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At the age of 44, Asher Keddie is one of the best known faces on Australian TV and the star of many movies and TV shows. As the lovably flawed character Nina Proudman on Offspring for seven seasons, she also became one of the most beloved faces—and fashion trendsetters—on Australian TV. But there is much more to mother-of-two Keddie, who is married to artist Fantauzzo, than a way with scarves and hair.
Who is Asher Keddie and why is she famous?
Keddie is an Australian actress who is best known for her role as unlucky-in-love obstetrician Nina on the Network Ten series Offspring. She also has a substantial role in the iconic 2004–07 local drama Love My Way. Her parents, mother Robi and father James, both teachers, named her after British actress Jane Asher—so perhaps her future career was determined from birth!
She has a sister named Bronte and has fond memories of growing up in the more carefree 1970s, which she talked about while promoting this year’s Swinging Safari, set in that era.
Originally, though, Melbournite Keddie hoped for a career in dance, aiming for a position at the Australian School of Ballet. But, according to IMDB, a dislocated knee put paid to that dream.
Here she is, age 9, performing on Young Talent Time:
How old is Asher Keddie?
Wikipedia lists the actresses’s birthdate as July 31, 1974, which gives her current age as 44. She captioned this Instagram post, “#oldheadshotday 20 yrs old. Those freckles!”
Is Asher Keddie Married?
Yes. The actress is married to portrait painter Vincent Fantauzzo, who is known for his painting of friend Heath Ledger and who won a People’s Choice Award for his 2013 portrait of Keddie. They began dating in 2012 after being introduced by chef Matt Moran, who calls Fantauzzo, “My best mate.”
The artist, who has an Italian father and an Irish mother, left school at age 13 because of dyslexia and trained as a chef and a boxer before finding his creative calling. ”In a sense what we both do is not dissimilar,” Keddie tells the Sydney Morning Herald of why she and Fantauzzo click. ”We both work from instinct, and have an understanding of the importance of truth so that in delivering our work, honesty takes precedence.”
For his part, Fantauzzo says, “We had an instant connection that I’d never felt before. I learn from her all the time. She’s very composed and ambitious, but she’s also very humble. Asher is happy with who she is and where she’s at in life.”
When was Asher Keddie’s wedding?
Keddie was barefoot when she married Fantauzzo on April 9, 2014. Having kept their wedding plans a secret, the ceremony, held on romantic Turtle Island in Fiji, had Fantauzzo’s son Luca, then 4, as their only guest.
“It was an intimate and private ceremony to celebrate their love and future together. The pair are absolutely thrilled,” said a spokesman.
To mark her fourth anniversary, Keddie posted the below throwback photo, saying, “Married this guy four years ago.. thank you for giving me these beautiful boys, and all your hot blooded Irish Italian goodness. I love you.”
Has Asher Keddie been divorced?
Yes. She was previously married to actor-musician Jay Bowen, who she described as an “awesome showman, part Michael Hutchence, part Freddy Mercury.” And he said, “She was just so compelling … [It was] love at first sight”
The couple met in 2005, when they starred together in a stage production of Cyrano de Bergerac, and married in January 2007 in a sunset wedding at St Kilda, Melbourne, in front of 110 guests. “We feel truly blessed to be spending our lives together,” they said after their wedding in St Kilda.
Married for five years, the couple bought a farm in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges where Keddie, who initially would commute to the Offspring set, could indulge her love of horses. They divorced in 2012, the split is believed to be amicable.
Who has Asher Keddie dated in the past?
Other than Fantauzzo and Bowen, Keddie does not seem to have been snapped with any other boyfriends out and about. There was one photo together with then co-star Ditch Davey (Blue Heelers) but their relationship status is not explained. She doesn’t not seem to have spoken about any other love interest, either.
Does Asher Keddie have kids?
Yes, she has two children. Luca, 9, pictured above, who is the son of husband Fantauzzo and a former partner, and Valentino, 3, born March 1, 2015. “I can’t believe how much I love him, it’s indescribable. I’ll always remember that moment we met him to be one of pure joy,” Keddie tells WHO.
The baby name Valentino was chosen because it was “romantic and dramatic,” she told The Fix. “I know it was the first name that was mentioned and the only one that we discussed,” she said.
Of juggling work and family, Keddie told InStyle in January, “Life when I’m not shooting is always about the kids, there’s no doubt. We really just fit our work in and around the family’s needs.”
And of becoming a mum at 40, just as her acting work was taking a break, “I’m sure it looks perfectly planned from the outside. Perfectly planned and all tied up in a bow,” she says of the timing of her baby. “But this amazing surprise occurred.”
Is Asher Keddie pregnant?
No, not that has been confirmed. At the Logies in March 2017, Asher told WHO, “Nothing to report! I don’t know… that’s too private, don’t know. I’m going to talk to my husband about that before I talk to anyone else about it,” she shared.
Also, because of her age, she has said to Marie Claire about having more children, “If I were thinking about it, I might get stressed [because] I’m 44. It’s not impossible, but it would take up a lot of time.”
Does Asher Keddie smoke?
Yes, she has been spotted a few times in the past with a cigarette in hand. There was a tabloid frenzy after Keddie was snapped smoking in a park with her husband a few months after Valentino was born in 2016. The most recent shot was of her during filming of Swinging Safari, originally called Flammable Children.
How much weight has Asher Keddie lost?
The willowy former ballerina has not talked about weight loss, and husband Fantauzzo says of his mainly vegetarian wife’s diet tricks, “She eats pasta every night,” and “Wine gets her through the long hours.”
“It’s not something I choose as a form of denial,” Keddie says of her plant-centred eating. “I just feel so much better when I eat this way. It’s something that my body wants.”
As for keeping fit, “Who needs a gym?” Keddie said in 2012 of life on a farm. “It doesn’t appeal to me to exercise in a room. I am physically fit and I have a lot of stamina. It’s because on the farm I am up at 6am doing chores. You will find me out in the paddocks, feeding the animals and picking up poo.”
What are Asher Keddie’s best fashion statements?
What are Nina Proudman’s best fashion statements?
Even more so then Keddie’s eclectic style, her character Nina Proudman’s Offspring wardrobe has earned her a fashionable following and the nickname of the Carrie (From Sex and the City) of Australia, with items Keddie wore on the show selling out and many websites dedicated to Nina’s clothes.
“I like all of it,” Keddie tells whimn of Nina’s wardrobe. “I don’t wear anything that I don’t like.”
“I guess there is a similarity there with Nina. We always make a choice that’s bold. … And we want to have fun!”
Has Asher Keddie ever posed nude or topless?
Yes, but as far as we can find, only for the sake of her art. And while in her past professional life Keddie has done many sex scenes, revealing her breasts in Love My Way and the 2010 telemovie biopic Hawke, now she seems not all that keen on getting naked.
While on a morning radio show with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O, she was asked by Sandilands: “Would you love to be that nude woman walking in Game Of Thrones? Khaleesi?'”
To which she replied, “No, I do not want to be that nude woman.”
Please note, the following video includes explicit scenes.
What TV Shows has Asher Keddie appeared in?
The prolific actor has been fairly consistently employed since coming to notice as uptight Julia in Love My Way. As well as her best known role as Nina on Offspring—for which, in 2012, she was reported to be earning a salary of $500,000 per year—Keddie also co-starred with Rodger Corser in Party Tricks, featured in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, had recurring roles in Stingers and Rush and guest starred in Blue Heelers four times (as three different characters!).
“I’m having a good ride. I’m a working actor. I must be doing something right,” Keddie has said.
You can find all Keddie’s TV work on her IMDb page
Her first role, age 10, was on an episode of the Disney family western, Five Mile Creek. “I can’t remember doing the first audition … I remember things just changing,” Keddie reminisced in 2012.
Her newest role, The Cry, based on the book by Helen Fitzgerald, is receiving great buzz.“I read the book and was overwhelmed by the story,” she says of the show which will appear on the ABC in 2019.
Has Asher Keddie been in any movies?
2018: Swinging Safari co-starring Julian McMahon and Kylie Minogue
2011: miniseries Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo with Rob Carlton
2010: TV Movie Hawke with Richard Roxburgh
2009: X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Hugh Jackman
2009: Beautiful with Debora-Lee Furness
What awards has Asher Keddie won?
Keddie has taken home a huge haul of five silver Logies and, in 2013, the Gold Logie for Most Popular TV Personality. She has also won an AACTA Award for Audience Choice for Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo and an ASTRA Award for Love My Way in 2007.
Is Asher Keddie on Instagram?
Yes. On asherkeddieofficial she has notched up more than 38k followers with 100 posts .
“I don’t really get that,” she tells the Herald Sun of taking selfies. “I’m trying to get it ’cos I’ve joined Instagram, but I’m really struggling, like I take selfies and go, ‘Oh I can’t post that, it’s ridiculous!’”
And it seems that launching the social media site was at the instigation of her husband.
“Finally I have convinced this wonderful, talented woman to join Instagram,” Fantauzzo posts.
Is Asher Keddie on Twitter?
Hmmmm. There is an account called @asherkeddie that seems to be her but there have been no fresh tweets since June 2013.
