08 May 2017

Marlo Kelly is the name that will soon be on everyone’s lips. Having already made waves with Palm Beach at the epicentre, she earned her most notable break in portraying Home and Away’s beloved Skye Peters in a year long tenure. Since then, Kelly has undertaken leading roles in several domestic projects such as Vampir (2016) and Neurogenesis (2017). Suffice it to say, she’s already somewhat of a household name here in Australia.

Now, Kelly has her sights set on the international. Patricia Moore is series in which she plays the titular character, and after post-production wraps up, it will soon be available through exclusive digital release across Europe and the US.

We sat down with Summer Bay’s sweetheart to mark out the blueprint of how such an explosive theatrical talent like Kelly herself found the pathway to where she is today.

What does an average day in the office look like?

Average day at the office… I don’t think there can be an average day at the office. I think even when you’re in the process of filming something no day is similar… You have to get used to spontaneity, and also being prepared for a whole range of different things. Some days it is just reading things and going to classes, and all that sort of stuff. Other days it’s working from, you know, 3:30 in the morning till 8 at night filming everything throughout the day. The schedule is hectic, and ever changing.

I think it was Russell Crowe that said, “They treat you like shit, but they pay you well”.

[Laughs.] No, they don’t treat you like shit… Someone said to me recently that you get paid to wait, you don’t get paid to act.

And what was the process of filming a show like Home and Away like, of which you’ve had quite the considerable experience in working alongside.

A given week would be… you’ve got one set of a week’s worth of filming, a location, and you’ve got the other set at the production studios… Just depending on which was more heavy, whether my scenes on location were heavy, or my scenes in the studio, would alter kind of the way my week looked. Some days you’d be going between the both of them… Some mornings you’d be out in Palm Beach at 5AM, getting up at… [2:30AM]… It was pretty full on, but it was really fun.

What are the major differences between shooting on location and in a studio?

Studios get claustrophobic, also you’re constantly switching from day to night, and you kind of go into a mind warp. On location there was always fans there, which was quite unusual. Standing by and watching, and asking to take photos. That was kind of the major differences. And then a lot of the location, in post, you’d have to re-record what you say. You have to ADR (additional dialogue recording) everything because of the sound of the ocean. Which is super weird.

What did you do to get where you are?

[Sarcasm.] Just sat at home waiting for the phone to ring. Nah. [Sincere.] I did do, and still do, a lot of classes and private coaching. That was something I was always very devoted to. I think it’s hard to pin point where exactly it started, because it’s an accumulation of things. It was what I always wanted to do, and when I was small it was what I was interested in. And I just had the good fortune in my final year of [high] school. I was doing a production and my agent happened to turn up… liked what she saw. So she signed me. Which was a crazy aligning of fate. I couldn’t have asked for that to occur, and it was the perfect thing. And from there on out it was sort of like… a mission. With her and I, to get things working right. To be going to the right classes and be seeing the right people.

What is the most challenging component of your job?

I think that it is inconsistent… You do have to wait. Waiting is a huge part of it. You have to learn patience… Without it, people drown. People really drown. It’s a world where if there isn’t the right role coming along, there’s just not something in your age range, not something your sort of world, that suits you… there’s just not work. And there is nothing you can do about it. And that’s really difficult. But that’s also when people start making their own content. That’s when they start going into all these different avenues… which is also amazing.

And what advice would you give to hopefuls?

It’s a bit cheesy, but there’s a quote I quite enjoy that’s like, “Luck is lost on the lucky who aren’t prepared for luck.” And I think it’s incredibly true. If you’ve got all your stuff in place, and you’re working as hard as you possibly can, you are being true to who you are and what you want, when the right opportunities come along, seize it.

Any last thoughts?

No [Laughs.]. Is that OK?

Very succinct. I like it, I like it.

I guess like… I’m hungry.

by Garry Lu