One of New Zealand's most accomplished and beloved actresses, Antonia Prebble is a familiar face across television, film and stage.
She rose to prominence with her iconic portrayal of Loretta West in Outrageous Fortune, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated series. The role cemented Antonia's place in the nation’s cultural landscape and led to her equally acclaimed performance as Rita West in the show's prequel, Westside.
Antonia's screen career began in her teens with a leading role in the sci-fi series The Tribe (1999–2003). In 2005, she took on the role of Loretta West, a quick-witted teenage movie buff, in Outrageous Fortune — a role that ran until 2010 and made her a household name. She then returned to the West family saga in Westside, which aired from 2015 to 2020 and gave audiences a glimpse into the family’s roots in 1970s and 80s Aotearoa.
In between and beyond, Antonia has delivered standout performances in The Blue Rose (2013), Anzac Girls (2014), and the Australian series Sisters (2016). On the big screen, she starred in the 2012 feature film White Lies, New Zealand’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards that year.
Her more recent work includes joining the cast of the SBS drama Safe Home in 2022 and a stint on Shortland Street in 2023. Currently, she stars in the comedy series Double Parked, which has enjoyed two successful seasons with a third in development. Alongside acting, Antonia has stepped into writing and producing, co-developing a range of screen projects with her husband, writer and actor Dan Musgrove.
Born and raised in Wellington in a family of lawyers, Antonia developed a love for performance early on. She later completed a degree in English Literature and French, and remains a committed advocate for lifelong learning.
Outside of acting, Antonia co-hosts the award-winning podcast What Matters Most with clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire. Now in its third season, the podcast explores topics that affect people’s everyday lives and offers accessible psychological insights and practical tools.
Passionate about creativity, fashion, and travel, Antonia says her most fulfilling role is being mum to her two young sons, Freddie and Gus.
Talking Points
Keynote
In her keynote presentation, Antonia offers an honest, entertaining and inspiring close up of her life and journey as an actress. Accompanied by personal photos and videos (including her never-before-seen audition for Outrageous Fortune), Antonia shares her story of starting out as a child actress, and of the difficult transition to becoming a professional, “grownup” performer. She offers a behind the scenes look at the heady, and sometimes challenging, times as a member of the West family, and reveals the feelings of imposter syndrome that led her to clown school in Paris! Antonia also shares how becoming a mother has changed her, and offers insight into how she balances competing priorities in her life. Throughout the presentation, Antonia shares some of the lessons she has learned along the way, including how to better cope with uncertainty, how bravery is connected to living a meaningful life, why lifelong learning and growth are so important, and how taking time to understand our own values can be a life changing experience. The duration of the presentation currently sits at around 40-45 minutes, but can be tailored to fit either a longer or shorter timeframe.
Keynote
Antonia was the perfect choice to MC our conference this year. A complete professional, Antonia asked all the right questions and prepared thoroughly to lead us through our conference, makin ... keep reading Bupa
Antonia brought an upbeat and professional tone as our MC for our New Zealand International Education Conference 2015. She connected strongly with the audience on a personal level while still ensuring a succinct and seamless conference experience. Antonia featured strongly in the post-conference evaluation remarks, with many delegates favourably commenting on her contribution. Antonia was one of the highest-rated presenters of the conference with 41 percent of survey respondents rating her 9 and 10 out of 10 for her contribution. Not only was she a professional on the stage, she was a professional to work with off the stage!
Antonia was brilliant! We can't recommend her highly enough as a MC. She listened to our brief and really took the time to understand our audience and the style of event we were holding. She asked questions, and took the time to reflect on our run-sheet and speech notes and then adapted the speech notes to incorporate her personality and the dynamics of the evening. During the event her delivery was professional and slick, while injecting personality. She was adaptable, engaging and well prepared. She created a real buzz during the evening through her energy and enthusiasm, while maintaining the formality of the night.
Antonia went above and beyond with her energy, effort and professionalism. It was such a joy working with her and watching her on stage. She brought the vibes and was genuinely excited for all the winners, celebrating alongside them. Everyone was buzzing afterwards. So much positive feedback. YouTube (the premier sponsor) were thrilled and are already talking about next year. I had quite a few people (including the Marketing Manager from Google AUS, and a senior member of TikTok who'd flown in from Australia) say it was the best awards show they'd ever seen both here and internationally. Worldclass! Our 1000+ audience has gained a reputation over the years of being hard to handle. Antonia took it all in her stride and made it look easy. She kept her smile and the energy going all night, gently guiding the audience's attention back to stage when they started to wander. I would highly recommend her to anyone wanting a genuine, warm and enthusiastic MC.
We LOVE Antonia - she is a part of the HRNZ whanau! She does such an incredibly amazing job, so poised, professional and always goes above and beyond to ensure a great experience is had by all.
Antonia was amazing! I would not hesitate to have Antonia MC for us again, nor would I hesitate to recommend Antonia to anyone looking for an MC. Please pass on our thanks!
Antonia was amazing! She was so charismatic, engaging, and added a personal touch which the audience loved. She was so great to deal with from pre-event, rehearsals and right up until the end of the event, I cannot thank you enough!
Amazing as always, professional, witty, and engaging.
