Heine was born in Johannesburg[2] to South African parents Michelle, a former showgirl, and Kevin Heine.[3] She moved to Australia at the age of three with her parents and older brother Kyle (born 1985).[3][4]
Career
Dancing
Her early days included training in jazz dance, tap dance, classical ballet, acrobatics and rhythmic gymnastics, and studying acting and singing at National Capital Acting School.[4] She danced at her mother's dance school in Canberra,[5] where she later attended Telopea Park School and St Clare's College. She was the youngest dancer to perform at the Stargazers Convention in Sydney, Australia.[6] She was homeschooled to focus on her dance career, and performed in many stage productions, including a tour in the United States, where she featured in the music video for Will Young's song "Leave Right Now".[4] After a serious hip injury, she was suggested to turn temporarily to acting by her manager.[4]
Acting
Cariba Heine at The Sapphires movie premiere in 2012
Heine began her acting career in 2006 by being cast on the television series, H2O: Just Add Water, where she played Rikki Chadwick, one of the lead roles.[7] Heine next portrayed Caroline Byrne in the television film A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne which was broadcast on Network Ten in Australia on 4 November 2009.[8]
In 2011, she joined the cast of the indie film Lord of the Crows,[9] though the film ultimately failed to get crowdfunded.[10] In 2012, she portrayed Heather in Bait 3D,[11] and Delvene Delaney in Channel 9's biographical TV miniseries Howzat! Kerry Packer's War.[12] In 2016, Heine reprised her role as Rikki Chadwick in the final two episodes of the third series of Mako: Island of Secrets, a spin-off of H2O: Just Add Water.[13] The same year Heine had a starring role in the short film How'd I Get in This Field which premiered at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.
^"Media Kit (Series 1)"(PDF) (Press release). ZDF Enterprises. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 February 2009. p. 28: Cariba was born in South Africa on the 1st October 1988 and moved to Australia 1991 [sic].
^Moss, Marilyn (12 March 2008). "H2O". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. Retrieved 22 January 2016. The three girls (played by delightful actresses Claire Holt, Phoebe Tonkin and Cariba Heine) wander too far out into the water and become enchanted, so to speak.
