Tottie Goldsmith

Caroline "Tottie" Goldsmith (born 27 August 1962 ) is an Australian actress and singer, known for her roles as Trixie Sheldon in Starting Out, Toni Sheffield in The Young Doctors, Marilyn "Tex" Perez in Fire, and Cassandra Freedman in Neighbours. She hosted the Network Ten program Sex/Life in 1996, and was a contestant on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2022. In addition to her film and television work, Goldsmith is a founding member of the Chantoozies, a pop group formed in 1986.

Early life Goldsmith was born Caroline Goldsmith, but her family dubbed her Tottie or Totty when she was around eight months old. Goldsmith is the daughter of Melbourne restaurateur and nightclub owner Brian Goldsmith and British-born actress Rona Newton-John (1941–2013).

Olivia Newton-John was her maternal aunt, while bassist Brett Goldsmith is her elder brother and racecar driver Emerson Newton-John her half brother. She has six other siblings.

Goldsmith was not sure she wanted to pursue an acting career. She attended a couple of acting schools, but she said that she "never really got settled."

During 1996, Goldsmith starred as Marilyn "Tex" Perez in the second season of drama series Fire. She was also a panellist on such programs as Beauty and the Beast and All-Star Squares.

Goldsmith made various guest appearances on Australian TV shows in the 2000s, including The Secret Life of Us, Bert's Family Feud, Big Questions, Surprise Surprise Gotcha, Pizza and Celebrity Singing Bee, and had a three episode run on Blue Heelers. Goldsmith appeared in a 2001 episode of Stingers, followed by another appearance in 2004.

In 2009, Goldsmith appeared in the television soap opera Neighbours for three months as Cassandra Freedman. She acted in two episodes of the Australian television show Swift and Shift Couriers. She appeared in the 2010 Australian film, Ricky! The Movie, as the ex-girlfriend of Ricky T, and as a gangster's girlfriend in the 2011 television film Underbelly Files: Infiltration. She also had a supporting role in the 2012 Jack Irish telefilm Bad Debts.

In 2022, Goldsmith appeared on the 8th season of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

Music

From 1986 Goldsmith was one of four female lead vocalists of the Australian band the Chantoozies. They released four singles: "Witch Queen", "He's Gonna Step On You Again", "Wanna Be Up", "Kiss and Tell", and an album, Chantoozies. Goldsmith left the Chantoozies to pursue a solo singing career before the band released their second album, Gild the Lily in 1991. She later rejoined when the group temporarily reformed in 2006 for the Countdown Spectacular concert series, and more permanently in 2012. She again left the band in 2020.

With Chantoozies member Eve von Bibra, Goldsmith also performed in the duo the Toozies. The Toozies performed the opening act at the 2010 Antenna Awards.

On 8 January 2023, Goldsmith returned to music after a 3-year break, performing in St. Kilda with the "3XY Allstars". 30 July that year would also see her invite former Chantoozies bandmate Ally Fowler to the stage to cover her aunt Olivia Newton-John's "You're the One That I Want", her first performance with a Chantoozie since leaving the band. She would also return to the Chantoozies at a concert at the Sandstone Point Hotel on the Sunshine Coast on 26 July, filling in for Fowler.

Other work

In the late 1990s, Goldsmith co-hosted a breakfast program on Melbourne radio station TTFM, replacing Nicky Buckley. She played Janet in a season of the New Rocky Horror Show, and participated in an arena version of the musical Grease.

Goldsmith works as a marriage celebrant and has released two meditation and relaxation albums, Unwind Your Mind (2004) and Falling Asleep (2005). After having a bout of chronic fatigue syndrome and struggling for years with sleep issues, Goldsmith used her meditation skills in partnership with sleep specialist Chris Bunney to record Falling Asleep, which has since been prescribed by doctors. In 2007, she collaborated with a child psychologist on A Sleep Story, which is aimed at children.

She was known as a sex symbol early in her career, and posed nude for art magazine Black+White in August 1996.

Personal life Goldsmith was married to skier Steven Lee and they have one child together, a daughter.

Honours

In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Goldsmith was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to the community, and to the performing arts".

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre Year Title Role Notes 1981 When Lips Collide Tanya Playbox Theatre, Melbourne with St Martins Youth Arts Centre 1998 Grease Miss Lynch Adelaide, Melbourne Park, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Derwent Entertainment Centre, Tasmania, Mount Smart Stadium, New Zealand with Queensland Performing Arts Trust 2001 The Vagina Monologues Melbourne Athenaeum 2013 Next Fall Chapel Off Chapel, Melbourne with Fly on the Wall Theatre for Midsumma Festival

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