A friend convinced me to sign with a talent agency for extra work on tv. At the time, there was a lot of film work happening out West, what with the popularity of The Piano and the rugged west coast beach scenery that formed the backdrop to fantasy epics like Xena, Warrior Princess and the Adventures of Hercules.
I did get to be on Xena when they filmed a story set in a Chinese village. The story went that someone had discovered gun powder in ancient China and Xena's enemies were using it for nefarious purposes. So Xena was going to counter this with her Xena powers of love and panty shields. Or something. I played a villager, amongst all the other Chinese extras going about their business at the market, and we were all under Xena's benevolent protection. Well, she was our white saviour.
My friend got a part on another episode where she played an Amazonian because she was tall. And then she got modelling work because she was so tall. I was too short to model, and nothing I could do would make me taller, because everyone else would be wearing heels too unless I wore stilts.
Another time I played a Pink Power Ranger so was hidden under a pink costume and helmet, and nobody could tell it was me. I don't know what the story was about that but we played it in a quarry like it was the end of the world and everything was bombed out.
I played an angry Asian tourist in The Brokenwood Mysteries. I was also one of the airline passengers in Air New Zealand flight to China, where they folded the seats down to make air couches. Though it was very short couches that you still had to curl up in.
I was on Shortland Street as an anaesthetist. I wore scrubs and had to look like I was monitoring a machine hooked up to a patient and making notes on a clipboard. I drank fake beer at the IV. I met Dr Chris Warner (or the guy who played him) and we just talked about gardening.
I once auditioned for a role of a teacher but I wasn't that convincing. I had to point to the whiteboard and make out like I was teaching. They picked someone else...
One time they did film in Henderson library but I did not get to play the librarian. They picked someone else who looked MORE like a librarian than the actual librarians themselves and had her careening on a book trolley. What does a librarian look like anyway? Well for the most part we do wear glasses. Otherwise anything goes.
Crowd scenes were fun because you got to see the dolly cameras and the grip guys arms always got sore holding the mikes. We just played people and got to wear our own clothes. Except for anything stripy or red. There was an ad for some kind of jewellery that had to film on a train, so we had to film when the trains weren't running and the call time was like 4am in the morning.
There were shoots at cafes, streets, in parks, round the neighbourhood, outside hairdressers, it was all rather random. The best thing was the catering - out of all the jobs I've done, filming jobs have the best food. Who can be their best on an empty stomach? It made up for the lousy pay! I usually took a book to read because it was a lot of waiting round for the light to be just right if filming outside, and the noise levels low (I am rather good at being quiet - all that time keeping my mouth shut has paid off) But if you are looking for me on TV good luck because blink and you'll miss my less than 15 minutes of fame.
Have I ever thought about being an actress? Yeah...nah. It's not fun being an actress. You always have to play someone else. You can never just be yourself...and I kinda like being myself. At least I know who I am!
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