Leah de Niese

Leah de Niese
de Niese in 2012
Born1983 or 1984 (age 42–43)[1]
Chadstone, Melbourne, Australia
OccupationActress
Years active1991–present

Leah de Niese is an Australian-Sri Lankan actress. She began her acting career on stage when she seven years old, before securing a recurring role in the Australian soap opera Neighbours when she was eleven. Di Niese made guest appearances in Blue Heelers and Stingers, before appearing in Neighbours for a second time in 2001. She played Ruth Hartnell in the children's television series Short Cuts and made her feature film debut in the Australian comedy film Hating Alison Ashley (2005). She joined the supporting cast of Offspring in 2010, before joining the main cast of comedy series Twentysomething as Abby. From 2012 until 2013, she played Nicola Panas in the Channel 9 drama series House Husbands. In 2022, de Niese took on her first voice acting role when she was cast as the Junker Queen in the Overwatch 2 video game. She also voices a younger version of the character in a animated short. Di Niese voices Astoria Durand in the 2023 sci-fi adventure VR game Journey to Foundation.

Early life

De Niese is from Chadstone, Melbourne.[1] Her father Alan de Niese presents Wednesday Night at the Opera on the Melbourne radio station 3MBS. Her grandparents were well known duettists in the choral communities in both Sri Lanka and Australia.[2] Di Niese attended Deakin University.[1] She began acting when she was seven,[3] appearing as part of the ensemble for a production of The Wizard of Oz at the State Theatre in January 1991.[4][5]

Career

When she was eleven years old, de Niese made her first screen appearance in the recurring role of Miranda Starvaggi in the soap opera Neighbours.[3] She followed this with guest appearances in dramas Blue Heelers and Stingers.[1] In 2001, she made a second appearance in Neighbours as Larissa Calwell, who becomes involved in a love triangle with best friends Paul McClain (Jansen Spencer) and Tad Reeves (Jonathon Dutton).[6][7] Following this, de Niese appeared in all 26 episodes of the children's television series Short Cuts as Ruth Hartnell.[1]

De Niese made her feature film debut in the 2005 Australian comedy film Hating Alison Ashley as Chrystal, one of the "Crunchies". De Niese admitted that while it would have been good to play a more meatier part, she found it "refreshing" to play a character that was so unlike herself.[1] She was then cast in writer-director Rohan Hoole's debut feature film Court of Lonely Royals (2006).[8] In 2010, de Niese joined the supporting cast of Offspring as Jimmy's (Richard Davies) girlfriend Odile.[9] She followed this with a regular role in the ABC2 comedy series Twentysomething as Abby.[10][11]

In 2012, de Niese appeared in the Australian black comedy film 10 Terrorists.[12] That same year, she began starring in the Channel 9 drama House Husbands as Nicola Panas, a mother of three young children who is estranged from her husband Justin Baynie (played by Firass Dirani). De Niese appeared in two seasons until her character was killed off in 2013 to allow writers to focus on Justin's journey as a single father.[13] Her exit was not announced prior to the episode airing in order to surprise viewers.[13] De Niese was informed that she was being written out at the end of 2012 during a meeting with producers. She admitted that she thought her character would not be around for long, as producers would likely want to keep Dirani's character single.[13] She added "I'm just sorry for Justin and Nicola because they were in such a love bubble and this happens. I'm really proud of our work together."[13]

In 2017, de Niese starred in an episode of the horror anthology web-series Scary Endings.[14] A few years later, she auditioned for her first voice acting job with Blizzard Entertainment.[3] Di Niese filmed her audition like she would for a film or TV role, unaware that she did not have to be on camera for a voice audition.[5] After receiving a number of callbacks, di Niese was cast as the Junker Queen in Overwatch 2.[3] The Junker Queen is a native to The Wasteland, which is the remains of the Australian outback after a robot uprising and subsequent war, and she rules over Junkertown.[3] Di Niese helped to develop the Junker Queen's personality and characterisation.[3] She gave suggestions on how to make the character an authentic Australian, commenting "Being able to shift the language to reflect Australian-isms was really important and they were very welcoming of that."[5]

De Niese also plays a younger version of her Overwatch 2 character, then known as Odessa "Dez" Stone, in an accompanying animated short feature.[3] In 2023, de Niese voiced the headstrong Astoria Durand in Archiact's sci-fi adventure VR game Journey to Foundation.[15] She also voiced the character Priya in the animated television series 100% Wolf: Book of Hath.[16]

Acting credits

Television and film performances
Year Title Role Notes
1994–1995 Neighbours Miranda Starvaggi Recurring
1995 Janus Evie Episode: "An Unnatural Act"
2001 Neighbours Larissa Calwell Recurring
2002 Blue Heelers Kimberley Dyson Episode: "Say His Name"
2002 Stingers Female clubber Episode: "Big Fish"
2002 Short Cuts Ruth Hartnell Main cast
2004 Noah & Saskia Toya Episode: "Don't Give Me No Love Song Blues"
2004 Stingers Jemma Dyson Episode: "Dirty Little Secrets"
2005 Hating Alison Ashley Chrystal Feature film
2006 Court of Lonely Royals Camille XXXX Feature film
2010–2011 Offspring Odile Recurring
2011–2013 Twentysomething Abby Main cast
2012 10 Terrorists Cat Feature film
2012 Puberty Blues Celia Episodes #1.3, #1.4
2012–2013 House Husbands Nicola Panas Main cast
2017 Scary Endings Riley Episode: "There's Something Out There"
2020 Perfect Chaos Deedee Episode 10
Voice-over performances
Year Title Role Notes
2022 Overwatch Shorts Odessa "Dez" Stone Episode: "The Wastelander"
2022 Overwatch 2 Junker Queen Video game
2023 Journey to Foundation Astoria Durand Video game
2023 100% Wolf: Book of Hath Priya TV series

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Burgess, Matthew (1 March 2005). "Debut film role fun but far from deep". Waverley Leader. p. 3.
  2. ^ "The voice of Junker Queen – Leah de Niese – Australian-Sri Lankan actress and voice actor". eLanka. 18 October 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barrett, Ben Barrett (26 July 2022). "An Aussie's first voice acting job – on one of the biggest games in the world". news.com.au. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Leah de Niese". AusStage. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  5. ^ a b c Norrish, Tahlia (5 August 2022). "The voice of Junker Queen on life before and after Overwatch 2". Gameshub. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  6. ^ "Three's a crowd". Inside Soap. No. 185. 4–17 August 2001. p. 21.
  7. ^ Randall, Tim (18 August 2001). "Soap watch; Steve's in for one Mel of a shock". Daily Record. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
  8. ^ Ziffer, Daniel (15 August 2005). "Courting controversy, a director embarks on a celluloid statement". The Age. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Gale.
  9. ^ Vashti, Lorelei (2 September 2010). "Offspring a happy surprise". The Age. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Gale.
  10. ^ Kalina, Paul (1 September 2011). "Tuesday, September 6 - Critic's view". The Age. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Gale.
  11. ^ "Housemates go from one demolition to another". Centralian Advocate. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Gale.
  12. ^ "Press Kit" (PDF). 10terroriststhemovie.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  13. ^ a b c d Byrnes, Holly (20 May 2013). "Star sacrificed for story House 'hottie' Justin solo as Nicola's hopes crash". Northern Territory News. Retrieved 17 March 2026 – via Gale.
  14. ^ DeFellipo, Michael (26 May 2017). "Scary Endings: This Memorial Day Weekend… There's Something Out There!". Horror Society. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  15. ^ Sheehan, Gavin (4 July 2023). "VR Title Journey To Foundation Reveals Main Voice Cast". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  16. ^ "In Production". IF Magazine (209): 46. December 2022 – January 2023.
  17. ^ "Leah de Niese" (PDF). Cheri Barner. Retrieved 17 March 2026.

Leah de Niese at IMDb

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