Sara Wiseman: From stuntwoman to female lead...

Sara Wiseman first got the acting bug while volunteering on the set of Peter Jackson’s feature film Heavenly Creatures. She began her career as a stuntwoman alongside Zoe Bell, but gained her first big acting break in the drama series Street Legal. Her best known New Zealand role is Dr Nicky Sommerville on Mercy Peak. Some of Wiseman’s other screen credits include Mataku, Sione’s Wedding, Outrageous Fortune and Jinx Sister.

In this ScreenTalk, Wiseman talks about:

How Street Legal introduced her to television acting
The awkwardness of a sex scene with Jay Laga’aia
The agony of auditioning for Mercy Peak
Why she loved playing Nicky Sommerville
How Outrageous Fortune gives actors the freedom to explore their characters
The intensity of filming The Cult on location in winter
Breaking her foot on the set of Jinx Sister

This video was first uploaded on 10 November 2009, 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

[The scene of] confronting the father's grave, drunk and lashing out at him . . . I remember whacking the big headstone so hard, the next day I couldn't walk . . . I guess it's those opportunities to do scenes that, well for me anyway, take you to extreme places. They can be quite freeing.
– Sara Wiseman on acting in an intense scene in movie Jinx Sister

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