Benowa State High School, Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)
Nationality
Australia
Spouse
Mark Valley (m. 2008–2010)
Parents
Susan Torv, Hans Torv
Siblings
Dylan Torv
Nicknames
Anna Tõrv , Anna Charmichael Torv
Awards
Saturn Awards for Best Actress on Television, Australians in Film Breakthrough award
Nominations
Teen Choice Award Choice TV Actress, Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Actress
Movies
Stephanie (2016), Love Is Now (2014), Heavenly Sword (2014), Frankenstein (2007), Travelling Light (2003)
TV Shows
Fringe (2008–2013), The Secret Life of Us (2004), Heavenly Sword (2007), Mistresses (2008), CollegeHumor Original, The Pacific (2010), Secret City (2016)
Star Sign
Gemini
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Quote
1
I am always in a better mood playing the 'alternate' Olivia. When there's less responsibility life's kind of cool.
2
[on having to impersonate Leonard Nimoy on Fringe (2008)]: I was not excited when that script came out. I was fearful. So what do you do? You call the people that are much better than you and say, "Help!" [Laughs] John [Noble] had worked with Leonard, plus I was so, so nervous, I wanted to make sure that, when I went to the set to do it for the first time, there was at least one person that I could look at who I had done it with before and trusted. It offered an element of comfort... I got an email saying, "I've been hearing good things about your impersonation of me". I wrote back, "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. Why they didn't give it to Josh [Jackson] or John [Noble], I don't know". He was so darling, he wrote back, "It wouldn't have been as charming".
3
[on who inspires her as an actor]: I just adore Kate Winslet. I love her because you're never aware of all the stuff that's going into her characterization and, yet, she completely transforms. She also has this incandescent warmth to her, and that's a quality that is hers. She's approachable and damn believable.
4
That sex scene in The Pacific (2010)? You don't get that on Fringe (2008), do you? I don't think anyone finds them easy. It's not that I'm embarrassed about my boobs. It's just that some part of you really doesn't want that out there. At the same time, you want to get good at it. In the moment, what you're really thinking is, Shit, I need a mint.
5
Sometimes there will be a line in the script and I just can't imagine saying it. I'll ask an American and they'll say, "Oh, yeah. That's how we say it." We just say things differently in Australia - like torch. I'd ask, "Can I have the torch?" It seems to fall flat when I say, "Can I have the flashlight?"
6
I didn't know much about video games. There are some awfully violent ones. But Heavenly Sword (2007) is different. I've had huge conversations with a friend who made it. I think what he wants to do is to make the player care. Yes, there's killing. But the character I play in "Heavenly Sword", "Nariko", is ultimately protecting her family and this runaway girl. It's a beautiful game. It's beyond a video game. The landscape is to protect and to care. My friend is working toward a world where you get an emotion out of the people who are playing it. See if you can make them cry if they couldn't save the people who they were trying to protect. This isn't "Pac-Man".
7
It doesn't necessarily matter what your answer is to the question: What is art? So long as you have one.
8
I don't feel like I've hit my stride. So I wonder what the moment will be when I get to be who I want to be.
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Fact
1
Plays FBI special agent "Olivia Dunham" on the television series Fringe (2008). [September 2008]
2
Doing Motion Capture for PlayStation 3 game Heavenly Sword at WETA Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. Plays 'Nariko' in the game. [March 2007]
3
She was listed among TV Guide's Fall TV's New Faces of 2008.
4
Anna beat out over 300 other hopefuls from the US and 40 from Australia for the role of Olivia Dunham in the FOX series Fringe. Even prior to seeing her audition for Fringe, J.J. Abrams already knew she was the right girl for the role when he saw her audition tape for an Australian show.
$6 Million
