The brains behind the project
Meet the OC
Hey, that's me, Olivia Charalambous.Let me help you: Shara-lam-bus.
Great. Now that we've cleared that up, I'm an actor and singer who started teaching acting, became a theatre director and has also worked as an MC, team-building host and voiceover artist. And now I'm here.
Act one
The child actor
I started my professional career at six and a half. The half is important. I was cast as Young Cosette in the 20th anniversary production of Les Misérables.
That was until they realised I was too short to move the set. I was quickly demoted to Young Éponine, the non-speaking child role.
While my career started on the back foot, I completed a six-month run of Les Mis while juggling Year 1. I learnt how to multitask young.
Act two
The NIDA student
By the end of high school, I'd spent my childhood in more theatres, rehearsal rooms and auditions than most kids. Before I'd even finished Year 12, I booked my first professional musical as an adult and moved to Sydney to play Anna in the original Australian cast of Spring Awakening at Sydney Theatre Company.
From there, I studied acting at NIDA. I left hungrier than ever. Between acting gigs, I was building The OC Project in the background, back when it was an online production company.
The work
Jack of all trades
Over the years as an actor, I've had the privilege of working on all sorts of wonderful projects. Highlights include the original Australian cast of Puffs, Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark, The Play That Goes Wrong and plenty more.
Alongside acting, I was filming corporate videos, hosting events, MCing and hiding in a cupboard recording voiceovers for Fantastic Furniture, Zip Co and Priceline. And when I wasn't doing all of that, I was teaching acting.
I started teaching during my first year at NIDA, first as an assistant and later across Melbourne and Sydney. Today, I'm Head of Acting at Lisa-Marie Parker Studio, where I've taught for the past five years.
The next chapter
Directing. Finally.
At the end of 2022, I stepped into directing. It felt like the natural next step, bringing together everything I knew as an actor and acting coach, plus my deep concern for aesthetics.
I also like telling people what to do. That helped.
I kicked things off with Disney's Camp Rock: The Musical with Soundworks Productions. From there, I directed educational work across Australia and New Zealand for the Junior Theatre Festival, JMC Academy, Patrick School of the Arts and Lisa-Marie Parker Studio.
I've also directed award-winning cabarets and plays including Skank Sinatra, Pursuing Pleasure, The Understudy and Zoë's Killer Instinct, with productions travelling around Australia and overseas.
How I work
Fail gloriously
My philosophy centres on confidence, play and the freedom to fail gloriously, a principle shaped by my NIDA mentor, Kevin Jackson. (Forever grateful for your wisdom, KJ.)
I create environments where people feel safe taking risks, failing gloriously and growing in confidence.
Watching people discover what they're capable of has become one of the most rewarding parts of my work.
So yeah, I'm an actor, singer, director, host, or as I like to call it, a creative hustler. But this isn't about me. It's about you, your team, your classroom or your cast.