Faye Smythe is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 television actor, best known for her role in Shortland Street

Shortland Street

Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...

 as Nurse Tania Jeffries

Tania Jeffries

Tania Jeffries is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Tania Jeffries is the younger sister to nurse Maia Jeffries, PA Libby Jeffries and daughter of hospital receptionist, Yvonne Jefferies...

.

Early life

Smythe, is of mixed race ancestry and was born in Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

. She emigrated to New Zealand with her family at the age of eleven. Smythe finished high school and started work on a communications degree, but left college to train as a fitness instructor. She was still pursuing acting, but after auditioning unsuccessfully for a number of parts, including Shortland Street character Tania Jeffries

Tania Jeffries

Tania Jeffries is a fictional character on the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street. Tania Jeffries is the younger sister to nurse Maia Jeffries, PA Libby Jeffries and daughter of hospital receptionist, Yvonne Jefferies...

, Smythe decided to put her acting ambitions on hold for a year and re-enrolled for university. When she got a callback for Tania, she wasn't sure she even wanted the part - but she did the audition, and was asked to join the Shortland Street

Shortland Street

Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...

 cast. Smythe also was on Legend of the Seeker

Legend of the Seeker

Legend of the Seeker is a television series based on The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. Distributed in U.S. by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, ABC Studios produced the series, which was its first foray into broadcast syndication, with Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle and...

 as Sister Merissa

Shortland Street

Smythe first auditioned for Shortland Street for the part of Tama Hudson's sister, Mihi. She did not get the part, but made an impact on the producers. She was asked to audition for Shannon, before being offered her the six-week role of Tama's cat-burgling friend Kat.

Filmography

Year	Titles	Role	Notes
2004–2010	Shortland Street Shortland Street Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, first broadcast on Television New Zealand's TV2 on 25 May 1992. It is the country's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 4500 episodes and 19 years, and is one of the most watched television programs in...	Tania Jeffries	TV Show
2011	Love Birds Love Birds Love Birds is a New Zealand romantic comedy film starring New Zealand stand up comedian Rhys Darby and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins. It was directed by Paul Murphy and written by Nick Ward. The film was released on 24 February 2011.-Plot:...	Susan	Film

External links