Queenwood alumna Phoebe Tonkin has returned to Australian screens in the Paramount+ original series Two Years Later, the latest chapter in a creative career that has moved across Australian and international television, film, directing and producing.
The eight-part romantic drama stars Phoebe alongside Australian actor Brenton Thwaites, as Emily and Ryan, two commuters whose emerging connection is interrupted by the COVID-19 lockdowns. When they meet again two years later, Ryan proposes eight dates to decide whether their relationship has a future. Set in Brisbane, the series explores love, identity, ambition and the uncertain paths through which people find connection.
For Phoebe, the project also continues a close relationship with Australian storytelling. Speaking ahead of the series’ release, she described her interest in telling “uniquely Australian stories through the lens of love and loneliness.”
Phoebe began her professional career at 15 as Cleo Sertori in H₂O: Just Add Water. The Australian series reached audiences around the world and led to roles in The Secret Circle, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. More recently, her performance as Frankie Bell in Boy Swallows Universe earned the AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, demonstrating another dimension of her range as a performer.
(Source: @phoebejtonkin)
That range has become a defining feature of Phoebe’s work. Alongside acting, she has developed credits as a director and producer, extending her creative practice beyond performance and into shaping stories behind the scenes. Each new role and form has required a different understanding of character, audience and collaboration, allowing a career established early to keep developing rather than settle into one definition of success.
Her capacity for transformation was also recognised in this year’s Archibald Prize. Artist Zoe Young’s portrait, Phoebe at the Chelsea, was created after Young’s daughter chose Phoebe as the sitter for a tenth-birthday family tradition.
The portrait brings together two generations of viewers: one who knew Phoebe as Cleo in H₂O: Just Add Water, and another who encountered her as Frankie in Boy Swallows Universe. Young met Phoebe for several sittings at New York’s Hotel Chelsea, creating a portrait concerned with the actor’s movement between self and character.
(Source: @phoebejtonkin)
Phoebe’s career reflects the purpose of a Queenwood education. To equip young women with the curiosity to pursue what interests them, the conviction to shape a path of their own and the character to meet its demands with discipline and resilience. These are foundations for success beyond the classroom.
The full season of Two Years Later is available to stream on Paramount+.
