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What do you want to do in your 50s that you haven’t to this point?
I want to get my hands on all the roles! I remember being at drama school and one of my acting tutors telling me it takes 20 years to become an actor. I found that ridiculous as I wanted it now. But now that I am 20 years’ deep into the industry, I totally get it. I just watched an interview with actor Cillian Murphy, who won awards recently for his role in Oppenheimerand he said the same thing. It’s now that I have all this life in me, that I am starting to hit my stride.
You return to the stage in NZ in April. Why did that appeal?
I haven’t been in a show for the Auckland Theatre Company for 20 years, so it’s quite amazing to be back with The Effect. What I love about theatre is that there is nowhere to hide. It’s you, the lights, the audience. You can’t cut away. I am terrified and really excited at the same time. The last play I did was The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant in Sydney in 2016. It’ll mean I’ll miss the red-carpet launch of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in LA as it’ll be my last week performing in New Zealand.
What were you like when you started out in film and TV? How did you navigate the ups and downs?
I graduated from drama school when I was 28 and had a wonderful run of four years of working on screen and theatre in New Zealand. To be in a number one drama show for three seasons [Rake] where I had a lead role was an important era for me in Australia. I thought this is how it worked: that as your career progresses, so do your roles. But I got told by one producer when a particular show came to an end that I had had a good run. There was a period of being told the audience would be confused if they saw me in another role. I was heartbroken to hear that, and I had to dig deep and take care of myself and get well in other ways. I kept handing in self-tapes and doing auditions and eventually I got selected again. That time in between is when I do my travel and fill the well in other ways – as well as doing lots of workshops and fine-tuning the instrument, so to speak.
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You were a stunt woman before you started acting. What prompted that?
I don’t know where it came from, but part of me decided early on I wanted to be able to walk through customs and write down I was a stunt woman. It was the time when Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess were being filmed in NZ. With that type of show comes a lot of fighting and falling, and they needed some more female “stunties”. I leapt at the opportunity. Being a stunt woman gave me an insight into being on set, and I was inspired to go to drama school off that experience.
What can you still do now that you could then as a stunt woman?
I can do high falls and still love doing them. A turning point for me was working with a dear friend on set – Zoë Bell – a stunt woman, actor and Quentin Tarantino’s protégé. I did a stunt course with her. She was extraordinary, but I also knew stunts weren’t always going to be for me.
Did you ever consider moving to the US for work?
I did go and check out the United States. I actually have a green card I am about to surrender … I think. LA is an interesting beast, and I’ve had an interesting relationship with it. I’ve had an amazing time, but I am not good at waiting for roles. If you’re not secure in the waiting, it can be quite soul-destroying. Instead of sitting and waiting, I would head to the Yosemite National Park – which wasn’t the right reason to be living in LA. It just so happened I kept getting employed in New Zealand and Australia, so it made sense to get back Down Under.
How do you react when things don’t go your way in life?
I find myself in an extraordinary new stage of life now that my marriage [to actor Craig Hall] has ended. With that comes all the feelings, including vulnerability, a sense of investigation and embracing the unknown. I have always expanded outside my comfort zone when things don’t go right. I am the sort of person who puts herself into situations where you get to know what you’re made of. I am in that space now and it’s incredibly freeing. I am looking at this as a new and exciting period. A kind of “now or never” feeling.
What do you do for fitness?
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Like my character Helen in High Countrywho doesn’t drink, I quit alcohol a year ago. I am so in tune with the feeling of “now”. There is no dulling of it and that feels really empowering. Now that I am no longer drinking, there is a deeper sense of happiness, even though I am going through a roller-coaster. I feel clear and present.
Tell us about playing a queer woman on the screen and what you bring to that role.
What I loved about my character Helen is that we have similarities – she is an artist and I studied art and art history at school and had a huge passion for it. Helen is also brave and in a queer relationship, even though she has come from a husband/child background. Because I swing a bit queer [Wiseman came out as bisexual in 2021]it was nice to be able to explore that from an authentic sense and feel comfortable in my own skin while doing the role justice.
High Country is now streaming on Binge.
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