I’m sitting in a quiet section of a Sydney photo studio with Aussie actor and new mum Teresa Palmer. At 39 years old, and with more than 40 acting credits under her belt, Palmer positively radiates energy. She’s tired, but she’s luminous.

She’s simultaneously breastfeeding her new baby, Lotus Bloom, born at home in September, and answering one of my questions about her new film, Addition, when Lotus loudly and spectacularly fills her nappy. I’ve never seen so much relief on such a tiny face. “Wow, that smells,” says Palmer. “Sorry, I’ll give her to my husband.”

“Mark!” she yells across the studio. “Somebody’s left you a big package!”

Her husband, American actor, writer and director Mark Webber, glides over, takes the baby and cleans her up with the ease of a parent with six kids. Apart from little Lotus Bloom, there’s Bodhi Rain (11), Forest Sage (9), Poet Lake (6) and Prairie Moon (4). Webber also has a 16-year-old son, Isaac Love, from a previous marriage.

Given that apart from the children, Palmer also has a blog (Your Zen Mama), a wellness company (Lovewell), a podcast (Mother Daze) and a full calendar of acting roles, I wonder how she fills her cup. The simplest answer, she says, is that she doesn’t. But equally, it’s her children and acting career that really light her up. “And when I can blend them,” she says, “it’s even better. My kids came to visit me while I was shooting last week and that’s my favourite. I get to show my children off to all my friends at work.”

Palmer kicked off her acting career with an appearance in the 2005 Aussie horror Wolf Creek. But while she’s done her fair share of thriller/splatter/slasher movies, she’s no scream queen. She was Daniel Radcliffe’s love interest in the 2007 drama December Boys, and acted alongside Adam Sandler and Guy Pearce in the Disney comedy Bedtime Stories. In 2013, she co-starred with Nicholas Hoult in the cult zombie romance Warm Bodies, and in 2019 she played Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, in Ride Like a Girl. This year, she led the cast of the ABC’s adaptation of Sally Hepworth’s novel The Family Next Door.

Palmer says she’s attracted to gritty, complex characters that require some deep digging. “They’re the ones that excite me the most,” she says. “To peel back the different ways that trauma manifests itself in the body … I’m really fascinated by characters going through that. I recently got sent a comedy and I was like, ‘Was this meant for me? Have they seen my work?’”

The downside? “Exhaustion is the main thing,” she says. “Years ago, I figured out a way to leave the work at work, so I usually listen to a podcast on the way home to reset before I walk in the door. And, you know, nothing quite brings you back to centre like kids. So that’s been incredibly helpful.

“Working really long hours and then coming home, seeing each one of them and finding out about their day … by the time I get into bed, it’s been hours and hours non-stop. But nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix.”

In Addition, a romantic dramedy in cinemas early next year, Palmer plays Grace Lisa Vandenburg, a 34-year-old mathematician with extreme anxiety and a form of obsessive compulsive disorder which presents as compulsive counting. When we meet Grace, she is recently out of hospital, has lost her job at the university she was working at, and is teaching maths at a local high school.

After a couple of encounters with Seamus, a British expat house painter played by Joe Dempsie (Skins, Game of Thrones), she begins a romance that starts off the way many new relationships do, with electrifying physical intensity. And then, as also happens in many new relationships, complications arise.

For a start, there’s Grace’s imaginary friend, genius inventor Nikola Tesla, played by Eamon Farren (Twin Peaks, The Dig). He is her lover, companion and tormentor. He is, at the heart of it, a manifestation of her OCD who might, for instance, encourage her to triple-count every one of the 2220 bristles on her toothbrush, causing her to miss a dinner date. “Grace can be her weirdest, wildest, craziest, most vulnerable self with him [Tesla] and he accepts her and loves her,” says Palmer, jiggling Lotus on her leg.

“When the trailer came out, a lot of people reflected to me that they felt really seen,” she adds. “People who have OCD tendencies walk through the world in their own unique way. Sometimes that means a romantic relationship is going to be quite nuanced and complex. Diversifying romantic relationships and partnerships and showing that on screen is very important.”

As Grace, Palmer’s energy, emotion and physicality are so close to the surface, it’s almost as if she vibrates, from the first flush of love to greasy flatness as the monotony of coupledom takes over. “Grace and I actually have similar levels of energy,” says Palmer. “There’s a playfulness, chaotic energy and a wildness to her which I can relate to because all of those parts also exist within me, although my life looks so different to hers.”

I ask Palmer if her kids have an understanding of what she does for a living. “They get such a kick out of it,” she says. “They ask to watch my movies over and over again. My daughter Poet has seen Ride Like a Girl 20 times. It’s just been such a fun thing, and now they’ve all decided that’s what they want to do with their lives.”

Freedom of choice is important to the actor. Palmer’s mother, Paula Sanders, a former missionary and nurse, dreamt of working in Calcutta but never did it. Instead, she focused on motherhood. “I love her for that,” says Palmer, “but I also feel grief that she never got to do that thing. I love showing my children that there are ways in which you can do both.”

For many years, Webber and Palmer were a bit of a travelling show, living wherever in the world the next project was. But a few years ago, the pair decided to settle permanently in Australia, where they’d be able to give their children the sort of schooling and social life Palmer grew up with.

So, the family made the move to Byron Bay, initially something of a cultural adjustment for her husband, who was more at home in New York City. “It’s a long way from the big smoke for him,” she says. “But the great thing about Byron is that there’s a massive artist community, so he’s found his people now.”

For Palmer, it was more of a professional adjustment, shifting her focus away from the US and towards local roles and production companies, a transition she says hasn’t been particularly dramatic. “I love Australian storytelling,” she says. “I love the way we make movies and television shows.

“It’s been really good for the kids – they’re just settling in so well. I think there’s a sense of familiarity there, and life balance. The kids are going surfing straight after school and walking around barefoot. And I think it’s really grounding for them to get back to nature.”

The big challenge for Palmer in 2026 will be juggling back-to-back jobs. Apart from Poor Boy, a supernatural thriller also starring Guy Pearce and Ann Dowd to be shot in Melbourne, she’s also going to be working on a film created by Webber and shot in Australia “with a bunch of our friends”.

The strength and understanding of her family and the relationship dynamic helps her with the juggling act. “We just have to figure out the logistics of whether Mark stays with the boys and I take the younger three with me. I’ll just do a lot of the travelling back and forth and we’ll juggle it.”

This year, the family will be spending Christmas in the US with Webber’s son, his ex-wife and her new partner, who are currently living in Webber and Palmer’s LA property. “We always do a big Christmas tree in the lounge room,” says Palmer. “We have a beautiful extended family. It’ll be so nice.”

Addition is in cinemas January 29.

Fashion director: Penny McCarthy. Hair: Keiren Street using Wella Professional. Make-up: Aimie Fiebig using Sisley Paris. Fashion assistant: Louis Lefebvre

Stockists: Albus Lumen; Lee Mathews; Lucy Folk; Miu Miu; Prada.

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