Saskia Post
{{Short description|American-born Australian actress (1960–2020)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Saskia Post
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Saskia Steenkamer
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1960|8|1}}
| birth_place = Martinez, California, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|3|16|1961|1|1|df=y}}
| death_place = Melbourne, Australia
| occupation = Actress
|nationality=Australian
| years_active = 1982–2020
| partner =
| children =
}}
Saskia Post (1 August 1960 – 16 March 2020) was a US-born Australian actress.{{cite news | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/the-lost-post/2005/10/20/1129775895122.html | title=The lost Post | last=Benedictus | first=Luke | date=23 October 2005 | newspaper=The Age | accessdate=1 February 2013 }} She is best known for her leading role in the 1986 film Dogs in Space. Post also acted in the 1985 film Bliss and the 1991 film Proof,{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/movies/she-really-lit-up-the-screen-dogs-in-space-actor-saskia-post-dies-20200319-p54btw.html|title='She really lit up the screen': Dogs In Space actor Saskia Post dies|last=O'Brien|first=Kerrie|date=2020-03-19|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-03-27}} as well as numerous Australian television series.
Early life
Saskia Post was born in Martinez, California, in 1961. Her Dutch parents moved between America and Japan, before settling in Australia in 1975. At high school she studied acting and singing and after completing high school she spent a year attending acting workshops and dance classes in Sydney. She studied writing at RMIT. She then commenced a degree course in drama and arts at the University of New South Wales but gave it up after 12 months to attend a full-time course at The Drama Studio in Sydney in 1981.
Career
Shortly after completing her studies, Post obtained her first television role as Julianna Sleven, a Dutch refugee, in The Sullivans,{{cite web | url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/51/richard-lowenstein-interview/ | title=Interview with Richard Lowenstein | publisher=Senses of Cinema | last=Caputo | first=Juan | date=July 2009 | accessdate=1 May 2014 }} an Australian drama television series about an average middle-class Melbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives.{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=izNVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1661%2C1240713 | title=Sullivans import problem solvers | newspaper=The Age | last=Morris | first=Jill | date=18 February 1982 | accessdate=1 May 2014}} Post moved to Melbourne and worked on the series for 12 months before leaving in 1984 to take part in the John Duigan film One Night Stand, in which she played Eva, a Czech-born bank teller.{{cite book | title=A Guide to Apocalyptic Cinema | last=Mitchell | first=Charles P. | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | page=175 | year=2001 | isbn=9780313315275 }}
In 1985, Post appeared in the AFI Award winning film Bliss as Honey Barbara's daughter. This was followed in 1986 with a feature role in the Richard Lowenstein film Dogs in Space, a story about a group of young musicians and music fans sharing a house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. In the film, Post played the role of Anna, the girlfriend of Sam (Michael Hutchence).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130631102 |title=INXS' Hutchence in Screen Debut |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=27 November 1986 |accessdate=29 April 2014 |page=4 Supplement: The Good Times |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite web|title=The Aussie Film Database Dogs in Space|url=http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/links/pascho.htm|publisher=Australian Cinema Unit at Murdoch University|accessdate=9 April 2016}}
Post also appeared in numerous stage productions in Melbourne and Sydney, including Hating Alison Ashley, Salome, Endgrain, Train to Transcience, Could I Have this Dance?, In Angel Gear, Figures in Glass, Skin and Vincent in Brixton.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/6684764/a-great-actor-and-a-great-human-saskia-post-remembered/|title='A great actor and a great human: Saskia Post remembered|last=Cluff|first=Caleb|date=2020-03-18|website=The Courier|language=en|access-date=2020-03-27}}
Personal life and death
Post lived her final years in Trentham, Victoria, where she worked as a transpersonal art therapist and worked at a local primary school as an integration aide.{{cite web |title=Phoenix Prospectus Bachelor Degree and Vocational Education (VET) |url=http://eurotas.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Phoenix%20Prospectus%202013.pdf |publisher=Phoenix Institute of Australia |accessdate=18 March 2020}}
Post died following a cardiac arrest from complications stemming from a congenital heart condition, at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on 16 March 2020. She was 59.{{cite news |title='Dogs In Space' Star Passes Away |url=https://themusic.com.au/news/dogs-space-star-saskia-post-passes-away/HRQFMTAzMjU/18-03-20/ |accessdate=18 March 2020 |work=The Music |date=18 March 2020 |language=en}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |
| scope="row" | 1984
| Eva | Feature film |
| scope="row" | 1985
| Bliss | Harry's Daughter | Feature film |
| scope="row" | 1986
| Anna | Feature film |
| scope="row" | 1991
| Proof | Waitress | Feature film |
| scope="row" | 1997
| Sam | Feature film |
| 2009
| We're Living On Dog Food | Herself | Film documentary |
| scope="row" | 2017
| Throbbin' 84 | Doreen | Film (final role) |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |
| scope="row" | 1982
| Julianna Sleven | TV series |
| scope="row" | 1982–1983
| Kerry Mitchell | TV series, 15 episodes |
| scope="row" | 1985
| Michelle Longet | TV series, 2 episodes |
| scope="row" | 1986
| Jessica Stewart | TV series, 11 episodes |
| scope="row" | 1987
| Pammie Allen | TV series, 2 episodes |
| scope="row" | 1991
| Susan | TV series, episode: "Stuck on You" |
| scope="row" | 1996
| Hypnotherapist | TV series, 1 episode |
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| Emily | TV series, 6 episodes |
| Eugénie Sandler P.I.
| Angela Duvier | TV series, 11 episodes |
| 2002
| Louise | TV series |
| scope="row" | 2010
| Gloria Beck | TV series, 1 episode |
Stage
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! Venue / Co. | |||
| 1989 | Salome | Salome | Crossroads Theatre, Sydney |
| 1990 | In Angel Gear | Karin | St Martins Youth Arts Centre, Melbourne |
| 1990 | Advice from a Caterpillar | La Mama, Melbourne, Universal Theatre, Melbourne | |
| 1990 | Figures in Glass | Irene Mitchell Studio, Melbourne | |
| 1993 | Train to Transience: All Aboard / Dead Ahead / In Transit / Feast | Irene Mitchell Studio, Melbourne | |
| 1993 | Could I Have This Dance? | Melbourne Athenaeum | |
| 1995 | Skin | Top of the Town, Melbourne | |
| 1996 | Endgrain | Napier Street Theatre, Melbourne | |
| 2003; 2004 | A Night of Grand Guignol (Laboratory of Hallucinations; Three Skeleton Key; Tics, or Doing the Deed) | Carlton Courthouse, Melbourne, Colac Otways Performing Arts and Cultural Centre, Karralyka Centre, Upper Yarra Arts and Entertainment Centre, Harrison Theatre, Swan Hill, Knox Community Arts Centre, Bayswater, Ruffy Public Hall with La Mama | |
| 2005 | Vincent in Brixton | Ursula Loyer | Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Melbourne |
| 2008 | Sushi Wushi Woo | Australian Centre of Performing Arts, Melbourne | |
| Hating Alison Ashley |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0692869|name=Saskia Post}}
- [https://michaelhutchence.org/saskia-post-1962-2020/ Official Michael Hutchence Memorial Website | Saskia Post]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Saskia}}
Category:People from Martinez, California
Category:Actresses from California
Category:20th-century Australian actresses
Category:American emigrants to Australia