February 6, 2025 • 8 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Ben, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hi. How are you doing well?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
We're good, but you have lost everything. You are an
Australian actor living in LA and your home has burnt down.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, my apartment and the palisades.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah okay, so tell us your story that you've obviously
had to come home and here you are. But how
did it all happen for you?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I was crewing on a job in San Francisco when
we got the call that it was all kind of
going down. We had a house sitter who was an
old neighbor of ours who was like, I'm evacuating. I
can smell smoke. My husband was in the Marshall Islands
on a job. We're both always at home and like
this one instance, it's kind of like fortunate that we
weren't there because ever on the ground has just been
like so shaken by the whole thing, and the air
(00:46):
quality and everything is just awful.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So yeah, it's like a bomb site, though, isn't it
When you see it. It's only going from seeing the
vision and the photos. It's the devastation I've never seen
it before, where it's you see a whole plot of
a neighborhood where it's house next to house next to.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
House, next to a skeleton of a town if you
could describe at water.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
We went there maybe five days ago because I just
flew in recently, but it was the first time we'd
seen it all, and it's like, what was it like?
It's just like rows and rows and rows of houses
as far as I can see that used to be
that flattened flattened and some of them homes too.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It was a gorgeous neighborhood. It was a really historical
part of la We just were in a one bedroom
apartment which was rent controlled, and I was like, I
think I could live here forever. It's gorgeous. We had
an amazing view. But we actually just found a new
apartment like not far, like a couple of miles away.
I still really want to live on the West Side.
I love that part of the of the city. It's
(01:53):
really important for both of us. It's like, yeah, we're
in the ocean a lot, so yeah, hopefully the ecosystems
of the ocean hunt too damaged for a long time.
We'll just see what happens.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Have you been able to go through and pick through?
What are people doing?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
We went through. We put on like the Red Cross
gave us like has matt suits and like you're only
allowed in if you're a resident. And we went up
and I was a big I'm a big shell collector,
and I found one shell and I was just like
burst into tears and it was just like that's all
I needed, just like one little thing. I moved to
LA with the suitcase, so I'm it permanency is no
(02:30):
stranger to me. But yeah, there's just like certain things
from like your grandma that you don't have anymore, or
like it's the small things that actually count, it's not
the expensive stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So tell us your story. You've been on quite a
few films like the Godzilla and Aliens and all that
kind of stuff. You're an AUSSI actor in LA, there's
a lot of you. What's your actual story living here
on the coast and then going.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I went to Trinity and then I went to boarding
school at Warwick and then I went to drama school
into Woomba. I've got an agent, Melbow, and then weirdly
just went I'm going to go to LA and try
and get a manager. Got a manager that I booked
Alien Covenant and I moved there. So I've been there
for like eight years now, and yeah it's I do
many other jobs too, a photographer, I crew on sets,
(03:16):
I lifeguard on sets as well. I teach kids swimming
like you like an actor. How many jobs we know it.
This is the goal.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
While you're home though, because you've obviously had to come
home because nowhere to go. There's so many films we
made here at the moment, like you would have seen
a change from when you've left to come back three
being made here at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's amazing, and I think I auditioned for all of them,
so it's like I've got good agents in Melbourne. Still
the book out for everything here, so I would love
to just be coming here as much as possible for
those opportunities, especially because we've had like the strike and yeah,
everything it's been super super slow.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
People nice to come back here too, great part of
the world, and then you've got your home over there,
so you've got the best at both worlds. Now, you've
got a fundraiser coming up I do, and where is that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It's at Precinct Brewing on Sunday. I'm raising money for
the LA Fire Department as well as selling some of
my photography, which is all from California. It starts at
one point thirty at Precinct that a lot of people
have chipped in incredible prizes for a raffle, which will
all that money will go straight to LAFD, which I
think is super important, especially right now. They could use
all the help that they could get.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, there's like an e bike voucher for five hundred bucks.
They's like two nights at Voco is another one. Everyone's
just been so generous. A bunch of like wine from
friends who make wine downe in Melbourne. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Is there many gold Coasters that have had to come
back that have lost their homes like you or are
you the only one? You know?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I'm not sure. I'm not friends with any gold Coasters
over there. There's a lot of Sydney people and a
lot of Melbourne's, but you'll occasionally run into a Queenslander there.
You always click really fast. Of course you get my
sixth sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The vibe now, it's Precinct is a great spot to
have it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
They're so generous. It's a great spot. We checked it
out yesterday and just kind of put the prints in
the space and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Describe your photography. What is it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I deal a lot in like bright colors. I love
how colorful Los Angeles is in particular. I shoot a
lot of landscapes, especially when I travel. I love architecture,
I love palm trees. I'm really big into kind of
camp fantastic, colorful stuff that people can put on their walls.
(05:35):
So yeah, I've been selling prints for a long time,
and my friend Ashley actually did this all for me.
She was like, I don't know how to help you.
Would you be open to the idea of if I
found a space and you printed some of your work,
we could like sell it to raise money for you
and your husband. So I was like, you know what,
I've been feeling kind of guilty about just receiving all
(05:56):
these things because everyone's just so generous. Clothing, like I
got given a surfboard, like because you've lost all that, everything's.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Gone, and like your cameras and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I lost a few cameras. My friend who was staying
there did get my Hassle blat out, which is like
my vintage like incredible medium format camera. So I was
grateful for that. My husband lost everything, He lost all
his he's an underworder cinematographer, so he lost all his
like years long archive, so he's shot a lot of
pro surf and yeah, just over the years, so that's
(06:27):
all gone. But he's like, what are you going to
do with Like if I die, what are you going
to do with my archive? Anyway? Put it in like
the Darren Crawford Music Museum. Like I'm like, you're right,
and we had like two thousand and viney all that.
Like he's like, it's kind of poetic. The idea of
like all my vinyl burning while my neighbor's like really
expensive wine is just like popping off in the plans
(06:50):
And we're like, you have to look at it in
a romantic way, I think, And yeah, it's a kick
in the bum to have a new chapter.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, well a way to look at it.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But yeah, it still sucks if you don't laugh your cry, right,
So that's the Australian way.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Do you think of all the conspiracies with it? All
insurance is being canceled and it being political and.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Look, it's hard when you become a statistic or like
a political pawn. I've and the inauguration happened like just
after it too, and I was like, I just can't
watch any of this right now. I don't have the bandwidth.
So yeah, it's gross. And also the whole thing that
like everyone in the Palisades was rich, We're not rich.
We're working class people, Like we had a rent control
(07:32):
department that we fought really hard to stay in. And
you know, it doesn't just affect us, it affects like
all the workers who worked on those properties, like all
the people who work in the restaurants, Like half the
city's out of work, you know, Like it's one of
my good friends works at a restaurant right there that
actually made it, and he's like it doesn't matter. Like
I can't work probably for three or four months, and
(07:55):
I can't get I can't get near like government funding
or anything like. So we're lucky that we can actually
get like grants and we have access to all these things.
But then there's all these other people who are kind
of forgotten right now. So yeah, my heart goes out
to them in a massive way.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, I certainly think Australians can relate to what's happened
over there, because obviously bushfire is so exactly a bigger
part of Australian history. Yeah, and recent history too. I've
seen it, seen it before, and we're affected so badly
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And let's not forget that when we have bushfires, Americans
and Canadians do helping out people.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
To us. Every American when you guys had those bush
fires a couple years ago, was like, oh my god,
the bushfires is your family? Okay, Like people do come
together in these times.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, I totally get it. So it's happening this Sunday,
the ninth of February. It is starting at one pm
at precinc.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, I'd say one one thirty. It'll keep off'll probably
go till five or six. Right. We wish you all
the best.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Thanks for coming in to welcome home.
Well, Ben, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hi. How are you doing well?
Speaker 1 (00:03):
We're good, but you have lost everything. You are an
Australian actor living in LA and your home has burnt down.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yeah, my apartment and the palisades.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Yeah okay, so tell us your story that you've obviously
had to come home and here you are. But how
did it all happen for you?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I was crewing on a job in San Francisco when
we got the call that it was all kind of
going down. We had a house sitter who was an
old neighbor of ours who was like, I'm evacuating. I
can smell smoke. My husband was in the Marshall Islands
on a job. We're both always at home and like
this one instance, it's kind of like fortunate that we
weren't there because ever on the ground has just been
like so shaken by the whole thing, and the air
(00:46):
quality and everything is just awful.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So yeah, it's like a bomb site, though, isn't it
When you see it. It's only going from seeing the
vision and the photos. It's the devastation I've never seen
it before, where it's you see a whole plot of
a neighborhood where it's house next to house next to.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
House, next to a skeleton of a town if you
could describe at water.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
We went there maybe five days ago because I just
flew in recently, but it was the first time we'd
seen it all, and it's like, what was it like?
It's just like rows and rows and rows of houses
as far as I can see that used to be
that flattened flattened and some of them homes too.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It was a gorgeous neighborhood. It was a really historical
part of la We just were in a one bedroom
apartment which was rent controlled, and I was like, I
think I could live here forever. It's gorgeous. We had
an amazing view. But we actually just found a new
apartment like not far, like a couple of miles away.
I still really want to live on the West Side.
I love that part of the of the city. It's
(01:53):
really important for both of us. It's like, yeah, we're
in the ocean a lot, so yeah, hopefully the ecosystems
of the ocean hunt too damaged for a long time.
We'll just see what happens.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Have you been able to go through and pick through?
What are people doing?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
We went through. We put on like the Red Cross
gave us like has matt suits and like you're only
allowed in if you're a resident. And we went up
and I was a big I'm a big shell collector,
and I found one shell and I was just like
burst into tears and it was just like that's all
I needed, just like one little thing. I moved to
LA with the suitcase, so I'm it permanency is no
(02:30):
stranger to me. But yeah, there's just like certain things
from like your grandma that you don't have anymore, or
like it's the small things that actually count, it's not
the expensive stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
So tell us your story. You've been on quite a
few films like the Godzilla and Aliens and all that
kind of stuff. You're an AUSSI actor in LA, there's
a lot of you. What's your actual story living here
on the coast and then going.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I went to Trinity and then I went to boarding
school at Warwick and then I went to drama school
into Woomba. I've got an agent, Melbow, and then weirdly
just went I'm going to go to LA and try
and get a manager. Got a manager that I booked
Alien Covenant and I moved there. So I've been there
for like eight years now, and yeah it's I do
many other jobs too, a photographer, I crew on sets,
(03:16):
I lifeguard on sets as well. I teach kids swimming
like you like an actor. How many jobs we know it.
This is the goal.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
While you're home though, because you've obviously had to come
home because nowhere to go. There's so many films we
made here at the moment, like you would have seen
a change from when you've left to come back three
being made here at the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
It's amazing, and I think I auditioned for all of them,
so it's like I've got good agents in Melbourne. Still
the book out for everything here, so I would love
to just be coming here as much as possible for
those opportunities, especially because we've had like the strike and yeah,
everything it's been super super slow.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
People nice to come back here too, great part of
the world, and then you've got your home over there,
so you've got the best at both worlds. Now, you've
got a fundraiser coming up I do, and where is that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It's at Precinct Brewing on Sunday. I'm raising money for
the LA Fire Department as well as selling some of
my photography, which is all from California. It starts at
one point thirty at Precinct that a lot of people
have chipped in incredible prizes for a raffle, which will
all that money will go straight to LAFD, which I
think is super important, especially right now. They could use
all the help that they could get.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, there's like an e bike voucher for five hundred bucks.
They's like two nights at Voco is another one. Everyone's
just been so generous. A bunch of like wine from
friends who make wine downe in Melbourne. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Is there many gold Coasters that have had to come
back that have lost their homes like you or are
you the only one? You know?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I'm not sure. I'm not friends with any gold Coasters
over there. There's a lot of Sydney people and a
lot of Melbourne's, but you'll occasionally run into a Queenslander there.
You always click really fast. Of course you get my
sixth sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
The vibe now, it's Precinct is a great spot to
have it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
They're so generous. It's a great spot. We checked it
out yesterday and just kind of put the prints in
the space and it's gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Describe your photography. What is it.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I deal a lot in like bright colors. I love
how colorful Los Angeles is in particular. I shoot a
lot of landscapes, especially when I travel. I love architecture,
I love palm trees. I'm really big into kind of
camp fantastic, colorful stuff that people can put on their walls.
(05:35):
So yeah, I've been selling prints for a long time,
and my friend Ashley actually did this all for me.
She was like, I don't know how to help you.
Would you be open to the idea of if I
found a space and you printed some of your work,
we could like sell it to raise money for you
and your husband. So I was like, you know what,
I've been feeling kind of guilty about just receiving all
(05:56):
these things because everyone's just so generous. Clothing, like I
got given a surfboard, like because you've lost all that, everything's.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Gone, and like your cameras and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I lost a few cameras. My friend who was staying
there did get my Hassle blat out, which is like
my vintage like incredible medium format camera. So I was
grateful for that. My husband lost everything, He lost all
his he's an underworder cinematographer, so he lost all his
like years long archive, so he's shot a lot of
pro surf and yeah, just over the years, so that's
(06:27):
all gone. But he's like, what are you going to
do with Like if I die, what are you going
to do with my archive? Anyway? Put it in like
the Darren Crawford Music Museum. Like I'm like, you're right,
and we had like two thousand and viney all that.
Like he's like, it's kind of poetic. The idea of
like all my vinyl burning while my neighbor's like really
expensive wine is just like popping off in the plans
(06:50):
And we're like, you have to look at it in
a romantic way, I think, And yeah, it's a kick
in the bum to have a new chapter.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, well a way to look at it.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
But yeah, it still sucks if you don't laugh your cry, right,
So that's the Australian way.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Do you think of all the conspiracies with it? All
insurance is being canceled and it being political and.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Look, it's hard when you become a statistic or like
a political pawn. I've and the inauguration happened like just
after it too, and I was like, I just can't
watch any of this right now. I don't have the bandwidth.
So yeah, it's gross. And also the whole thing that
like everyone in the Palisades was rich, We're not rich.
We're working class people, Like we had a rent control
(07:32):
department that we fought really hard to stay in. And
you know, it doesn't just affect us, it affects like
all the workers who worked on those properties, like all
the people who work in the restaurants, Like half the
city's out of work, you know, Like it's one of
my good friends works at a restaurant right there that
actually made it, and he's like it doesn't matter. Like
I can't work probably for three or four months, and
(07:55):
I can't get I can't get near like government funding
or anything like. So we're lucky that we can actually
get like grants and we have access to all these things.
But then there's all these other people who are kind
of forgotten right now. So yeah, my heart goes out
to them in a massive way.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Well, I certainly think Australians can relate to what's happened
over there, because obviously bushfire is so exactly a bigger
part of Australian history. Yeah, and recent history too. I've
seen it, seen it before, and we're affected so badly
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And let's not forget that when we have bushfires, Americans
and Canadians do helping out people.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
To us. Every American when you guys had those bush
fires a couple years ago, was like, oh my god,
the bushfires is your family? Okay, Like people do come
together in these times.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Yeah, I totally get it. So it's happening this Sunday,
the ninth of February. It is starting at one pm
at precinc.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, I'd say one one thirty. It'll keep off'll probably
go till five or six. Right. We wish you all
the best.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Thanks for coming in to welcome home.
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