.5
2000–2001Water RatsEva SykesTV series; 8 episodes
2008–2009East of EverythingSandyTV series; 11 episodes
2009–2010Ms. TaylorTV series; 5 episodes
2011Rescue Special OpsLeonie CarrTV series; episode: "The Game"
2013The Gods of Wheat StreetPetra HamiltonTV series; 6 episodes
2014Secrets & LiesVanessa TurnerTV series; 4 episodes

Producer

YearTitleNotes
2003Last Cab to DarwinProducer
rowspan="4" Delectable ShelterProducer
Ruby’s Last DollarProducer-
The HarbingerTouring Producer-
Stow and The DragonProducer-

Theatre

YearTitleRoleDirectorTheatreNotes
1995Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead–Jeremy SimsBelvoir Street TheatreJonathan Hardy, Andrea Moor, Sean O'Shea and Christopher Stollery
1996Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo–Alan BecherNational TheatreLeon Ewing, Greg McNeill, Scott McRae, Mattie Porges & James Sollis

Awards and nominations

YearCategoryAward
–Best Acting in RadioSilver Stylus Award