From her beginnings taking acting classes at Mt Barker, to starring in feature-length films, Tatiana Goode has grown not just in age, but also as an actor.
The 20-year-old recently starred in SA film Emotion is Dead, based around Northern Adelaide’s iconic Holden Factory and has also had a part in an original Australian film made for streaming service Stan.
But her path into acting started almost by accident, when she decided to accompany her older sister to an acting class after school because she “didn’t want to go alone”.
A month later her sister quit, but Tatiana stayed, a decision that opened the door for her to star in the Stan film A Sunburnt Christmas in 2020 at just 16 years of age.
She was cast as Hazel, the “wily teenage sister” of the main character Daryl.
“I’d never really seen a real working set before, so there’s a lot of working parts that you don’t see until you’re on set,” Tatiana says.
The SA Christmas-themed film was partially shot at Callington and served as a launching pad for Ms Goode’s acting career.
But she recalls it feeling “strange” to see herself on the big screen.
“I don’t really enjoy watching myself … (but) my parents were really excited,” Tatiana says.
Her next role – ABC show MaveriX – took her deep into the outback, filming in scorching conditions.
MaveriX is a 10-episode drama series shot in Alice Springs, focusing on a team of six young motocross riders selected to compete at a dirtbike racing academy.
Despite having to get up at 5am for a 45-minute drive to the set, Ms Goode said the shoot was “fun” and “less hectic” than the production of A Sunburnt Christmas.
She also found solace with her fellow castmates.
“You just become friends … because you all have a shared interest in acting and you’re all pursuing the same career,” she says.
“Which is good, because in Adelaide – and in the Hills especially – there’s not really an actors’ group … so it was good to be around people who share the same goals as you.”
Emotion is Dead was her most recent film. It’s a passion project by Pete Williams and supported by Jimmy Barnes, featuring scenes shot in Gumeracha.
Tatiana played Kylie, the ex-girlfriend of the main character, who was played by Drew Turner, a friend who attended the same acting school as her.
“The crew were all South Australian based … a lot of people who work in the (SA) film industry either worked on Emotion is Dead or knew of it,” she said.
The film has been called “the most South Aussie story ever told” and is a crime story that follows a teenager whose life was impacted by a family tragedy linked to the Holden Factory.
Most recently she starred in Emotion is Dead, a passion project by Pete Williams and supported by Jimmy Barnes, which featured scenes shot in Gumeracha …
But Tatiana’s favorite role was Sophia in the short film Nothing Gold Can Stay.
“It was about this young boy who got run over by a bus in traffic and my character is the only one who saw it,” Tatiana says.
“In the boy’s afterlife (my character) keeps popping up, it just talks about grief and losing people.
“It was a good way to feel things in a safe space, which I think people don’t normally get the opportunity to do … as an actor you want to show real emotion and give people something authentic.”
Acting has a reputation for being notoriously difficult to succeed in.
But instead of worrying about missing out or being overlooked, Tatiana has always been determined to “just go for it”.
“I’ve auditioned for things before and you get rejected a lot, you get told ‘no’ a lot … I think I auditioned 10 or 15 times,” she says.
“It’s definitely not a personal thing because you have to fit into a certain role and there are other factors such as how you look and your chemistry with other people.”
Looking to the future, Tatiana hopes to expand her horizons by tackling the horror genre, which she says is “scary” but “good in small doses”.
She also plans to write and direct her own movie, but the script of that production is a secret for now.
“Eventually I want to write something – I’m not sure what yet – but to have something out there that I’ve created would be really cool,” she says.
