Career
Hutchison got her first acting job at the age of 16, when she landed a recurring role on ‘Shortland Street’ (2002 to 2004), a weeknight soap opera set in an Auckland hospital. She appeared in two seasons of the show and was immediately noticed for the character she portrayed.
She was nominated for the ‘New Zealand Television & Film Award’ for ‘Best Juvenile Actor in a Television Series’, 2004, and for ‘TV Guide Best on the Box People's Choice Award for Best Actress’, 2004 and 2005, for her work as the teenaged Delphi Greenlaw, and won the 2004 ‘TV Guide Best on the Box People's Choice Award for Rising Star’.
She was next seen on TV as Anja in two episodes of the series ‘Orange Roughies’, and as Lisa in the telefilm ‘Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior’, both in 2006. The same year, she did a short-film playing a 19 year-old dealing with a dark past in ‘The Lost One’, for which she won a ‘New Zealand Screen Award for Best Performance in a Short Film’ nomination.
Soon big American productions that were being shot in New Zealand came her way, starting with ‘Power Rangers Jungle Fury’ (2008), in which she landed the role of Lily Chilman. She also starred in an episode of the Emmy-winning ‘Legend of the Seeker’ (2008).
2009 was a big year for Hutchison. Not only did she get a lead part as the fortune-seeking hustler Amy Smart in the hit New Zealand show ‘Go Girls’, she was also cast as Allison Dine, the lover and mule of drug-lord Terry Clark in the second edition of ‘Underbelly’, named ‘A Tale of Two Cities’.
’Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities’ double-episode premiere became the highest-rated program ever on Australian television with 2.58 million tuning in for it. Hutchison was nominated for the ‘Logie Award for Most Outstanding New Talent’ for her effort.
But things were about to get even bigger for her. She had to quit her favourite TV show after only two seasons because she landed the biggest role of her career in 2012, co-starring opposite Chris “Thor” Hemsworth in ‘The Cabin in the Woods’. However, she later returned to ‘Go Girls’ to complete a total of 37 episodes on the show. She also played Emilia Fife in the Aussie western series ‘Wild Boys’ that same year.
After a zombie short named ‘Rotting Hill’ (2012) and Australian sports drama ‘Blinder’ (2013), Hutchison landed another big main roleas Laeta on ‘Spartacus: War of the Damned’ for the show’s 2013 season. The same year, she was seen as Sasha on Charlie Sheen starring comedy series ‘Anger Management’ (2013–14).
Since 2015, Hutchison has done a series of low-budget films, with a few substantial or starring roles in largely unsuccessful projects, - like the Jason Momoa starrer ‘Sugar Mountain’ (2016), Nicolas Cage’s ‘Vengeance: A Love Story’ (2017), and in late 2018, Luke Hemsworth starring science fiction ‘Encounter’ (2018).
Hutchison turned producer in 2019, with ‘Robert the Bruce’, and also acted in the film chronicling 14th century Scottish history. Her upcoming projects include romantic ‘Starting Up Love’, teen thriller ‘Secrets at the Lake’, Venetian mystery ‘Masks Don’t Lie”, and action drama ‘Into the Fire’.
Family and Personal Life
Hutchison tied the knot with Boston-born talent-director and producer Mike Gillespie in December, 2018, in a ceremony in Waiheke, New Zealand. They had met in 2012 in Melbourne on the sets of one of her films. The couple later moved in together to Beverly Hills, California, and got engaged in September, 2017. Gillespie has till date produced two films featuring Hutchison - ‘Blinder’ and ‘Sugar Mountain’.
Earlier, in 2008, Hutchison had announced that she was in a relationship with ‘Power Rangers Jungle Fury’ co-star Jason Smith. But the courtship lasted only a few months.
According to the actor, her favourite place is anywhere where she is with her family and friends. “I reckon as long as you have good company, you can make any place completely rad”, she had said in an interview.
Hutchison has been socially conscious throughout her years as a film & television personality. She appeared in ‘The Beauty Book’ in 2010, the proceeds of which went to a number of cancer foundations. She also ran the Auckland Marathon in 2011, and lived below the poverty line for an entire week to support an awareness drive for New Zealand’s ‘P3 Foundation’.
