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September 14, 2024 • 42 mins

This week, Paula's guest is actress Antonia Prebble. They discuss her early career, her transition to adult characters, and working on comedy Double Parked, and get advice from Antonia on how to avoid being typecast

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, I am Paula Bennet and welcome to my new
Zealand Herald podcast, Ask Me Anything Now. One thing I've
bluten in life is it's never too late to do
something new. So on this podcast, I've talked to people
from all walks of life to hear how they got

(00:23):
to where they are, get some advice and guidance on
some of life's biggest questions. My guest today has been
on our entertainment scene for a long long time, but
is still so young. But it's because she started her
first acting job at just twelve years old. She's been
on many local Telly shows about as a true wisty
you can imagine, The Outrageous Fortune and West Side stand

(00:46):
out as favorites for me. I was even lucky enough
to meet her and week with her and give us
a clue. Her new show, Double Parked Season two is
out now on three and three Now.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
And Tonia Prepple, welcome and thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Love to see you again. After that crazy charades show.
It was crazy, wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
It was?

Speaker 1 (01:05):
But I thought you did such a great job because
you had to do like ten a day or something,
and I obviously only did one and after that, I
was exhausted and it was so hot, and you just
had to sort of keep up that level of energy
for like twelve hours. It was quite funny because people,
you know, we had wonderful people like you, and some
of them wore just said to come in and guy,
it's just what I'm doing, and then get so competitive

(01:27):
so quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean you do.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
You get sort of filled with the desire to win
and triumph, which is wonderful.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
And I definitely was that. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Okay, easy, quick fine questions. If you'd go to the
pub or for a drink with any celebrity, who would
it be?

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Or probably Phoebe waller Bridge. Do you know her? She's
the creator of Fleabag.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah. So she's a writer and actress and Killing Eve
she was, yeah, yeah, creator of that, and she's just
like so I totally have a crush on her, Like
she's just so talented and smart and funny and brilliant.
And I feel like we'd be friends, you know, Like
I feel like if we just had the chance to
hang out, we'd be friends. What would you drink be?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
I think choice Nkronia. Yeah, do love her? Do love
a Nigarrony?

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah? Nice? Nice?

Speaker 1 (02:19):
And a favorite bar pub restaurant anywhere in the world.
Oh oh, where would I like to go? Oh I
want to go to like the Histon, Bloomintholes, the Fat
Duck and England. That sounds amazing. I think you can
lick the walls or something like. It's, you know, a
full multisensory experience. I think.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Wow, mind you.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
We were just before you came in here in the studio,
we were talking about feeding children. Okay, that changes your
dietary quite a bit, doesn't Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, although they probably would quite like to lick the walls.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
They would exactly what made me think about it?

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I was like, oh, this is great grace for kids.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah, yeah, they would, they would. Okay, we're going to
chat about the second season of Double Pack shortly, but
first let's talk a bit more about you, because as
we've already, I mean, I've literally got photos of me
with you because I was just so excited because my
whole family are kind of bonkers on outrageous fortune.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Your true Westias.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
So yeah, that were yeah, that was that was your
stuff that we were going to get I know, and
I would like walk into a baron Wellington or something
and they would play Gutther Black for me, you know,
like they kind of almost saw me as, yes, you're
part of the West Yeah, but you're another member of
our you know, the extension and the in all of it.
But I mean it was it must have been intense.
And you did I mean, how many seasons was Outrageous? Six?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, and then six worth west Side? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
So that's a big chunk of your acting career, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
It was huge. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
I started when I was twenty on Outrageous and I
finished on West Side when I was thirty five.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, And they made you look so much younger, you know,
like at twenty as you can look back at it
because I watched it with my step daughter, watched West
Side and because she hadn't seen Outrageous, huh, And so
then we went back and watched Outrageous again, and so
I just saw you so young and with no may
Caffe and yeah, I used to have fifteen minute makeup calls,

(04:16):
and for the first few seasons before Laretta kind of
had her glow up. Yeah, I have your fifteen minutes.
It was amazing, you know, like tiny bit of foundation
on my face and that was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that would have been fun. It was great and could
you embrace your character? And it's quite a you know.
I interviewed Robin Malcolm and spent some time with her
as well in we both did this woman's event for

(04:38):
the day, and she was just saying that what she
also loved about the show was that it was body positive.
They wanted you to be real and who you were,
and there wasn't any of those kind of external pressures
that we unfortunately still see today for some of our actors.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, what the expectations are.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, Like it was body positive and
what I believe is the best way to be pop
body positive and that bodies were not talked about. Yeah,
it just was not on. It was not up for discussion.
No one ever talked about it. It wasn't like you
had a wardrobe fitting and you It wasn't even like
we're a body positive show.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
It just was not part of it, you know.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
It was it was neutral, which I think is you
know the best way to be body positive is to
not talk about bodies, you know, like, how do you
help your daughter feel positive in her body. Don't talk
about everybody, you know, it's just that should be something
that we just ultimately don't discuss, and that that was
the case.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, so you were a child actor. Did you call
your SEP child actor?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (05:31):
I guess it.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
And like I read about that first job at twelve
and then it was you know, friends, wasn't a family
friends that they knew someone that got you into it?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Is it right?

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
It's such a classic New Zealand story. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
So yeah, my best friend at primary school, her their
neighbor was an acting agent. So my best friend's mum
asked me if I would like to get signed up
and I was like yes, absolutely, had no idea what
that meant or what they would entail, but I definitely
wanted to do it. So I was eleven and I
asked my parents and they're like, look, sure you can
get an agent, but you this particular agent, but you

(06:08):
have to do it yourself, you have to organize it.
So I was like, no problem. So rang up this
agent said can I can you represent me? And they
were like, well this is weird having had a kid
rung up. So yeah, she took me on and then
I started listening for a couple of things, and then
I got my first TV show the following year when
I was twelve. So you so you knew, like you
said to say that it was just kind of it

(06:28):
was in your DNA.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
But it's not in your family's tona. No, it's not.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
A lot of actors come from acting, Yes, absolutely, and
so that's part of yeah, the tentlate of their life. Yeah,
but no, most of my families are lawyers or academics,
so it was not part of that at all. But yeah,
from my earliest memories, like literally three or four, I
just knew it was what I wanted to do, and
I would seek out every opportunity that I could to perform,

(06:52):
and every time I did, it just felt like something
kind of ignited in me, and I was like this
is what I Wow. Yeah, my nephew's like that really Yeah,
he's in yeah, and no one else has kind of
got the jeans and he's just like we knew from
three years old. Wow, And he performs on stage and
he's been in Shortland Streege.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Oh cool.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
You know, like look at place each sport, does you
know it's really nice about around and he'll you know,
doing whatever he wants. But yes, we just look at
him and just go, wow, there's something in there, something
in that. Yeah, I know it's it's quite unusual, but
but yeah, but true.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
And then following that path, I suppose because you had
such a certainty that it was what you wanted to do,
those sorts of opportunities, did you just kind of grab
them and run with it, because it's not kind of
it's kind of hard to map out in New Zealand
what you're sure is like, isn't it?

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, as sure as and you know, particularly for you know,
a girl growing up in Wellington whose family was absolutely
not part of any arts scene. Yeah. I I mean
as a kid, I would just like as soon as
I could read, i'd like read the newspaper to see
if there were like general auditions for local repertory plays
and things like that, and then I'd go along and
audition and I got cast in a few. And then

(08:00):
when I got this agent when I was eleven, I
started acting in professional TV shows from when I was twelve,
and I yeah, was quite busy throughout my teens and
then towards the end of my teens all sort of
stopped because suddenly I was in a different category as
like a young adult and it was a lot more competitive,
and I remember feeling like, oh, it's so devastated. I
was like, I've just been a child actor.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
In my career is over.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
And it was you know, sounds dramatic, but it was
very real, real worry at the time that I wouldn't
be able to do this thing again that I.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Loved so much.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
But then sort of well, the big sort of next
step was getting outrageous fortune and that really catapulted my
career in lots of ways. And I feel like, yeah,
from then things have been definitely up and down, but
from that point I've been able to really fullge your path.
So when did you study because you've done you did
study law for a little while.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, yeah, maybe it to go.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
And then you've studied acting numerous times, have you? But
you've studied Yeah, I tried to. I still study as
much as I can. So I so after I finished school,
I did go to university and I did a year
of law and then it's like, oh, it's.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Just not for me.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
So I switched the credits to an arts degree. And eventually,
at age thirty, I graduated with an arts degree. It
took me a long time, but so I didn't go
to drama school, and because I guess, I went to
university in that time where I could have gone to
drama school, and then I got cast an outrageous fortune,
and so then it sort of didn't feel quite right
to go back and do a three year degree. But
I really believe in continual growth and learning and development

(09:29):
in life, in anything, but particularly a few the thing
that means a lot to you and that you're passionate
about because you can always get better at it.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So yeah, I still do lots of courses.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
I'm doing one this weekend, for example, a weekend course
with a teacher from Australia who's coming over.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, and I love it, like, I mean, the wonderful thing.
And do you learn something?

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Sorry? Oh, because you are just phenomenal, So do you
genuinely learn? So? Oh?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
I am so painfully aware of my limitations as an
actor where I want to be. I mean, you know,
it's just so inspiring seeing a beautiful performance in a
play or a film and you go, wow, that's possible,
And I'm not there yet so it's it's really clear
how much better, deeper, more, truthful, whatever, you know, all

(10:16):
those words that I could be. So yeah, absolutely, training
is a big part of it. Wow, Okay, I'm not
going to say it surprises me, but I just think
that you you evolve your characters and I believe them
so much, and you portray them in a way that
you know, I do feel like I'd go and have
a drink with retail good luck to.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
You actually know you'd hold your own.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Right Yeah yeah, okay, so then you love to learn
and do new things. So the random one of the
random ones, which is you and Meddle in Paris at
Clown School, which I did know that you had been
because when you tuned up to give us a clue,
it was like there's a bit of experienced miming going on.
There was announced and I think it was Tom Sainsbury

(11:01):
that revealed that's the nation.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
That I've been to class school. Uh yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
So yeah, So Madeline and I which is obviously because
now we're co stars and double packed, but we became friends.
She came and did a guest role on Outrageous Fortune
and we headed off and then she said that she
was going to Paris to do this to study with
Philip Collier. And I did French at high school and university,
and I always wanted to be able to haven't I
have an excuse really to go to France and speak

(11:27):
the language. And so even though we were only like
new friends, I was like, can I come with you?

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Like?

Speaker 1 (11:32):
And because it worked with a break and outrageous filming,
so and she's like, yeah, okay. So anyway, I signed
up without really knowing much about what this teacher was like.
And yeah, he's very intense. He has a very intense
you said that, really intense, really intense. Yeah, you get
up and you so he gets you to do an
exercise which is often quite cryptic, and he held this

(11:53):
drum and you get up and start performing this exercise
in front of the class, and he will bang the
drum when he's had enough of it, like when it's bad,
and honestly, sometimes you.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Just stand up and he bangs the trumph.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
And so I found it pretty tough.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
It's all kind of in this like the first month
is called leisure the game, so it is all kind
of in this playful way.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
But I'm like really.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Sensitive himself I found it quite hard to like just
get on board with the kind of joyful, constructive criticism we.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Would get all the time. I stood up and I'm crap.
I stood up and I'm crap. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
thanks to that. Yeah, but look it got me to Paris.
What a story, right, yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
You know. So on the note of meeting people on
seat that you get on well with, no I seek
way there for me talking about your now husband six
months Dan, six months and year Dan. So I want
to know which did you meet on we titled did
you meet what you met? Outrageous Fortune? When did you

(12:55):
start having eyes?

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (12:57):
So we met, funnily enough, back in like two thousand
and three in a theater lecture at Victoria University. Because
we're by studying, I can't remember that, but he can.
He remembers that we were sitting next to each other
and had a nice hit. I really can't remember that.
And then he moved to Auckland, maybe like two thousand

(13:18):
and eight, and I was already up here doing Outrageous Fortune.
And because we're you know, similar age and both in
the arts, we knew of each other and were kind
of part of the same wider circle of friends, but
never really had much of a connection or independent friendship
apart from just being in this wider circle of friends.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
And then kind of it was so strange.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
It must have been I think it was like season four,
is that right, season four of No I must have
been season three of West Side and we'd already done
three seasons of it, yeah, and the same kind of
not really connecting with each other in any kind of
particular way, and it was so strange.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
It's never happened to me before.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
I don't know if it's ever happened to you, but
it was like, the best way I can describe it
is like something like opened up in the universe that
was not there before and we were both like, oh
oh hey, and yeah, it just like changed.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
It was really bizarre.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Okay, so it was it weird then being at work
and you're now dating and you both hooked up with
someone else in your day job, yes, who we work with?

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Right? Yeah? Yeah so that I mean, mom, mind, you.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
You're an actor, your actor, and it's such a cliche,
right that you hook up with your co star like
it happens so often. But funnily enough, with West Side,
we actually have hardly any scenes together, like how you know,
Lefty and Rita don't have much to do with each
other and don't really like each other all that much.
So yeah, so it was, Yeah, it was. It was
kind of lovely actually, because we've got to hang out,

(14:47):
I mean quite as you say, for actors that okay
when they're genuinely playing a couple and you can see
that evil of intimacy and then it might just sort of,
you know, creep over and that's something. Yeah, but that
wasn't the case because, as you say, you both were
completely different, you were doing completely different scenes. Yes, yeah,
that's right. Yeah, we so we kind of we did. Yeah,
we didn't actually get to hang out much at work.

(15:10):
Yeah yeah, but you so you kind of even though
you'd known each other a long time, you more or
less had that instant moment.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah we did.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
Yeah, it's weird and simultaneously as well, Oh I know
it is, And it is because it is such a
cliche to get together with someone you're working with, Like
often happens because you're working in this intense environment, and
particularly if you are actually acting opposite them, which we weren't,
you're like purposely creating these feelings of connection and intimacy.
But yeah, this was kind of separate to that and

(15:37):
obviously lasted. And so you got married about six months ago.
And I think just the obvious is that dress you
were wearing, Oh my godness, thank you, just absolutely adorable
and beautiful.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
And it was a bit shorter, so I had your
two dresses.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
For my ceremony dress, I had a lot like my
wedding dress. It's like sort of ye long laced sleeves
and a big, full skirt, and then for the reception
I changed into a little mini which was yeah, super fun.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
You and we've got Freddy and Gas. Yeah, Freddy and Gas. Yeah,
and Freddy's five just five turn five in July. Yeah. Wow.
School yep.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
We actually went for our first school visit yesterday where
he's going to go in term four. So yeah, we
went for yesterday for the first time.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
And where the mums will recognize you, won't they, I guess.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
So, I mean in New Zealand, people I find you
might have a different experience because of your politician role
of people might have a different, you know, sense of
what they can say to you. But I find particularly
in Auckland, people can't sometimes say something, but often they don't.
Like I'll sometimes get a bit of like side eye,

(16:46):
but they usually like for example, yesterday when we went
on the school visit, no one said anything.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
So people, yeah, they're sort of engrossed in their own
lives and yeah, we're not really that interesting, not that interested. Yeah,
we're not that interesting. And I think it's quite common,
you know, and at to see people off the telly
or yeah, to see I used to say to people,
you know, you're right, it is a little bit different
outside of Auckland. And I used to say to people, know,
if I really don't, if I really just want to
be with my friends and have that moment, you know,
go to a baron Ponts and be because they always

(17:13):
think they're far more important than you.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yea, so they should, right, so they should absolutely, yeah they.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Yeah, but then there's nothing like our out of out
of Auckland is who just embrace you and you know.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Like I find it gets more intense the more south
you go.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Yeah, like Dned and it's like, well that's that's that's
a lot.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, I can imagine that.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
So having children, I mean, how you're doing the juggle
because you know, this work and Dan works, and you're.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Both a lot. Yeah, it is, it's a lot.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
And unfortunately, acting, like acting on TV shows, the hours
just are really long, particularly if you're in a lead role,
which is not conducive to family life and also not
conducive to being the kind of mother that I want
to be that's really important to me, which is one
that's there, you know, all the time. I want to
be there all the time, and also I want to work.
So it's it is difficult and it's a juggle. But

(18:06):
I actually have found decision making a lot easier since
having them, because my values are so clear and they
just are my priority. So I just I try to
be quite careful with how many TV shows I do
because really that's the only thing.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
That takes all of the time.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Like, yeah, all the other kind of bits of work
I do, I can sort of fit around their kindy
or I can do even at night when they're asleep.
But yes, and luckily, so far, when I have done
like a lead role like on Double Parked or a
couple of other things that I've done since they've been born,
then Dan has been able to kind of down tools
so he only works about four hours a day, so

(18:45):
he's their primar key giver and then we have a
wonderful nanny who looks after them for four hours a
day or they're at kindy and yeah, he's their main
guy while I'm working, and they come and visit me
on set every day.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
So and it's healthy. Yeah, I think it's worked for
us so far. I mean it's it is healthy for
them absolutely. Yeah. I less you're heat up occasionally, but
it's good for them. It's good for them, and it's
what I want to do because I know it is
good for them. But yeah, it's it's there's Yeah, there's
lots of things about this business that you know, the
uncertainty of it and the freelance nature of it, which
is challenging but also beneficial to family.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Like we never can never really plan because we.

Speaker 1 (19:20):
Never know, Like at the moment, I'm waiting to hear
if I'm if I'm going to be cast in this
show in Australia, and if i am, then we're going
to go like in two weeks, but if I'm not,
then will stay.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, So it's strange.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
But the positive impact of that is that there is
more flexibility, so Dan can decide not to take on
something if I've got something on, and we can any
understands your life, You understand each other's lives, yea, and
so in that context it's yeah, yeah, and we can
all pack up and go together. Like yeah, we all
went to Melbourne a few years two years ago for

(19:51):
me to do a show and he was able to
just write from there, so that was that's great. I
think it'll be really hard if we're going to talk
about double Packed in the second half of Little Bit
More and not getting type pats. But in Double Packed,
we've got babies we do. Did did it make you
more or less inclined? Him another child? Did it? You know?
Like just being around those little places of smelling, the smelling,

(20:12):
you forget this, You forget the smell so quick. I know.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
I know it's not fear. Yeah, I know, and then
you end up. I'm okay because I'm a grandmother, so
it's you're right for me to have. You got babies.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, I know they're all a bit older, but I
sniff other people's babies and I just say to them
it's perfectly okay because I'm a grandmother. Yeah, Like it's
not creepy. Yeah, yeah, definitely not. Yeah, you're allowed to
sniff a baby. Yeah, surely, it's just an accepted And
how was it then working with babies? It was, Oh,
it was great. They were so cute. I mean to
be honest, I was a little bit like, oh God,
how's this going to go? Because I've worked with a

(20:45):
I always get cast as pregnant people who have babies.
So I've worked with heaps of babies over my career,
and it's usually pretty challenging for obvious reasons because they're
babies and often are upset because they have a saw
timmy or just don't feel like doing it or tired,
you know, all of the things. They can only be
on set again for good reason for a very short
amount of time because baby label laws.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Are quite strict, as they should be.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, so I was a little bit nervous about it, like,
oh god, it just makes things a lot harder.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
But these babies, they were great.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
So we had two newborns and then two they are
about four months old because the season tracks about the
first four months of your life, and one was even
cast and usual of wow, but they were pretty chills like,
which is just such a crapshoot.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Isn't it about how how baby? But they're little, they'll
sleep anywhere, Let's be honest.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
When they they don't even know though, Like I mean,
mine cried, cried a lot, but they sort of just did.
I think we just got really lucky. But yeah, didn't
make me want to have babies more or less.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
I don't know. I think we feel pretty good with two.
We feel like again.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
For the lives that we want to have in the
careers that we want to have. Too. Feels like a
good number. It's a carful. It's a carful. Yeah, that's right.
You can keep your car.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, don't have to buy a seven seed.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Okay, we're going to take break here, and when we
come back, we will be chanting about not getting tight cast,
to brucify and always learning. I am back with Antonio
Prebople advice time, and I want to chat to you

(22:16):
about not getting typecast and the importance of always learning.
And we've already sort of touched on it, really, but
you know, you've talked about going and doing a week
in course this weekend. I mean, is it just that
that's striving to be better? That listening to the experts.
I mean what drives that. Yeah, I want to be
as best as I can be at the thing I love,

(22:37):
and with acting, the wonderful thing about it is there's
no limit to how good you can be, and hopefully
the older you get, just the better you can get.
You know, it's tricky with in comparison to saving athlete,
you really pique at a certain aged level, and then
as your physical self declines, your career unfortunately declines and
you have to start a new chapter. But for acting,

(22:57):
there really shouldn't be any endo it until you start.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Losing your faculties when you're really really old.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
But really otherwise you're just you know, it's understanding yourself,
it's understanding the world around you. It's gaining more experience
and more tools. So you should just ideally get better
and better and better. And that's what I want to do.
I'm so aware of how much better I could be.
But we look at some of those, you know, women
that we could name, like Dame Judy Dentt and like
Meryl stre and you know, you just look at them

(23:23):
and what they can do and what they can do
and some respects when it's getting better, you know, like, well,
I don't know it's fair to say, because there's been
so many amazing roles in their careers, but you know,
you can certainly see the maturity the wound there was though,
that kind of almost a shelf life, you know for it,
because you've tuned forty recently, right, Yeah, yeah, love a milestone,
Yeah love miss love a mile stone. Just rab it

(23:46):
because the alternative not reaching one is worse. So I
always think celebrated absolutely. I love that you went out
and seed you a forty two. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
I know we don't do it sometimes sometimes. Yeah, people
are still a bit funny, aren't they about someone out
their age, particularly women? Maybe, Yeah, and you can understand
why because it has been a very ageist industry and world.
And yeah, probably still has twisted next, yeah it is,

(24:08):
and and so in that context it has. Do you
think it is changing? I mean you can see some
great roles. I mean Robin talked about almost having to
write her own yeah, you know, for after the party
because you just sort of, you know, could see what
was sort of happening there. Yes, yeah, I think unfortunately
it is still really prevalent. I mean, after the party
only came out last year. So the fact that Robin

(24:28):
was saying she had to write her own role means that, yes,
still even now it is it is really difficult. I
definitely notice a huge reduction in the number of auditions
that I get in comparison to when I was in
my twenties, because if you just think about most TV shows,
most movies that you watch, they're generally about people in

(24:49):
their twenties or thirties.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Well, he can be fifty, he can be.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Fifty, he can be twenty years older than his wife. Yeah,
I mean it's it's still going on. I think it
is changed, absolutely and it is less acceptable for a
man to be twenty years older than his wife, but
it's absolutely still happening. So we just have to keep
campaigning for it and making our own shows. And because like,

(25:15):
why is a woman in her forties or fifties or
sixties or seventies or eighties any less interesting? I mean,
they'd be more interesting. They've got a lot more to tell.
And I think our viewing and we are an aging
population as well, so you know, one of the.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
It's not devastating.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
That's such a dramatic expression I was going to use,
but you know, I've ticked from the twenty five to
fifty four age group. I now have to tick the
other box. I don't count. I don't count because you know,
we're not the biggest consumers, and we're not they're not
interested in it, and they're in our ratings and they're
not interested in our and it's just like I'm spending
more money now than Yeah, I am in society more

(25:56):
than I ever have. Funny though, there is that kind
of tapping of aging. Yeah, there is.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
I so do what you mean?

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, just turning forty. I recently checked the new box,
like I think it was, like, you say, are thirty
to thirty nine? I was like, oh no, I'm in.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
A new category now.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
So that's a lot someone who's categorized me.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
And out of the mainstream.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah, in this chunk now, that's how it goes. So
then needs to talk about double packs? Your Madeline have
been friends, yes for a long time. Yeah, yeah, And
so the opportunity came up. And I mean, and it
is about lesbian couple. But isn't it great that I
mean it's mainstreamers. I don't but that's not the premise

(26:36):
of the show. Absolutely, I totally agree, And I think
that's why this show in its own way is sort
of quietly revolutionary, because it was made specifically to be
a to have broad appeal, to be entertaining on a
main broadcast network. And the central couple is queer, but

(26:56):
the fact that they are lesbians is not what the
show is about, and their sexuality is never in question,
Like we have had, you know, lead characters who are
queer on TV before and the movie is, but a
lot of the time, their sexuality is the thing that's
being questioned, you know, are they act, are they actually queer?
Are they having or are they going to have an
affair or a straight person? But whereas with this their

(27:18):
sexuality is a given, and it's also not what the
show was about. It's about a relationship and how two
people navigate brotherhood. Society really has changed, Yeah, I think
it has. I still think there's a way to go though,
but yeah, we're moving in the right direction for four. Yeah, yeah,
I wonder I worry less about now the sexuality, if
you like, and more the genders. Yes, absolutely, and how

(27:40):
people navigate their way through that and we all get
our heads around it into a respectful way that yes,
treats everyone as as they should be treated.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yes, absolutely, But.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
I I mean I was on plane last night and
you know, and I sort of had these you know
guys my age really, so I shouldn't say older guys,
but you know guys my age. And one of them went, hey,
is this you? And you had my podcast? And I
said yeah. I said what are you going to listen?
Because download now before we go out. And I said,
what are you gonna listen to? Her goes, I listen
to Ryan Bridge. I said, cool, listen to Ryan. Yeah,

(28:08):
it's a good one, you know. Anyway, about twenty five
minutes in, he literally he laughs out loud and he
takes his earphones out and you go and I said,
what are you laughing at? And he goes, oh, you
said to Ryan? Are you more conservative? And Ryan went,
for God's sake, I sleep with men, you know, I think,
so he was repeating it.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
The guy in the middle seat goes, oh, is Ryan gay?
And then someone else went, I didn't know Ryan is gay?
And then someone else went who cares?

Speaker 2 (28:33):
And I care?

Speaker 1 (28:34):
But yeah, I just kind of loved this random conversation. Yes, yes,
and so, which I guess shows that it is still
a thing. You know that people are still like, oh
oh oh is he gay? You know, it's still not
completely normalized. Ye, but thankfully I think we are moving
in the right Yeah. And the end that Ryan can
talk publicly about it. Yeah, because remember in the past,

(28:55):
so particularly with men leading men or a leading journalist,
they could not have met their sexuality, which is just
so it's awful, wasn't it. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
mean he would say that he almost feels privileged, but
he shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
That hand in this time and this time.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, when we look at the past and you know,
some of that that heaven. Okay, so let's talk about
not being typecast. Okay, of course you've done everything. Yeah, hey,
like which is so fantastic and so do you think
about that?

Speaker 2 (29:22):
So this is comedy, This is quite different.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Yes, has been something that's kind of dramatic and intense,
like we side or it's quite different than almost you know,
your character grew considerably and outrageous, but it didn't start
as a well you were a main character, don't get
me wrong, but do you know what I mean, Like
you became more prominent yes, throughout the seasons really yeah,

(29:44):
so do you think about.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
That diversification of not type casting.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, I do, and I think I have been lucky
to avoid it, because, particularly with outrageous Watune west Side,
that was really against my type. You know, those two
characters are really not really me, and it's not really
how I come across, because often you are type cast
by your kind of natural vibe and what you naturally

(30:11):
look like, whereas I know that I don't come across
like a wisty you know, like that. Those both those
characters are quite different from my essence, I suppose, and
so I think, because those are still the two characters
that I'm kind of best known for, I think I'm
not I haven't been type cast because I'm able to,
I guess, show people the breadth of what I can do.

(30:33):
And I also personally love the transformational process of playing
a character that's to you.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
I love it. Yeah, I find it so.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
One of my favorite things about acting is figuring out
the character. You know, who is this person? Why do
they do what they do, how do they move, how
do they talk. I'm with readA, for example. She was
a real transformation for me, like me a while to
find her, actually, but she really speaks differently to me.
She holds her body differently, she moves through the world
physically even quite different to me.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
But I love that. I love that. Well, that's acting,
isn't it.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Yeah, it is. But some people sort of I think
there's not not no one where is right or wrong,
but some people kind of stick to their essence and
they bring that and it's beautiful and it's authentic. Like
Jack Nicholson is often the guy that people not like.
He's in every movie. He's Jack Nicholson and he's absolutely brilliant.
But then there are others you Grant, yeah, Hugh Grant exactly,

(31:25):
and you would never say that's a negative against them
because they're brilliant. But it's just kind of a different,
different way of approaching things. But yeah, I personally love Yeah.
Isn't it funny because you quite I hadn't thought of
it until you were talking just then. But you know,
there are some actors that would you walk into the
pub and I would think, oh, there's there's Rita, you know, yes,
but if you walked into the pub, I would think, oh,

(31:47):
there's an Antonio. I wouldn't say you even though you.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Completely were her. But yeah, I don't think.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
You are here.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
It totally makes sense.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah, there's there's a big difference between me and Rita, whereas,
for example, my character in Double Parked is the most
similar to me that I've ever played, And when I've
got the audition brief, it literally felt like that was
like has this been based on me? Like down to
things like you know, her dad is a lawyer? My
dad's a lawyer, and she knows she's a lawyer. I
went to law school, but just everything about her. So

(32:16):
I'm playing the closest to me that I ever have
And yeah, yeah, which is great as well.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Yeah it would be.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
And working with a friend, right, yeah, yeah, not only
as an actor, but being directed by a friend as well,
because medal And directs the show as well.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
It's a dream, isn't it to get to a point
where you can work with your friends. Yeah?

Speaker 2 (32:34):
Exactly, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
I mean we've talked about the industry changing, but I
mean you're in your prime.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
This is your prime. You won Best Actress at.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
The NCTV Awards that I see for your role on
Double park That must have been about it was. It
was really special because often with comedies, they don't get
recognized for awards so much like it's usually dramas that
pick up the gongs and you can sort of understand why.
So I wasn't really expecting it that it was. And
you've all, I mean you talked about auditioning in Australia.
Is overseas still an option? La, do you feel the pool?

(33:06):
I sort of do a bit more and more as
the kids get older, So yeah, Freddie's five and guses three,
and up until this point in their lives, it's just
felt like, oh my gosh, no, like that would be
a nightmare. And there have been like a couple of
opportunities that have come up overseas, but I've just been like, no,
it's it's too hard, and you've got a way up
professional development with your family commitments and you know what

(33:27):
will work for all of you as a unit. But
as they're getting older and things are a bit easier, Yeah,
I am thinking about that again and Australia definitely, Yeah,
and that feels Australia.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Working in Australia feels a lot easier. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
You can get literally pop backwards and pop backwards, and
we know quite a few people there now, so we
could sort of fit into that environment quite yeatly. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
you can kind of slot on. So you must feel
like you're at a great place in your life. I mean,
here you are, you're forty, you're married, You've got your children,
your careers, and a trajectory that's going up. You have
got massive local opportunities, and then you're able to sort

(33:59):
of think about that bigger and brighter and the horizon,
and so that's a.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Really special place to be. Do you feel thank you? Oh,
that's really lovely of you to say. Yeah, I think
I mainly do.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
I feel. I feel so lucky with my family situation.
You know that I have these two wonderful children, and
that my husband is someone who I deeply love and
who we have a very happy life together. You know,
we have a really great relationship and I love I
love that, and I feel really really lucky that.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, our domestic life is so wonderful.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
And professionally, yeah, I probably don't feel as like, yes,
I'm on this upwards, tragic, clear upwards trajectory, just because
I at.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
The moment I don't know what my next job is, like.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
Maybe this one in Australia will happen, but if not,
I don't.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Know what it is.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
So I'm better at the uncertainty now because I know
that something will happen.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
But I guess I don't.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
I don't feel like great, I'm set, you know, I'm
just gonna keep riding this wave. I sort of feel
like I have to really keep doing my best all
the time. Would you hope that you boys go into acting?
Would you recommend it to people? I really would just
want them to do what interests them. So I'm not

(35:14):
a lot of people say, oh god, I'd never recommend
them getting into acting, or i'd really kind of discourage
them not to. But for me, I would support them
and whatever they wanted to do. So if it's acting, wonderful,
and if it's but the highs and lows, do you
think it's a certain personality that can handle it, because
often now actors are quite dramatic. Yeah, and so sensitive sensitive?
Yeah yeah, I think sensitivity comes with the territory. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

(35:35):
because you can't have to be to be good at it,
that's right. Yeah, you have to have a thin skin
for your work, but somehow a thick skin.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
For the rejection. Yeah, yep, it is. It is really hard.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
I mean There's something that I've found works as an
anchor for me over the years, as not letting it
be your identity, like being it, which is tricky because
you're when you love something so much and you're so
passionate about it, it very easily can become your full identity.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Who are you?

Speaker 1 (35:58):
I'm an actress, but I now I really try to
have some separation in that, like it's my job and
it's my career and it's my calling.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
I love doing it.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
But if I'm not doing it, it doesn't mean that
I have no value as myself, Like I still exist
without it, which.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Is not easy.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
But and I think, yeah, for younger people starting out,
it is not easy, but I think you know, the
people that stick at it, it's meaningful to them. And
you know, in life we just may as well pursue
what is meaningful. Yes, as far as we know, we
own it all once and then that can you say
that the rejection's not you, it's just you weren't quite

(36:34):
right for the part, or someone else was. I mean,
can you you know, because I'm quite good at that? Yeah, right,
you know you've got a problem. Well, actually you don't
know me. You might not like something I've done. It
was said, and you're perfectly entitled to eve an opinion
on that, but I'm not going to actually take it
personally because you don't know me as a person.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, that's I.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
Was my quick because I was told I was allowed
to ask a question. It was going to be that, like,
how do you manage the feedback that you get about you?
Like the both are positive and the negative, because I
imagine being a former politician because at least with my work,
people are judging my work, but they're judging yeah that
you and and feel they can and feel they got

(37:15):
a right to say that, like how can I I'm not.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
So at the end of the podcast now we're doing it.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Now, that astly fine because because it flows nicely in
there and it's look, you can pretend it never does
and of course that's not true.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yeah, you know, of course that's not true.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
There are times when you know, I call it the
duvet over the head, you know, abotologen and feedal position
and I'll see you tomorrow, which I've even done.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
But you know what I mean, or I go, you know,
does hurt?

Speaker 1 (37:42):
It does hurt. Yeah, So there's got to be times
and that can be because you're overtired, it's been a
bit relentless. It's you know, like something's kind of taken
off and then it is. But lots of it's ridiculous,
like it's body shaming, or it's God, really that's still happening, yeah,
or it's you know kids, sorry, so that stuff, Well,

(38:02):
I see, I can, I can, I can because that's
just so ridiculous. Yes, you know what I mean, like,
that's that's that's that's on them, it's.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
On them, It's it's an indictment on them.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
You can almost feel sorry for them, to be quite honest, Yeah,
because I just sort of think, wow, what a small
seed life, Yes, that you feel you need to personally
attack you know what I look like? Yeah yeah yeah yeah,
So I am quite good at compartmentalizing that.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
That's great. Do you have to work on that?

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah? Yeah. So was it harder when you first got
into politics. Definitely, And the weight side was really hard.
You know, it's just like it's such a vulnerable topic. Yeah,
and you know, some days you don't feel great about yourself, right,
and so it was this human Yeah, it's just like this,
you know, the sort of constant but The other thing

(38:48):
I think that you've always got to remember is I
would say ninety nine out of one hundred are positive.
You know, like, let's remember the people that go out
of Well. I say, when I lie in bed at
night and I've had and I've heard from twenty people,
I choose whether I listened to the nineteen that were
positive or the one that was negative. And that took
me some time. But I get to choose who's in

(39:10):
my head at night. Great, Yeah, that's really that's sometimes
I have demntra that, yes, of course. Yeah, yeah, ongoing practice,
yaues we have a negativity bias. Yeah, we take on
evil men that shouted at me from the car next door.
You know that you don't you don't get to live
in my head.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah. Yeah, good advice.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
That makes a lot of sense. So what's the best
advice you think that you've had?

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah? Yeah, I liked thinking about this question.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I feel like I've had so much of it, so
it was kind of hard to choose one. But I
think ultimately I want to come back to the thing
that has sort of been in my head for most
of my life, which is treat others how you want
to be treated. Because I think almost almost everything, if
not everything, in life comes back to interpersonal relationships and
the quality of them and how you feel about them,

(40:07):
the richness of them, the depth of them, how you
feel about your place within the relationships you have, and
the best way to ensure that they are the best
they can be is to treat people with kindness and
respect and compassion and generosity, all the ways that we
hope we would be treated. So, yeah, that's that's an anchor,
a really simple anchor that I try to live by.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
Yeah, And if we all did that, wouldn't it just
be just such a better world? I know? Yeah, so
much better? You know. Yeah, And even when you're a
bit snappy or you know you're tired and you've done that,
and it's just like even explaining that to someone in
three words, you have to go into a link having
a bad day today because the.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Kids wouldn't Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
And then apologizing, right, Yeah, if you do behave in
a way that you would not like to be someone
to behave towards you, then you can own it and
apologize and that goes a long way.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Why did I just sorry? Bad day? Too much going
on in my head.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Yeah, yeah, great, like I snapped yes, and then people
know that it's not them, it's you know, it's you
as well, you know, having a moment. Yeah, yeah, that's right,
and you can repair that relationship and hopefully we'll be
okay moving forward. Okay, all right, I've just thoroughly enjoyed
chanting to you. It's been amazing, and Tony, thank you
for coming in. For those who want to see more

(41:24):
of you, they need to go to see double part.
They do, they sure do.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
It's on now.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, so if you haven't caught the first season, go
and watch that on three now plus.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
So go and have a look there.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
And but we've got season two out now and we're
going through that journey of the babies and and gosh,
what a.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Juggle letter is. So it'll be lots of fun to watch.
I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
And that's it for another episode of Asking Me Anything.
If you've enjoyed this episode, please follow Ask Anything on
iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. While you are there,
check out some of the past ones. There's plenty industries
from and some fabulous people. I'll be back week Sunday,
but in the meantime, I'm Paula Bena. Ask me anything, Goodbye,
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