Kate Elliott: Katherine Mansfield, Shortland Street, and more...

Kate Elliott began her life on screen after attending an audition at school. Since winning that role — as a bulimic, sexually abused, self-mutilating teenager in House of Sticks — Elliott has starred in many of New Zealand’s major television productions including Street Legal, The Insiders Guide to Love, The Cult, Shortland Street, and played Katherine Mansfield in tele-feature Bliss. Her film credits include Toy Love, The Locals, and Fracture.

In this ScreenTalk, Elliott talks about:

• Why she chose to be an actor
• How she began her screen career at age 14
• Making out with Madeleine Sami while wearing a school uniform in the Harry Sinclair production Pale Blue
• Her experiences on TV series Street Legal
• How strippers at Mermaids taught her how to act while under water in Toy Love
• Using what she learned on Toy Love for under water scenes in Bliss
• Her character in The Insiders Guide To Love
• Appearing in the Whittaker’s chocolate TV commercials
• Playing Katherine Mansfield for the first time in An Indiscreet Journey and how her character differed from the Katherine Mansfield in Bliss
• Juggling a new baby and her role in The Cult
• The fight to land her leading role in Bliss
• The unique skills involved in working on Shortland Street

This video was first uploaded on 6 December 2011, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera & Editing - James Coleman