Fleur Saville in Being Eve: The New Zealand TV Role That Launched Her Screen Career

For a generation of New Zealand television viewers, Fleur Saville will always have a special connection to Being Eve.

Long before her roles in Shortland Street, The Tribe, Tangiwai, Blood Punch and The Brokenwood Mysteries, Fleur landed the role that would launch her television career, playing the title character Eve Baxter in the New Zealand teen comedy drama Being Eve.

It was an extraordinary way to begin a screen career. Fleur was just 16 when she was chosen to play Eve, reportedly selected from around 1,000 contenders for the role. NZ On Screen describes Being Eve as Fleur’s big break and the series that launched her television career.

Produced by South Pacific Pictures, Being Eve followed 15 year old Eve Baxter as she attempted to make sense of teenage life, family, friendships, relationships and the sometimes baffling behaviour of the people around her.

But Being Eve was never a conventional teen drama.

Eve was an observer, philosopher and what South Pacific Pictures describes as an anthropologist of the world around her. She regularly spoke directly to the camera or shared her thoughts through voiceover, allowing audiences into her head as she analysed what it meant to be a teenager at the beginning of a new millennium.

That storytelling style made Fleur central to almost everything the programme was trying to achieve. Eve was not simply the lead character. She was the audience’s guide to the entire world of Being Eve.

The series moved between traditional drama, comedy, fantasy sequences and direct address to create something that felt unusually self aware for New Zealand television at the time. Looking back at the series, The Spinoff described Eve as an every teen character who was awkward, outspoken, curious and charming, with her fears and anxieties often explored through fantasy sequences and pop culture references.

For a young actor, it was a demanding role. Fleur needed to carry the emotional story of each episode while also establishing a direct relationship with the viewer. The camera effectively became Eve’s confidante.

More than two decades later, that performance remains an important part of Fleur Saville’s story as a New Zealand actor.

Being Eve was also much more than a local television success.

NZ On Screen records that the series sold to more than 40 territories, including the United States, giving the programme and its young New Zealand lead significant international exposure. Research published by NZ On Air records even wider international sales, noting agreements involving Nickelodeon and international distribution and reporting sales across 60 territories.

The programme subsequently screened for American audiences on The N, the teen programming service associated with Noggin and Nickelodeon. IMDb records a United States release date of April 2002.

That international reach is particularly interesting when looking at Fleur’s career today. She would later spend many years based in Los Angeles, working both in front of and behind the camera and developing an international body of screen and production experience before returning to New Zealand.

Being Eve also attracted significant awards recognition.

The series won Best Drama Series or Serial at the 2002 TV Guide New Zealand Television Awards. Contemporary records also show recognition for its design, while the programme received international attention through the New York Festivals and the International Emmy Awards.

Being Eve received a Gold World Medal at the New York Festivals and was recognised in the Children and Young People category at the 2002 International Emmy Awards.

For a New Zealand teen series starring a young actor at the beginning of her professional career, it was an impressive international footprint.

It also became the foundation for a career that would see Fleur move comfortably between very different characters and formats.

Following Being Eve, Fleur joined the internationally successful series The Tribe as Ruby. She later appeared in productions including Serial Killers, Maddigan’s Quest, Sione’s Wedding, Tangiwai and Underbelly before becoming particularly well known to New Zealand audiences as Libby Jeffries on Shortland Street.

Her career subsequently expanded into the United States, including acting and producing work, before her return to New Zealand screens. Fleur has recently reprised Libby Jeffries in Shortland Street and appears as Zelda Belfan in Series 12 of The Brokenwood Mysteries.

For us at Collaborate Management, Being Eve is an important part of understanding the depth of experience Fleur brings to her work today.

There is something quite remarkable about being trusted to carry a television series at such a young age. Being Eve required personality, comic timing, emotional intelligence and the ability to create a relationship directly with an audience. Those qualities helped make Eve Baxter memorable and remain valuable throughout a long screen career.

It is also wonderful to see Being Eve continuing to have a life beyond its original television broadcast.

NZ On Screen preserves the series as part of New Zealand’s screen history, including episodes, production information and images featuring Fleur as Eve. The programme continues to appear in discussions of memorable New Zealand television from the early 2000s, while international television databases and streaming platforms continue to introduce Being Eve to audiences outside New Zealand.

For viewers who grew up with Eve Baxter, there is plenty of nostalgia in revisiting the series. For casting directors and producers discovering Fleur Saville today, Being Eve provides something else: an early example of an actor capable of carrying a series and connecting directly with an audience.

From Eve Baxter in Being Eve to Libby Jeffries in Shortland Street, Ruby in The Tribe and her more recent New Zealand screen work, Fleur has built a career spanning television, film, theatre, voice performance and production across New Zealand and the United States.

Fleur Saville is represented by Collaborate Management in Auckland and is available for acting, screen, presenting, hosting and selected creative opportunities.