Teuila Blakely: learning on the job...

Interview – 2016

Teuila Blakely began her TV career presenting C4’s live music show Freestyle, before landing an extended role on Shortland Street. Blakely has shown her versatility by appearing in comedy shows (bro’Town, Funny Girls), drama shows (This is Not My Life) and films (Sione’s Wedding). She also made a splash as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Blakely talks about:

Taking on tough character Vasa on Shortland Street
Having an emotional reaction to a teen pregnancy on the show
Feeling out of her depth filming her first movie, Sione’s Wedding
How the makers of Outrageous Fortune changed her screen character after auditioning her
Regretting only getting one season on the show
Feeling much more confident tackling Sione’s 2 - Unfinished Business
Being a good omen for the first season of Westside
The challenge of being part of Dancing with the Stars
Feeling cheated when knocked out of the competition
The honour of being an "eleventh hour ring-in" on sketch show Funny Girls
Learning how to deal with having her life open to public scrutiny

This video was first uploaded on 26 January 2016, 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

She was a tough character to play, I have to say. We had a few things in common: we were around about the same age, we were both Samoan and we were both single mothers. That's where the similarities between myself and my character ended.
– Teuila Blakely on playing the tough character of Head Nurse Vasa on Shortland Street, at the start of this interview

Teuila's Full Profile