Emily Perkins

Actor turned writer Emily Perkins studied at national drama school Toi Whakaari and performed for the screen, before publishing her first book in 1996. She played the idealistic step-daughter Fran Piper on drama show Open House, and acted in Shark in the Park and award-winning short film Lemming Aid. Alongside her work as a novelist and playwright, Perkins has also written for the screen, including co-writing the film adaption of Eleanor Catton's The Rehearsal. Perkins presented multiple seasons of literary show The Good Word. In 2017 she was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to literature.

I loved drama school, and even though I didn't go on to be an actor, I find that my training there has been so relevant to so many different parts of my life and my creative work. But undoubtedly there's tough, confronting stuff that happens. I'd love to know anyone who could go through a year there without crying . . . drama school can be a really funny place, as well as somewhere that can seem terribly serious and risky and challenging. Emily Perkins in an interview about drama school tale The Rehearsal, Sunday magazine, 21 July 2016