Carolyn Dando

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Carolyn has been performing since she was 10. She achieved note when she was selected to play the part of Ruth in The Lovely Bones, but her first performances were in singing, not acting. At age 10, with no previous background in performing, she was picked to sing with Suzanne Prentice at a World Vision "Kids for Kids" Concert. The following year she gave a solo performance in front of several hundred school children and their parents at the annual regional school choir festival, with guests including the Mayor. She was encouraged by teachers to develop her talent, and began to study classical singing (as well as theory and piano) with the professional soprano, Gina Sanders. The beautiful tone to her voice has won her multiple awards and commendations as a soprano in regional competitions. Her acting career began at high school, where she developed a passion for drama. The move into acting was an easy one, as she was used to singing in front of audiences. Her first performance was the school production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, in which she played a fairy who has a spirited exchange with Puck in Act 2. Later she joined drama school and the local theater club. Her roles included the part of "the horrible adenoidal daughter", Elsie, in Noel Coward's "Fumed Oak". Her first professional role was in the American TV production "Fatal contact - Bird Flu in America" as the daughter of a businessman who on a visit to China contracted bird flu and unwittingly caused an outbreak of the virus in America. She has also appeared in Walt Disney's "Legend of the Seeker" 2009 season in "Fury" as Veta, one of the Minders, a tribe of healers who won't fight for their own rights and who are under an ancient spell cast to control anger and lust. Somehow the Seeker (Richard) and Minders are linked and an evil side to Richard shows itself as he trains some of them (including Veta) to defend themselves. Her most important role to date is in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones", where she is one of two Kiwis to have earned a slot amongst a star-studded cast. She played the role of Ruth Connors, a slightly unconventional character who is into art and in touch with the supernatural. In 2010 she appeared in "Shortland Street" as Penny who took a job as an orderly while plotting to poison Scotty to avenge the death of her father, killed in action when she was just a child.