Nancy Brunning: Nurse Jaki Manu and beyond...

Nancy Brunning's television debut was in the first episode of Shortland Street, as Nurse Jaki Manu. Brunning — who passed away in November 2019 — gave a memorable performance as gang girl Tania in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, and later won attention for her acting in movies The Strength of Water and Mahana. Her work for television included Mataku, Kōrero Mai, and award-winning TV movie Fish Skin Suit. Alongside a busy theatre career, she also directed 2008 short film Journey to Ihipa.

In this ScreenTalk conducted in early 2012, Brunning talked about:

• How it took six months to get used to working on the set of Shortland Street
• Feeling the pressure of playing the only Māori female character on primetime TV
• Having to tell her father she was playing a lesbian in early movie When Love Comes
• Writing a diary to develop her tough role in Once Were Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
• Her straight-talking relationship with What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? director Ian Mune
• The challenges of playing her character Joy in drama The Strength of Water
• Why one particular scene in the film proved to be the hardest to shoot

This video was first uploaded on 20 March 2012, 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 and Editing – Andrew Whiteside