Girl on film

ACTOR, ACTIVIST, CHANEL AMBASSADOR: Phoebe Tonkin WEARS MANY HATS, BUT IT’S THE ONE OF “FRIEND” THAT SHE VALUES THE MOST.

- Hannah James

Phoebe Tonkin is a good friend. I don’t say this from personal experience, just from the evidence: her decade-long friendship with fellow actor Teresa Palmer, which blossomed on a road trip to Coachella; her support for Ilona Hamer and Peta Heinsen that saw her make her runway debut for their brand Matteau; her enduring bond with H²0: Just Add Water co-star Claire Holt, who has also acted with her in The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off, The Originals.

But Tonkin says she’s the fortunate one. “I’m really lucky that I have some beautiful, wonderful friends and we support each other, and I can’t imagine a world in which we wouldn’t,” the Australian actor says. “My friends are a strong, feisty, supportive, goal-oriented and balanced group of women. They all collectively inspire me in different ways.”

Environmental activism is one of those ways: meeting actor, doula and campaigner Carson Meyer at a Chanel party kicked off Tonkin’s lobbying journey, which involved learning pages of dry facts and figures to put pressure on California’s congress to ban an agricultural pesticide that can cause serious health effects in children (it worked; its sale is now prohibited). Of Australia’s bushfire emergency, Tonkin says: “It’s heartbreaking, but it’s inspiring to see the country working together. A few months ago I went to [Queensland’s] Heron Island with the Climate Council, and the big takeaway was that we are in a climate crisis right now, and there isn’t enough being done. It’s too late for small changes – we need to look at bigger ways to make a difference, like pressuring banks to stop investing in coalmines.”