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From video rental store clerk to award-winning actress, New Zealand beauty Emily Barclay is making her mark in the on-screen world.
The 22-year-old actress won Best Female Actress at Australia's Inside Film Awards on Friday night, beating out stiff competition from established actresses Abbie Cornish and Laura Linney.
Speaking to nzherald.co.nz from Sydney, Barclay said she was completely awed by the win.
"It was such a huge honour to be nominated alongside Laura Linney and Abbie Cornish, I really did not expect to win.
"I just went into shock, I didn't know what to say. I couldn't talk and I was shaking. It was really exciting."
Barclay won the award for her role as Katrina in the Australian film Suburban Mayhem - a sultry, seductive solo mother who plots to kill her father.
After making the film late last year, Barclay has spent the past year promoting it around the world, but said she never expected it to garner the attention it has.
"It was just a really great opportunity to play a fantastic character. I don't think when you make a film you ever think about whether or not you're going to be winning awards in 12 months time, you just think about the job at hand."
Though she is reaping the rewards now, Barclay is the first to admit the role of Celia was a tough gig.
"It was really difficult. The character's so different from myself - she's a pretty dark, screwed-up girl. It wasn't a very nice place to be in for two months.
"She's a very sexual character as well, which I found quite confronting initially and made me quite uncomfortable."
The award is not Barclay's first. Last year, the actress won Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards for her role in the acclaimed New Zealand production In My Father's Den.
Nor is it likely to be her last. She is also nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Australian Film Institute Awards next month.
Barclay's next project is the dramatic biopic Bronte, based on the lives of the Bronte sisters, which is set to begin filming in Ireland next March.
Oscar-nominated actress Michelle Williams and British actress Nathalie Press are set to star opposite the young actress.
"I still can't believe it," Barclay laughed. "I still feel like someone's going to come along and go, 'just kidding'."
English-born Barclay grew up in New Zealand, on Auckland's North Shore, where she worked in a local video store before getting her big break in the 2004 film, In My Father's Den.
Despite relocating to Sydney earlier this year, Barclay said she still loves New Zealand.
"I really miss New Zealand as a country. I miss the people. I really love it and appreciate it so much more now that I'm not there."
Barclay said she will return home to New Zealand for Christmas and New Year, before embarking on her next big acting adventure.
