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Toni Collette had no intention of ever giving up creative control on her debut album, even if it meant more people would hear her music.
The actor/singer has released her first album, Beautiful Awkward Pictures, through her own small independent label, Hoola Hoop Records.
"It is so satisfying to have complete creative control and not to have to answer to anybody," Collette says.
As an actor, Collette is one of Australia's best-known exports. She become a household name after starring in 1994's Muriel's Wedding and went on to star in more than 30 films.
"In the acting world, they try to hide things from actors, keep them cushioned," she said. "So I am really enjoying getting my hands dirty, so to speak, with this."
Various record labels have courted Collette over the years, but she says it has been a matter of waiting until the timing was right to release an album.
The album came together in the past 12 months when she formed her band, the Finish. Collette's husband Dave Galafassi plays drums, with Augie March frontman, Glenn Richards on guitar, Pete Farley on bass and David Lane playing piano.
The album was recorded in a studio on Collette and Galafassi's property in Berry on the NSW south coast, and they financed it themselves.
Beautiful Awkward Pictures features 11 tracks, written by Collette over the past 12 years.
Produced by Willy Zygier, the songs include This Moment Is Golden, Mosaic Life, Cowboy Games and Trouble With Sister.
"With the album, I wanted to make it quite quiet. I just wanted it to feel intimate and like I was whispering in people's ears. I really wanted to capture a kind of lush, live sound and not make it too overly produced."
Collette began her career with a scholarship to the Australian Theatre for Young People in 1989, before a two-year stint at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Her film credits include Cosi, Velvet Goldmine, Shaft, About A Boy, Dirty Deeds, The Hours, Japanese Story, Connie and Carla, In Her Shoes, Like Minds, Little Miss Sunshine, and The Sixth Sense, for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
As well as working in film, Collette has starred in numerous stage productions and was nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production of The Wild Party.
Releasing an album, Collette expected the "actor-turned-singer" tag.
"From the get-go I knew people were going to say stuff like that because that is the way our society is," she said.
"And I have always said the music will speak for itself and so far it has."
While Collette has been playing music for years and she's been to plenty of live shows, crafting her own stage persona has been something she's had to get used to.
"Sometimes it is a bit like people are watching television so they kind of sit there with their mouths agape."
The band played their first live gig in Sydney earlier this month and have since played dates around NSW and Victoria.
Collette hopes to launch a full national tour early next year, and wants to release the album internationally and tour overseas.
But while she is clearly passionate about her music, she has no plans to give up acting in exchange for a full-time career as a singer.
- AAP
