Tanzyn Crawford is making the staff at her local cafe do a double-take.
They don’t know who she is, but they can sense an X factor — something in the way the 25-year-old star on the rise holds herself, perhaps.
As they crane their necks, walk past a few times more than is strictly necessary to collect the plates and subtly listen in as we talk about her latest project, they just have a feeling that this is someone they should know, even if they can’t yet place her.
“I never get recognised,” says Crawford, as she sits with STM at a small cafe in North Fremantle, before a photo shoot at Guildhall across the road.
But those days are numbered. The following day, she is due to hop on a plane to Europe, to jump aboard the publicity bandwagon for one of the year’s most anticipated TV series: the Game Of Thrones spin-off, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms.
Crawford’s face is about to be beamed into millions of households worldwide. But not yet. Not in this small cafe in North Fremantle, with two inquisitive waitresses.
She’s still incognito, and she loves it, she admits.
“I’m nowhere near recognition, so anywhere I go is no problem,” Crawford says.
“It’s only happened a few times in my life that people have known who I am; in LA, when I was on Tiny Beautiful Things.”
That was the show that launched Crawford’s career back in 2023. It was one of the first projects she was involved in after graduating from WAAPA in 2021 (she also scored a role in Apple’s short-lived M. Night Shyamalan series, Servant).
It was the big leagues; based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, the eight-episode series was produced by Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern and starred Kathryn Hahn in the central role. Crawford played Hahn’s daughter, Rae.
The show was a critical hit, scoring two Emmy award nominations.
Next came the locally-produced Swift Street, SBS’s under-the-radar urban drama, filmed on a tiny budget. Her next two projects will be much bigger in scope: as well as A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, she’s also in the soon-to-be-released Under The Lights, a feature film starring Lake Bell, Nick Offerman and Randall Park.
But this next drama, from Game Of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin and producer Ira Parker, has the baked-in audience of the massive global hit series.
A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is based on Martin’s popular novellas of the same name and is the next expansion in the Game Of Thrones universe. It tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a knight, Ser Duncan “Dunk” The Tall (Peter Claffey) and his young squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) and is set 100 years before the events of Game Of Thrones and around 70-75 years after that show’s prequel series, House Of The Dragon.
It’s lighter in tone, and at half an hour per episode, it feels different right away, though still firmly rooted in the world surrounding Westeros. Entertainment Weekly describes it as “a more snackable character-driven story set in the world of Game Of Thrones”.
Fans will no doubt flock to watch in droves. The big question: is Crawford ready for all that comes with that?
“I am very nervous,” she admits. “But so far it’s been great.
“People have made some really great fan art and sent it to me, and there have been lovely comments.”
But this is Game Of Thrones, and much like anything involving Marvel or Star Wars, two other huge franchise properties with legions of rabid fans, it’s not always smooth-sailing for the stars attached — especially the women.
“There is always negativity that comes with it,” Crawford says, of the spotlight that’s made its way to her since filming began in September 2024.
“I am the only person of colour on the cast, which is scary, and I think there are only two or three women, so I have had some maybe not super positive comments, targeting those things.
“But it’s very outweighed by the positivity for sure, and I am excited. I hope people picture me how they imagined my character.”
That character is Tanselle, a tall, witty Dornish puppeteer known as “Tanselle Too-Tall”; she’s Dunk’s love interest.
He’s a penniless knight with no horse or lord to serve and his relationship with Egg, who fans of the books will know is not who he seems, forms the basis of this series.
Parker, who is the showrunner, says he knew straight away they had found their Tanselle after seeing Crawford’s audition tape.
“How to be shy but also not uninteresting . . . Tanzyn nailed that immediately,” he recently told Den of Geek.
“The line that she nailed that got her the job was: ‘All men are fools and all men are knights.’ When she says it to Dunk, he doesn’t even really know what it means: ‘Is she taking a shot at me?’
“She has a sly bit of dry wit. It made our decision very easy. She’s a wonderful actor.”
Crawford, who admits she’s only ever watched one episode of Game Of Thrones (“I am not into gory, scary or violent,” she laughs), enjoyed crafting a detailed back story for her character with Parker.
“My character is a puppeteer; an entertainer who travels around to these tournaments, earning her living,” Crawford explains.
“I talked to Ira about this, and I explained I wanted her to have as different a personality as possible on stage to real life.
“Reading it, you think she must be confident — she’s an actor and up there on stage — but I don’t think she is.
“It feels like maybe she was rushed into this position, and had to fill in and she is trying her best to be confident.”
A case of life imitating art perhaps?
Maybe.
In real life Crawford has a low-key demeanour, yet she is strikingly beautiful — the kind of visage that makes waitresses stop and stare. And get her in front of a camera, as in this STM shoot where she wears fashion from recent graduate student designers, and she has a natural grace and charisma that can’t be taught.
It’s clear she’s destined for big things, but hers is not a story with a conventional beginning.
“I have American citizenship,” says Crawford when explaining how that first crucial Tiny Beautiful Things audition came about back in 2022.
“My mum lives (in WA) and I was born here, but my dad is from Indiana and his family live there, so I’ve always split my time in a back and forth situation.”
Growing up, Crawford studied ballet as a kid before gaining a spot to train at John Curtin College of the Arts; she left 18 months later in favour of being homeschooled.
While she always held a love of performing, Crawford never really thought acting would take her anywhere. Despite doing one six-week drama course (“I did it this one time, and was like, ‘this is actually so lame’,” she laughs), it wasn’t on her radar and she opted to study science instead.
She enrolled at Murdoch University in wildlife conservation and biology courses — “I loved it, I love animals and I really wanted to be a zoologist” — and was two years into her degree when she was talked into auditioning for WAAPA.
A friend of hers wanted to audition and Crawford said she’d give it a go too. She got in, her friend didn’t, and the rest is history.
“I loved WAAPA,” she admits. “I understand why people come from all over to study there — it was such a good education. It changed the course of my life.”
Just two weeks after graduating she scored her first manager; it was a lightbulb moment when she realised acting was something she could consider as a career. Her dual passport opened up those opportunities even further.
“And it’s turned out great, as it’s taken me everywhere from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, to Ireland and London,” Crawford says.
Ireland was the base for A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms. Filming was a positive experience, with Crawford bonding with her co-stars, especially Claffey and Ansell, whom she shares most of her scenes with.
“Peter is amazing, like the most outgoing person I have ever met,” she says of her onscreen love interest.
“Most of my scenes were with him, but also with Dexter, who was also fun to be around.
“Peter had his birthday in the seven weeks I was on set, and we all went out and were dancing and doing karaoke. It was such a fun time.
“I have the best picture of him with his shirt off, standing on a table whipping it around his head. That’s the kind of energy he brought — he really is so much fun.”
As for what’s next: only time will tell. A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms has already been greenlit for another season, though Crawford is remaining tight-lipped on whether her impending trip overseas might involve any filming.
Whatever happens, though, you can be certain of one thing: those sideways glances will only get more common as Crawford’s star rises.
When I return for a takeaway coffee after Crawford has left, they get the chance to ask their burning question — and they are Game Of Thrones fans, so they are excited to see Crawford on screen.
“Make sure you tell her she can come back anytime for a free coffee,” one says.
A sweet thought, but something tells us a casual coffee in North Fremantle may not be on the cards anytime soon.