Olivia Tennet

Born and raised in Tāmaki Makaurau, Liv Tennet has been performing professionally in NZ for over 20 years, after landing her first acting role as a runaway princess at the age of seven in “Xena: Warrior Princess”. She has since appeared in various TV and film productions, including three seasons of the hit Australian show ‘800 Words’ and opposite comedy icons Jason Hoyte and Mike Minogue in the TVNZ series ‘Talkback’. A career highlight was playing the role of Donna Redmond in the TV movie ‘Why Does Love?’ about legendary hitmakers The Dance Exponents. Her most recent acting credits include ‘Creamerie’, ’Double Parked’ and feature film ‘Workmates’.

Liv voices the role of Kiri opposite Jemaine Clement as Lou in the award winning and popular animated children’s show Kiri and Lou. She is currently recording the full length movie Kiri and Lou Rararara, based on the series. A highlight of this role has been working on the songs and music alongside Don McGlashan and Harry Sinclair of The Front Lawn. The series was recently nominated for a BAFTA for Best Children’s Programme.

After many years of training in tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary and hip hop, Liv now also choreographs for TV, film and theatre, as well as choreographing and appearing in music videos for NZ and international artists. Her most recent dance and choreographic credits include music videos for Tami Neilson (Careless Women), Bret Mackenzie (If You Wanna Go), ratbag (Exit Girl), DUAL (Wipe Your Tears Away), Racing (Devil’s Work), The Miltones (Disappear), and the musical productions ‘Shortland Street the Musical’ (ATC) and ‘That Bloody Woman’ (ATC). Her choreographic credits for TV include ‘Brokenwood Mysteries’, ‘My Life is Murder’, ‘Power Rangers’, and most recently was choreographer for the TV series ‘Happiness’, created by Kip Chapman and Luke Di Somma for ThreeNow.

In 2024, Liv created and performed her solo show For You to Know and Me to Find Out which went on to win Best in Fringe, the Sydney Fringe Tour Ready Award and Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award at the NZ Fringe Festival 2025.

In August 2025, Liv played the titular role of Mary Shelley in Jess Sayer’s new play Mary: The Birth of Frankenstein for Auckland Theatre Company.

You can see Olivia Tennet live with the Auckland Philharmonia on Saturday 22 August at Kiri and Lou.