Paolo Rotondo: on acting, writing, directing and sphincter surgery...

Interview – 2010

Paolo Rotondo was born in Italy and has lived there and in New Zealand. In 1997 Rotondo starred in local feature The Ugly winning awards and rave reviews. Following TV appearances in Street Legal and Jackson’s Wharf, he starred in hit movie Stickmen. Rotondo returned to the small screen with soap Shortland Street, and The Insiders Guide to Happiness. His second short film Dead Letters won him Best Short Screenplay at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Rotondo talks about:

Why his family came to New Zealand in 1982
What he put himself through to get into character for The Ugly
How he landed his leading role in movie Stickmen, after not being in the running initially
The sensitivities around storing a dead kuia in a chest freezer, in his short film The Freezer
Insights into the "most anal character" he has ever played, on Shortland Street
The thinking behind "big little" film Dead Letters
His plans for a New Zealand Italian film

This video was first uploaded on 7 April 2010, 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 – James Coleman

Shortland Street is just like an amazing machine . . . you tap into it. It's like a roller coaster for a while and you jump out, and it keeps going with or without you . . . It's really cool to have a job like that where you are acting every single day, and doing so much volume of work.
– Paolo Rotondo on acting in Shortland Street

Paolo's Full Profile