On Life & herself

• I’ve always been quiet, more of an observer.
• I was a barefoot earth child for a couple of years.
• I like to keep mobile. It keeps my mind awake.
• My dad is a pilot so I think I was born with the travel bug.
• Its important when you’re young to experience different countries through travel; it gives you a greater perspective on life and yourself.
• I find it attractive when someone reveals themself to you. People who are really honest and real, who can just be themselves. Humility, spontaneity and compassion are beautiful qualities.
• I think as an Australian it’s quite easy to pick up the American accent because we hear it a lot in different films and growing up, it’s around us a lot more.
• My best friend was Aboriginal. She taught me about ‘bush tucker’—the food of the land, the different things you could eat if you got lost in the bush, like grasses and berries. There’s this tree called the billygoat plum—the fruit is quite nice.
• I always bring my crystals: I’ve collected them since I was a little girl. Whatever we can do to make ourselves feel grounded or comfortable in a space is important.
• Climate change is an issue that affects everyone at every level – no matter how rich you are or where you live on the planet, we’re all in this together, so there’s an opportunity for this to be a really unifying thing for the world.
• I do feel I am in a unique position where I can use my public status to draw attention to things that matter to me and hopefully a lot of other people as well. I don’t want to push my ideas on other people. Everyone should think for themselves.
• For me, being environmentally aware has always been a passion of mine. I think growing up in a household where we always had quite a green farm and aware of the fact that we’re citizens on the planet, I feel very blessed to have lived in such beautiful parts of Australia like Kakadu and falling in love with nature. So conservation and supporting organisations that share that passion is something I’ve enjoyed taking part in.
• I can surf… well, I can stand up but I’m not a confident surfer. I just don’t spend enough time practicing.
• I spend a lot of time reading, scripts mostly. But right now I’m reading a great book by Joseph Campbell, he’s a brilliant writer. It’s called Letting Go. It’s all about how we hold pain in our bodies, and how to release it. I don’t read much fiction. I love delving into other things that I’d like to learn about. It’s all very psychological and philosophical at times.

On acting, her career & Hollywood

• Often, when I was younger, I wasn’t quite sure if I was in the right role, so to speak, being an actress because I always felt like: ‘How am I really helping the world? Can I do any good if I am doing this for my profession?’ I feel like I didn’t quite own the role. And I think things have moved around and the puzzle pieces have fallen into place and it does make sense.
• As long as it’s not in the term of: ‘You’ve changed.’ It would make me sad if someone said that. But change, of course, is growth, and anything that is not growing is either paralysed or it’s not alive, because that’s life; we always change and we grow. – On whether stardom has changed her
• Acting kind of chose me.
• The cast was welcoming but I was not confident about being in front of a lot of people. It encouraged me to come out of my shell and trust myself and that everything was going to be OK. – On her early experiences as Tasha on Home and Away
• All I want to do when I finish the show [Home & Away] is go backpacking around Vietnam, Nepal and Tibet.
• I just said yes to opportunities that came my way.
• Tasha was such a unique character, with an extremely unusual background… But it was a challenge in that there wasn’t much substance to base the character on or relate to, which is great for an imaginative person like myself.
• I hadn’t really considered coming to LA, but I’ve been based here now for about a year and a half. I just felt very fortunate to be able to be even auditioning. I mean, the magnitude of this production is incredible and to get to work twice now with Steven Spielberg is something which I can barely believe.
• Los Angeles is a mad town. I’m kind of in denial about living there. It’s a funny place, an odd environment to live in … but I’ve decided to like it.
• (On whether she’d do nudity) It would really depend on how I felt about the script. If nudity was required to make it “full”, then I’d consider it. If it was a gimmick to get people to watch it… that’s not what it’s about for me.
• I’ll always be grateful for the experience on Home and Away for teaching me so much. But I’m ready to dig deeper and embrace new projects, get my hands dirty with other quirky, imaginative characters.
• I auditioned for lots of different projects, all grass roots at the moment, so I can’t really speak about them, but I met with lots of agents, including Kate Winslet’s. She (Winslet) actually called when I was in the meeting. She was flying out to the Oscars the next day. It was all so surreal.
• I don’t really get nervous for auditions, because I just see them as mini acting classes. There’s no need to have an attachment to the outcome because it’s out of your hands after that.
• People instantly assume you can’t have a platonic friendship with someone of the opposite sex. I think this may be specific to L.A. – or America.
• I go by intuition. Work-wise, that means asking myself if a role will push me outside my comfort zone, challenge me to learn something new.
• My first audition was the worst I have ever done, ever.
• I’ve been doing a few courses lately. One about Reiki and Prahnic healing, and an acting course. It’s really important – especially being on a show like Home and Away where you can fall into patterns – to keep your creative juices flowing.
• In LA you have two days to prep for an audition and you really feel a momentum. You feel you’re actually going forward, you’re improving with each audition.
• I have found a really grounded, beautiful group of friends and there are some really beautiful natural places around LA, which was really important for me as well.
• It’s just like being in a little fishbowl and over a long time it’s not healthy [about life in Hollywood]. It’s not a natural, healthy sense of community, we don’t function naturally that way. It just felt right to be based in Australia and to travel there for work to film and to shoot projects. For me it’s just prioritising lifestyle and what fills you with joy and what is replenishing creatively and for me it’s having shorter visits to LA but more frequent, as opposed to being based over there.
• There’s so much that’s not important – the photos, what you wear on the red carpet and so much pressure to come across the right way.
• With acting, there is quite a superficial side where it is based around money and wanting to succeed and fame, and that’s OK. But there is another side, which is about knowledge and storytelling. It is about creatively exploring characters and different concepts, ideas and stories. That’s the part I’m attracted to.

On Fashion & Beauty

• I don’t really have a style. I wear what is comfortable, different bits and pieces. I guess it’s a more bohemian, alternative style
• I shop very rarely. When I really need something, I’ll go shopping or I will head to the markets – it’s a calmer atmosphere there.
• I Love wearing what’s colorful or comfortable or makes me feel good
• My style has definitely matured over the years. I guess that’s a natural progression as I grow older. When I was younger I was more inspired by gypsy, bohemian, lace and free-spirited designs. I still am drawn to this kind of flavour and feel, but it has become more practical and more comfort-based.
• I think fashion should be fun and I have quite a carefree, maybe even nonchalant, attitude towards it. I dress for comfort and I don’t give it too much thought.
• I really enjoy combining the beautiful vintage op-shop pieces I find with a designer eco-shoe or a beautiful felt or textured hat. I guess my style is mix-and-match. You could call it eclectic.
• It’s very important to me to be wearing clothes that are ethical and sustainable in all facets of production. I am particularly drawn to brands that are eco-friendly, conscious about their carbon footprint and serious about recycling.
• One million plastic bags are used every minute and never used again and cheap, mass-produced clothing is following a similar path. The fashion industry has an immense opportunity to change and become a frontline leader for reducing emissions and becoming symbiotic with nature.

On Others

• He’s very inspiring, the way he lives with so much humility and such an open heart, and he inspires me creatively as well. The word that I could use, if I had to use a word to describe him, is true. Just true, down to the ground. – On Angus Stone