Kartanya Maynard is an Australian actress, primarily known for her roles in Heartbreak High (2022) and Deadloch (2023), among other TV shows, plays and short films.
Early life Maynard is a Trawlwoolway woman from Hobart (Nipaluna) in Tasmania (Lutruwita), Australia. She was born around 1994 or 1995.
She originally studied a Bachelor of Music at the University of Tasmania, but she began experiencing burnout and tinnitus. This led to her pursuing acting instead. However, she was initially concerned about whether she would be able to get roles, as a plus-size and Indigenous woman, which she had rarely seen represented on-screen before.
Career Maynard appeared in several Australian television shows in 2023. In the first season of the Amazon Prime black comedy crime series Deadloch, she played a teenager from a small town in Tasmania. She also acted in two ABC TV shows; she appeared in The Messenger, an adaptation of the Markus Zusak novel of the same name, and was a series regular in the comedy show Gold Diggers.
In 2024, Maynard became part of the regular cast of the second season of Heartbreak High. She portrayed the character Zoe Clarke, an opinionated student and abstinence advocate. She continued the role in the third season. Also in 2024, Maynard acted on stage in a Sydney Theatre Company production of Stolen, a play about members of the Stolen Generations of Indigenous children in Australia.
In 2025, it was announced that she would appear in War, a British/American HBO legal drama set in London, which is set to be released in 2026. This will be her first international role.
Outside of acting, she has also worked in creative production on the Netflix series The Survivors.
Awards and honours The Casting Guild of Australia named Maynard as one of their 2023 Rising Stars. She was a finalist for the 2024 Heath Ledger Scholarship.
At the 2024 CinefestOZ in Western Australia, Maynard won Short Film Awards Best Actor, for her leading role in Lean In.
Additionally, she was awarded the Brian Walsh Award for Emerging Talent at the 2025 AACTA awards. This award comes with $50,000 towards furthering her career, as well as mentorship.
Filmography +YearTitleRoleNotes2020The Bleeding TreeAda2022Lean InRachShort film2023DeadlochMiranda HopkinsSeries regular2023The MessengerRitchieLead role2023Gold DiggersMollySeries regular2024StolenRubyTheatre2024-2025Heartbreak HighZoe ClarkeSeries regular; season 2 and 3 only2025CooeeToranaFeature film2026WarSuzie LevitnikSeries regular
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