Phoebe Nicholson is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Isabella Giovinazzo. The actress auditioned for the role in Sydney and relocated to the city after winning the role. Her casting was announced a few days before her first appearance. The part of Phoebe marks Giovinazzo's first acting job and she commented that she was having fun developing her character. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 26 November 2013.
Phoebe is portrayed as a feisty, strong, positive, singer and songwriter from Melbourne. Phoebe was introduced in the 2013 finale, as the former girlfriend of established character Kyle Braxton. Actor Nic Westaway was pleased that his character was getting a new love interest, while series producer Lucy Addario believed Phoebe would bring out a different side to him. Phoebe and Kyle's relationship was tested by the appearance of his "dark side", Mark Nicholson's (Steve Rodgers) attempts to break them up and a marriage proposal.
Phoebe's burgeoning music career was brought to the forefront of storylines in November 2014 when Jolene Anderson joined the cast as Neive Devlin, a record producer who signs Phoebe to her label. At Phoebe's industry launch night, Neive had her assistant drug Phoebe and assault her on camera. Giovinazzo enjoyed portraying Phoebe's foray into the music industry. Shortly after, Phoebe became the focus of a darker storyline involving her fan Ryan Kelly (Daniel Webber), who stalked and kidnapped her. Phoebe was later paired with a new love interest, Martin "Ash" Ashford (George Mason), and learned she was pregnant with Kyle's twins, which she later miscarried. Following the end of her relationship with Ash, Phoebe was given a more mature love interest in the form of Justin Morgan (James Stewart). The couple became engaged, but ended their relationship when Phoebe left to tour the United States on 11 May 2017.
Casting
On 24 November 2013, Meg Drewett from Digital Spy reported that actress Isabella Giovinazzo had joined the cast of Home and Away as new character Phoebe Nicholson. Giovinazzo successfully auditioned for the role in Sydney, where the show is filmed. Giovinazzo had to sing in front of actor Nic Westaway during the audition, before they were paired together to do some slow-dancing. Giovinazzo relocated to Sydney from Melbourne. She spent five months on the set filming, before her casting was announced. She admitted to having difficulty keeping her new role a secret, saying "I wasn't able to really tell anyone back home about it or why I moved (to Sydney). But it's nice now being able to share exactly why I disappeared for a few months."
The part marks Giovinazzo's first acting job, following a career in film making. Of joining Home and Away, Giovinazzo stated "It's been a lot of fun. I'm still figuring out what to do. Phoebe's been a really great person to start with. Just developing her character and rounding this woman has been wonderful and I've got a lot to play with because she's a little bit kooky." Giovinazzo admitted that she was nervous ahead of filming her first scene in front of hundreds of extras. Actress Jessica Grace Smith also auditioned for the role of Phoebe. She was later cast as Denny Miller. In October 2014, Giovinazzo admitted that she was attending acting classes to help her with emotional scenes, after she had difficulty acting out Phoebe's vulnerable moments.
Development
Introduction and characterisation
Phoebe was introduced in the 2013 finale, as the ex-girlfriend of Kyle Braxton (Nic Westaway). She is a singer and songwriter, who grew up with Kyle in Melbourne and was "brokenhearted" when he moved away. Phoebe came to Summer Bay after learning Kyle was staging a music festival in the area. Giovinazzo explained that the festival gave Phoebe an opportunity to see Kyle for the first time since he left her. She wanted to see if there was anything still between them as they had a long-term relationship that was important to them both. Giovinazzo said, "Kyle and Phoebe know each other inside out. They just click together." Phoebe offered to help Kyle and Tamara Kingsley (Kelly Paterniti) plan the event and perform with the band. During Phoebe's performance, Kyle joined her on stage for a duet, which made Tamara jealous. Phoebe also caught Chris Harrington's (Johnny Ruffo) attention.