When I tell people what I do for a living they ask me what show they'd know me from. Or, if they know the industry, they smile a bit sadly, press their lips together, and then ask me how it's going.
There's a lot of misinformation around about acting as a career choice - you have to love it. I think the majority of actors (or the good ones, anyway) are definitely not doing it to get double-takes on the street.
If I wasn't acting I could always go down the academia route - I'm still studying (about to enter my Honours year in Philosophy next year). It would make family catch-ups pretty easy, since both my parents work at uni.
I find it hard to understand why New Zealanders seem to be intensely critical of ourselves when we're anything other than an outright success. I catch myself doing it, too. I think we've got to be much more supportive in the knowledge and cultural economy.
Walking past a house that I thought a pirate lived in was my first memory. I was disappointed about the pirate but it's still an amazing house. I kind of like the idea that you can re-inhabit a fantasy from when you were a child by looking at it from a different angle, or for long enough.
