WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.623 (gentle music) 2 00:00:12.990 --> 00:00:14.940 I think for me, growing up in WA, 3 00:00:14.940 --> 00:00:17.910 which is actually a very remote place, and so, I mean, 4 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.940 as far as the arts were when I was growing up, 5 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:22.980 I did singing and dancing classes 6 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.740 and then I started doing local repertory theatre. 7 00:00:25.740 --> 00:00:27.900 And I think probably the turning point 8 00:00:27.900 --> 00:00:31.410 for me was when one evening at the Playhouse Theatre 9 00:00:31.410 --> 00:00:34.990 in Perth, we were doing a performance 10 00:00:36.030 --> 00:00:38.760 of a number from the "Wizard of Oz" 11 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:42.900 which I was playing Dorothy at the time, and I was singing 12 00:00:42.900 --> 00:00:45.600 on stage and I was singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" 13 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:47.040 right at the end of the night. 14 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:50.970 And Dr. Geoffrey Gibbs, who was running WAAPA at the time, 15 00:00:50.970 --> 00:00:53.940 said, "If that little girl that sang wants to come 16 00:00:53.940 --> 00:00:54.900 and have a chat to me, 17 00:00:54.900 --> 00:00:57.997 I'd like to talk to her about coming to the academy." 18 00:00:57.997 --> 00:01:00.540 So I did end up finishing high school 19 00:01:00.540 --> 00:01:03.990 and going to WAAPA and training for three years 20 00:01:03.990 --> 00:01:06.030 and then I came to the Eastern States 21 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:08.880 and I was fortunate enough to get a great agent 22 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:11.760 and started auditioning and just doing theatre 23 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.880 and picking up work here and there and then 24 00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:17.580 auditioned for "Blue Heelers" Channel Seven at that stage. 25 00:01:17.580 --> 00:01:21.810 And I'd shot a couple of comedy pilots for Channel Seven 26 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:24.390 and either I wasn't used or the shows didn't go 27 00:01:24.390 --> 00:01:28.530 and then I finally got Blue Heelers and I got it 28 00:01:28.530 --> 00:01:31.380 and it went and it found its audience and it found its place 29 00:01:31.380 --> 00:01:33.810 and it found its way into so many people's hearts 30 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:35.820 which I was working on it so hard, 31 00:01:35.820 --> 00:01:37.950 I didn't really understand what it was doing 32 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:39.300 and how it was being perceived. 33 00:01:39.300 --> 00:01:43.470 And, yeah, it was remarkable reflecting on it. 34 00:01:43.470 --> 00:01:45.960 It was, I mean, a great time for me professionally. 35 00:01:45.960 --> 00:01:48.520 I was working with different directors every week. 36 00:01:48.520 --> 00:01:51.000 I was working with a great crew of people. 37 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.430 Loved working with cameras and the technical side 38 00:01:53.430 --> 00:01:55.470 and working with some of the best actors in the country 39 00:01:55.470 --> 00:01:57.540 who'd be flowing through the door every week. 40 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.690 And so it was a really great training ground for me. 41 00:02:00.690 --> 00:02:03.120 I think it was a really significant moment for me leaving 42 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:06.510 Blue Heelers and doing "The Sound of Music" on stage 43 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:08.160 because it was just so successful. 44 00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:11.160 But, of course, Julie Andrews had already, you know, 45 00:02:11.160 --> 00:02:15.240 trod that road and finding a unique way through that. 46 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:19.290 But I guess the reception of that show was so huge. 47 00:02:19.290 --> 00:02:20.370 Yeah, influences. 48 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:21.960 They're really important things, aren't they? 49 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.110 And I find myself, I've always read a lot of biographies, 50 00:02:25.110 --> 00:02:28.443 and I always zero in on what it is that influence people. 51 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:32.190 And I think that creative arts relies on that so heavily. 52 00:02:32.190 --> 00:02:36.150 I think it's important to generate your own style 53 00:02:36.150 --> 00:02:40.020 but we do, I lean on people's stories a lot over the years 54 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:43.113 and, you know, whether you be an actor, a photographer, 55 00:02:45.512 --> 00:02:48.610 I guess, a writer, a filmmaker, whatever your path is. 56 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:54.150 Fortunately in my career I've crossed paths early 57 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:56.280 with people like Ruth Cracknell and Helen Morse 58 00:02:56.280 --> 00:02:59.040 and I'm working with Peter Carroll at the moment, 59 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:02.523 and, ah gee, you can't, 60 00:03:05.070 --> 00:03:09.210 I could not have wished for a more significant group of 61 00:03:09.210 --> 00:03:14.210 people whose kindness and willingness to share their craft 62 00:03:14.760 --> 00:03:17.430 and their wisdom is extraordinary. 63 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:21.483 And the higher up the tree they are, the more they share. 64 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.640 Yeah, I love working in theatre 65 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:28.470 and I love working in film and television. 66 00:03:28.470 --> 00:03:33.470 They're both such different disciplines for a performer. 67 00:03:35.100 --> 00:03:38.763 Television and film is, it's highly technical. 68 00:03:39.690 --> 00:03:42.210 You do much shorter bursts of work. 69 00:03:42.210 --> 00:03:44.520 Theatre, much more organic, 70 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:46.980 but just discipline that's a different one. 71 00:03:46.980 --> 00:03:49.410 You sustain performance for, you know, 72 00:03:49.410 --> 00:03:52.950 I guess it could be a short burst to three hours. 73 00:03:52.950 --> 00:03:55.710 You know, you have to sustain performance and 74 00:03:55.710 --> 00:03:59.010 you've gotta carry that audience who's in the room with you. 75 00:03:59.010 --> 00:04:00.603 They're there, it's immediate. 76 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:02.700 The Tuesday night audience 77 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:04.260 is different to a Saturday night audience. 78 00:04:04.260 --> 00:04:05.610 You don't know where they've been that day. 79 00:04:05.610 --> 00:04:07.080 The weather outside might affect them. 80 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:09.000 It could be chilly in the theatre. 81 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:10.770 The piece is very different. 82 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:13.800 And there's kind of this in-the-moment manipulation 83 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:15.570 that starts to happen in theatre. 84 00:04:15.570 --> 00:04:17.490 You get to play in that environment 85 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:19.980 and it's quite powerful. 86 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:23.760 I think in any artistic venture, there's no set path. 87 00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:27.390 We can go to drama schools, we can have good agents, 88 00:04:27.390 --> 00:04:31.500 we can try and tread the path someone else has, 89 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:33.450 but the outcome will never be the same. 90 00:04:33.450 --> 00:04:35.970 Our journeys are particular and the individual. 91 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:38.730 And don't listen to anybody that says you can't 92 00:04:38.730 --> 00:04:40.980 because there is a way forward. 93 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:42.900 And sometimes we have to go off the path 94 00:04:42.900 --> 00:04:44.100 we thought we'd go on. 95 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:45.030 And that's okay, too, 96 00:04:45.030 --> 00:04:48.330 because it will inform us along the way. 97 00:04:48.330 --> 00:04:50.223 Yeah, but you've gotta be passionate. 98 00:04:52.010 --> 00:04:54.593 (gentle music)