Terasa Livingstone joined Cartoon Connection as a gung-ho roving
reporter. But since taking over Ann-Maree Biggar's job as co-host with
Agro, she admits: "The most danger I've been put in is actually
opening my mouth in the studio! We have no scripts, nothing is
rehearsed. It is scary. We get counted in and Agro will just come in
with a line and I'll assume his is going to be better than mine, so
I'll say 'Yes', and just shut up straight away. I think the main thing
is that Agro has become such a persona now that he is the boss. He's
the one who does the wisecracks. He's the one who tries to put me off
my guard. I just have to be the straight girl."
Terasa got the Cartoon Connection job by being in the right place at
the right time. A professional dancer and photographic model, she'd
been performing on camera at the Seven Network's Brisbane studios and
when Sofie Formica left Saturday Disney, Terasa auditioned. She didn't
get that job, but auditioned again as a reporter on CC and was
successful. "It was all very strange. The first few weeks I was just
walking around going, 'Wow, I'm getting paid to stand in the same
studio while Agro and Ann-Maree do their thing'. It was so neat, and
then it became the norm, but I think taking over Ann-Maree's job,
well, the shoes were that big and slowly, slowly, I feel they're
fitting."
Born on Queensland's Gold Coast and raised in Ipswich (40 km west of
Brisbane), Terasa sang, danced and acted her way through her
adolescence, always knowing she wanted a career in the entertainment
industry. She was, and remains horse crazy and she got her advice
about acting from former A Country Practice star Andrew Blackman. "I'd
been speaking to Andrew because he used to go out with my sister and
we all used to ride horses together," she says. "I really wanted to
finish Year 12 and go to NIDA ... and at that time when I was halfway
through Year 11 I had appearances on Star Search. Entertainment was
the only thing I ever wanted to do. My parents are great and maybe it
was stupid, but I've never regretted not finishing school."
With guest roles in Paradise Beach and Time Trax, dancing in the Jupiters Casino show Jewel of the Orient Express and now Cartoon Connection, Terasa is well on the way to fulfilling that dream.