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Bonnie Piesse
Piesse at the Big Apple Convention in 2010
Born	(1983-08-10) 10 August 1983 (age 41) Melbourne, Australia
Occupations	Actress singer
Spouse	Mark Vicente

Bonnie Piesse (born 10 August 1983) is an Australian actress and singer. Her breakthrough role was playing a trapeze artist in the Australian children's television series High Flyers at the age of 15. After this she was scouted by George Lucas to play a young Beru Lars in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), a role she reprised in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). She also had recurring roles on Blue Heelers, Horace and Tina, Stingers, and Last Man Standing.

Early life

Piesse attended a Rudolf Steiner School in Australia where she developed a love for the performing arts and honed her skills as a singer/songwriter. Between 2000 and 2002, Bonnie won the 'Ranges Songsmith Award' and 'Apollo Bay Young Performers Competition' for songs she'd written and she was one of only a handful of VCE performing arts students from around Victoria to be selected to perform at Hamer Hall as part of the 2002 'Season of Excellence'.

Career

Actress

Piesse was cast as Donna in High Flyers when she was 15. She learned the trapeze and Spanish web for the role and took six months off school for the shoot. She then went on to play Alicia in Horace and Tina, had a recurring role in Stingers, and guest starred in Blue Heelers and Last Man Standing. She subsequently appeared in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith as Beru Lars (Luke Skywalker's aunt).

In 2005, Piesse played Sharona in Attack of the Sabretooth, which was directed by George T. Miller and shot in Fiji.

In January 2011, Piesse completed shooting her scenes for the romantic comedy, Love Eterne. She plays Sidonia, a psychic, mentor and confidant to the female lead, Medina, played by Melissa Navia. Her song, "There for Me" is featured in it. After completing its film festival run, Love Eterne has won awards at the Los Angeles Movie Awards, Best Shorts Competition and The Accolade Competition. It was an official selection at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival (20 November 2011) and NewFilmmakers New York Annual Christmas Show (13 December 2011).

In December 2017, The Actors Awards nominated Piesse for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Love Eterne Mourning, a short film made from a couple of her scenes from Love Eterne.

On March 29, 2021, it was announced that Piesse would return to her role as Beru Lars in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. When first approached about returning to the Star Wars universe by the show's director Deborah Chow, Piesse was not actively pursuing acting roles; she and her husband were living in Europe, focused on dealing with their exit from ESP/NXIVM. "ome roles are an easier fit than others. And this one just fits so easily that I didn’t feel I had to try too hard to embody ," Piesse told ELLE. "The main way to prepare was just—after everything I’d been through, I was still recovering from PTSD. So I did a lot to heal and nourish myself and strengthen myself to make sure that I had all the energy that I needed to be on set. So it was more supporting myself."

Singer and songwriter

Piesse met Grammy-winning music producer Val Garay when she first arrived in Los Angeles. He introduced her to several songwriters including Jack Tempchin, Eric Kaz, Bonnie Hayes, and JD Souther, with whom she co-wrote some of the songs for her debut album The Deep End. The album was recorded in Los Angeles, and was released in January 2011 on Big Deal Records.

Piesse's song "All I Have" was featured in two episodes of the CW television series Life Unexpected in 2010.

Bonnie recorded "Bittersweet EP" with Producer Emile Kelman and her song "Ariella" won the Singer Songwriter Category of the UK Songwriting Contest in 2013, alongside Lisa Nelson for her song, "Butterfly."

Another one of her songs, "There for Me", is featured in the romantic comedy, Love Eterne.

Piesse recorded a cover of Dream State (Brighter Night) by Son Lux for opening credits of The Vow.

Personal life

Piesse is married to South African filmmaker Mark Vicente. Piesse and her husband were members of the self-described American multi-level marketing company and cult NXIVM. The couple left the organization in 2017 and became NXIVM's most outspoken detractors. Their departure from the cult is documented in The Vow, a documentary series for HBO directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.

Selected filmography

Film

Television

References

1. Puckett-Pope, Lauren (24 May 2022). "Bonnie Piesse Escaped the Cult NXIVM. Now, She's Back In 'Star Wars.'". ELLE.
2. Otterson, Joe (29 March 2021). "'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Disney Plus Series Adds 10 to Cast, Including O'Shea Jackson Jr., Joel Edgerton, Kumail Nanjiani". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
3. Puckett-Pope, Lauren (24 May 2022). "Bonnie Piesse Escaped the Cult NXIVM. Now, She's Back In 'Star Wars.'". ELLE. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
4. Lux, Son (8 September 2020). "it's a rework of our song we did with Bonnie Piesse specifically for the show". Twitter. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
5. Nicolaou, Elena (28 August 2020). "Bonnie Piesse and Her Husband Mark Vicente of The Vow Live in Portugal Now". The Oprah Magazine.
6. Dickson, EJ (21 August 2020). "How HBO's 'The Vow' Tells the Non-Sex-Cult Side of NXIVM". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
7. Miller, Julie (20 August 2020). "HBO's The Vow Proves NXIVM Is More Than a "Sex Cult"". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 4 October 2020.

External links

• Bonnie Piesse at IMDb
• Official website
• Interview by Daniel Lehman at Backstage

• 1983 births
• Living people
• Actresses from Melbourne
• Australian film actresses
• Australian television actresses
• NXIVM people
• 21st-century Australian singers
• 21st-century Australian women singers