Kimberley Joseph

Kimberley Joseph (born August 30, 1973) is a Canadian Australian actress who is based in the United States.

Joseph was born in Canada, brought up on the Gold Coast in Australia and educated in Switzerland.

After returning to Australia, she began a degree at Bond University but dropped out at the age of 19 when she was cast in the soap opera Paradise Beach.

She had no formal acting training but appeared in the soap for the 18 months it was produced.

After Paradise Beach ended, she had casual work on Hey Hey It's Saturday before co-hosting the popular Seven Network series Gladiators.

Kimberley Joseph was born on August 30, 1973, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Joe and Wendy.

Joe, a Canadian businessman, met Wendy, an Australian air hostess, while she was in Canada.

When Kimberley was three years old, the family moved to Australia's Gold Coast, where she attended St Hilda's School for the next nine years.

The family travelled extensively in Europe, and Kimberley attended a private school in Montreux, Switzerland, for four years.

While there, she learned to speak French and Spanish.

When she returned to Australia, she started a degree in arts and commerce at Bond University, though did not complete it.

At the age of 19, Joseph dropped out of University after getting the part of Cassie Barsby in the soap opera Paradise Beach.

Like many of the cast, she had no formal acting training, though she turned this to her advantage with "exuberance and energy".

Joseph gained acting experience and friendships with Raelee Hill, Megan Connolly, and Isla Fisher, though the series was cancelled after only 18 months.

After Paradise Beach ended, she began appearing in the Nine Network variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday.

Joseph had no contract with Nine, and was making the appearances as a favour to her friend, host Daryl Somers.

Nine Network executives wanted to make her a regular on the show and began using her in publicity material.

However, rival network Seven offered her a contract to co-host Gladiators before Nine could make her Hey Hey contract permanent.

After three series of Gladiators, Joseph was eager to return to acting, so took the role of villain Joanne Brennan in Home and Away from 1995 to 1996.

Her defection to Seven in 1995 caused a small scandal.

She described hosting Gladiators as "tough and scary" on account of the live audience.

She appeared for three seasons and some international specials before taking the role of Joanne Brennan in Home and Away in an effort to get away from presenting.

The character, a secretary who dealt drugs to school children, appeared from 1995 to 1996.

She left the soap with the possibility of returning to the character later.

Alongside her role in Home and Away, she appeared in a play with Geoffrey Hughes.

In 1999, she moved to the United States to study acting at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City, then spent 18 months unsuccessfully auditioning for roles in Los Angeles.

Until 1999, she continued working as a "jobbing actress", making appearances in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Sale of the Century, and Tales of the South Seas.

Eager to move away from soap opera acting, Joseph moved to the United States to study acting with the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City.

She then moved to Los Angeles, where she spent 18 months living off her savings trying to get auditions.

In those 18 months, her only jobs were a single commercial and a job interviewing LA-based film actors for Australian television.

In 2001, she was cast as Jo Ellison in the British television series Cold Feet.

In 2001, her lawyer informed her that she would have to travel to Sydney to be interviewed for her green card.

On the day she was due to fly back to Australia, her agent informed her of an audition for the British television series Cold Feet, whose producer was looking for an Australian actress to become a new main cast member.

Two weeks later she had moved to Manchester, England and was doing script read-throughs with the rest of the cast.

Her character, Jo Ellison, appeared in all episodes of the fourth and fifth series.

She appeared in the fourth and fifth series and returned to Australia two days after filming the final episode in 2002.

In 2004, she appeared in a major recurring role as Dr. Grace Connelly in six episodes of the Australian soap opera All Saints.

She returned to America after filming All Saints, where she got a small role as flight attendant Cindy Chandler in the pilot episode of Lost.

The role was supposed to be a one-off in the pilot but a producer liked Joseph and the character, so brought her back for a recurring role in the second, third and sixth seasons.

Away from acting, Joseph has been involved in efforts to highlight the effects of Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, including directing a short film.