Phoebe Tonkin on her new Tubi thriller and how Australian projects are finding global audiences
As she unveils her new Tubi project, Phoebe Tonkin reflects on the lure of Australian stories and why she was ‘definitely curious’ about trying her luck in Los Angeles.
Award-winning Aussie star Phoebe Tonkin says that the rise of streaming services has made it easier for Australian actors to juggle a career overseas with the desire to stay connected with the local industry.
The 36-year-old Sydney-born actor first broke through playing a mermaid in the Gold Coast shot teen fantasy H20: Just Add Water – and followed it up with stints on Home and Away and Packed To the Rafters – but has been based in the US since she was 19.
“For Australian actors, it’s sort of par for the course to do a stint in Los Angeles,” Tonkin said.
“I love telling Australian stories, and I love working in Australia, but I was definitely curious and eager to travel and try my luck in the US.”
While she found success there in TV shows including The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals – and met art dealer Bernard LaGrange, who she married in New York in May – she has always made time to return home to work.
Tonkin starred in the 2018 Emmy-winning SBS thriller Safe Harbour, won an AACTA Award for her stunning turn as a drug-addicted mother in Boy Swallows Universe and will also appear in next year’s local Paramount+ drama, Two Years Later.
The boost in potential international reach for Aussie-made content offered by the proliferation of streaming now means coming home to shoot a show no longer feels like stepping away from the global stage.
“With streaming, shows like Safe Harbor and Boy Swallows Universe have a life outside of Australia,” she said. “It’s always really exciting to see what feels like innately Australian stories resonate across the globe. But ultimately good storytelling prevails, regardless of its origin. But I am proud to be involved in some really prestigious Australian series, and I look forward to working on more.”
It was Tonkin’s role in Safe Harbour that led to her new crime thriller The 8th Day, which is now streaming free on Tubi. Writer Suzanne Weinert had seen the asylum-seeker drama while living in New Zealand and had thought Tonkin would be perfect for the lead role of Eve, a young woman desperate to escape her dead-end existence in a small Texas town. After a chat with actor turned director Alexandra Chando, Tonkin was in.
“I liked how this script felt like a bit of a homage to the 90s era of movies,” Tonkin said. “Sort of a twisted romance, set in small town Texas. There was a playfulness to the script that I really responded to.”
And while Eve proves to be dab hand with a firearm as befits the very gun-friendly Lone Star State setting, Tonkin says she was anything but a natural.
“Definitely not,” she said. “That required a bit of practice with a prop. It’s always fun to learn a new skill specifically for a role, it helps with building the character. In terms of my most useful skill – it’s probably swimming!”
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Originally published as Phoebe Tonkin on her new Tubi thriller and how Australian projects are finding global audiences
