Biography

Claire Chitham is an award-winning actress from New Zealand. Claire rose to fame as Waverley Harrison (née Wilson) in the New Zealand TV series Shortland Street (1992) from 1994 to 2005 and Aurora Bay in Outrageous Fortune (2005) from 2006-2007.

Her first television role was a guest appearance at age 12 in The New Adventures of Black Beauty (1990).

Chitham initially had a recurring guest role in Shortland Street which went on to become core cast, with Chitham starring in the show for 7 years.

As Aurora Bay, Chitham appeared in the second and third seasons of Outrageous Fortune - New Zealand's highest rating drama. Aurora was the longtime love interest of Van West played by Antony Starr - her character died dramatically after being hit by a bus while trying to hide her ex boyfriends' stash of drugs.

In 2006, Claire won the Air New Zealand Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress in local drama "Interrogation" for her role as rape victim 'Stacey'.

On 22 August 2007, she began appearing as Chantelle Rebecchi in the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1985).

In 2008 Chitham appeared in Episode 1 of the Australian television series Canal Road (2007). Her character, Kristen, plays the wife of core cast member Dt Snr Cnst Ray Driscoll, played by Grant Bowler, who also played Wolf, her father in-law-to-be in Outrageous Fortune (2005).

In 2009 Chitham guest starred in the TV series Legend of the Seeker (2008) in Season One Episode 18, entitled Mirror (2009). She also featured in Muller Yoghurt advertisements screened in New Zealand and the UK and guest starred as herself in the New Zealand comedy series The Jaquie Brown Diaries (2008).

Claire appeared as Angela Phillips in Australian feature film The Cup (2011). Based on the true story of the 2002 Melbourne Cup race, The Cup was directed by Simon Wincer and starring Brendan Gleeson.

Having studied in New York and Los Angeles, Chitham has also appeared in a number of stage productions, including Rabbit, by Nina Raine, The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, The Only Child, by Simon Stone and played the titular role in Nell Gwynn for the Auckland Theatre Company, 2017.

Claire has also become a sought after on-set Acting Coach, and will next be seen on screen in the upcoming Netflix drama East of Eden (2026).
- IMDb mini biography by: Francis Mary

Claire's Shortland Street character 'Waverley' was named after the small town of the same name, in the North Island of New Zealand.