Published: June 19, 2018| 01:25 PM

Young New Zealand actress Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, considered one of the greatest up-and-coming acting talents today, will be at this year’s festival in Karlovy Vary to present Leave No Trace (2018) by director Debra Granik, whose Winter’s Bone (2010) was nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Actress. “There was something about the way she approached the character that told me she had a very rich understanding of this role. I think with some actors who get exposed early to working in the television and film world, it’s very hard for them to recover their innocence. There was something non-urban and unjaded about Thomasin.” says the director.

 Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie played Astrid in The Hobbit - Battle of the Five Armies (2014) and was the co-lead in the short film The Boyfriend Game (2015) by Australian Filmmaker Alice Englert. This short was selected for the Generation K section of the 2015 Berlin Film Festival. Thomasin is an award-winner in two categories of the 2017 New Zealand Web-Fest as Best Actress in comedy Lucy Lewis Can’t Lose (2017) and as an ensemble member in The Candle-Wasters’ Bright Summer Night (2017), an adaptation of Midsummer Night’s Dream. At 13 Thomasin played rape victim Louise Nicholas to great acclaim in the award-winning TV drama Consent (2014). She also played central character Pixie Hannah in long-running New Zealand TV soap Shortland Street in which her battle with cancer won the heart of the nation. 

Thomasin is currently filming a main role in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit in Prague.