BONNIE PIESSE - A RENEWED HOPE

AFTER ESCAPING A TREACHEROUS CULT, THE AUSTRALIAN STAR REPRISES HER ROLE AS AUNT BERU IN OBI-WAN KENOBI

- Cynthia Wang

When Bonnie Piesse first appeared as the younger incarnation of Luke Skywalker’s aunt Beru in 2002’s Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (Episode II), she was a rising singer and actor whose early credits included High Flyers, Stingers and Blue Heelers. But seemingly overnight, the Melbourne teenager became part of a global pop-culture juggernaut, her fame carrying over to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Episode III) in 2005.

In the years since, a cosmic swirl of good and bad experiences have shaped Piesse. Now, after a self-imposed break from Hollywood, she has made an assured return to the screen as Beru in the Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. “I was shocked, actually. It kind of took me back to the moment when I first put on the costume when I was 16,” Piesse, 38, tells WHO over Zoom from her home near Lisbon, Portugal. “I definitely had a moment like, ‘Wow! I’m part of Star Wars again.’”

During one of those wardrobe fittings she bumped into Hayden Christensen, who portrayed Anakin Skywalker in the prequel movies. They embraced instantly. “I hadn’t seen him since we were filming