| Piper Willis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Mavournee Hazel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2015–2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 16 September 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 3 April 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Jason Herbison | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances |
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Piper Willis is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Mavournee Hazel. The actress went through a long casting process, which involved her travelling to Melbourne to audition three times. Months later, she was offered the role. Hazel then relocated to the city from Sydney within three days, so she was available for fittings and filming the following week. Ahead of her first episode, Piper was introduced to viewers in a four-part webisode series called Hey Piper. She made her first appearance in the main show during the episode broadcast on 16 September 2015. Hazel chose to leave her role to pursue further acting opportunities, and her final scenes aired on 3 April 2019.
Piper is the youngest child of Brad (Kip Gamblin) and Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou). Upon her family's arrival in 2013, Piper was often mentioned and said to be living in Canada on an exchange program. Producers held back her introduction to give her parents "a second chapter" ahead of her siblings' departures. Piper is portrayed as being a typical teenager, who is independent, mature, quick witted and loves technology. Hazel did not find the character much of a challenge to portray, as they are so similar to one another. She was also pleased to be playing a character that teenage viewers would be able to relate to.
The character's early storylines revolved around her finding her place within her family, her parents' separation, and her part in a fire at the local high school. Piper has been involved in an on-off relationship with her older neighbour Tyler Brennan (Travis Burns). The pairing has proven popular with viewers, who refer to them by the portmanteau "Typer". Writers have put several obstacles in the couple's way, including Tyler's casual relationship with Piper's half-sister Paige Smith (Olympia Valance). Other storylines have seen Piper bullied by her English teacher Elly Conway (Jodi Anasta), and have a one-night stand with her friend Angus Beaumont-Hannay (Jai Waetford).