Actress Asher Keddie, and her husband, artist Vincent Fantauzzo, welcomed their first child together on March 1 and have named their son Valentino. Valentino is a brother for Vincent’s son Luca, from a previous relationship.
Asher has been on our television screens since the mid-1980s, first appearing in guest roles on various drama series. After roles in Blue Heelers and Stingers, her big break came in 2004, when she had a lead role in Love My Way, winning as Astra Award for best actress. More roles followed, including a part in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and taking the starring role in hit drama series Offspring in 2010, for which she won a Logie as Most Popular Actress. As well as playing Dr Nina Proudman on Offspring, she has portrayed both Blanche d’Alpulget in Hawke, and Ita Butrose in Paper Giants, helping her to win further awards, including two Gold Logies. Last year, Asher starred in Party Tricks, and she has also appeared in various theatre productions. Asher’s name has been featured on the blog.
Vincent is originally from the UK, and studied Fine Arts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he is now an Adjunct Professor. Vincent has exhibited in Australia, New York, Los Angeles, India, Vietnam, and Hong Kong, and is a brand ambassador for Audi and laurent perrier. He often collaborates with film makers and works on creative projects with others. He won Peoples Choice Awards at the Archibalds with portraits of actors Heath Ledger and Brandon Walters in 2008 and 2009, and won the Archibald Packing Room Prize and the Doug Moran Portrait Prize for his painting of director Baz Luhrmann in 2011. His portrait of Asher Keddie, titled Love Face, won the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Archibald Prize, and his portrait of son Luca won the 2014 People’s Choice Award, making him the artist most often awarded the People’s Choice. He has also won a GQ Artist of the Year, and a Metro Art Award. Vincent and Asher began dating in 2012, after meeting through mutual friends, and were married in Fiji last year.