Jennifer Ward-Lealand began her celebrated acting career as a child, and made her screen debut on Gone Up North for a While at age nine. In her teens she played the rebellious Jan in soap opera Close to Home, and began a busy diet of theatre work. By the 1990s, she was on-screen playing everything from glamorous 19th century drapers to French prostitutes.

In her first ScreenTalk interview, Ward-Lealand talks about:

• Playing rebellious teenager Jan on Close to Home
• Her experience in theatre, including with Auckland's Theatre Corporate
• Working with Temuera Morrison on 1986 TV drama Seekers
• Acting in gritty About Face drama Danny and Raewyn
• Flying to France in the middle of making Leon Narbey's The Footstep Man
• The extraordinary experience of making movie Desperate Remedies, including the lavish costumes and acting with Kevin Smith
• Joining Australian comedy series Full Frontal, after the producers saw her performing in The Front Lawn
• Larry Parr’s ensemble movie Fracture
• Appearing in TV series Interrogation
• Meeting her husband, fellow actor Michael Hurst, and later working with him on Hercules and Xena
• Her theatre shows reprising Marlene Dietrich songs and cabaret classics

Watch a second interview with Jennifer Ward-Lealand here.