U on Sunday’s Hot 19 for 2019: Emily Gruhl

If last year was her breakthrough year, then Emily Gruhl intends 2019 to be her blockbuster year.

If last year was her breakthrough year, then Emily Gruhl intends 2019 to be her blockbuster year.

EMILY GRUHL

26, actor

STAR FACTOR: Highly trained actor will land in LA with dreams and determination

As the 26-year-old actor heads to Los Angeles with her boyfriend, fellow Brisbane-raised actor Alastair Osment, to pursue larger-scale work, she does so with an impressive portfolio.

Gruhl scored a global audience as Minnie in Foxtel’s reimagining of Picnic At Hanging Rock last year, a role played by Jacki Weaver in the original 1975 film. She followed that up by co-starring with Swedish actor Noomi Rapace in the feature Angel Of Mine. Late last year, she completed the 1800s-set Australian gothic feature, God Of Flowers, playing opposite Osment, and filmed a feature guest role for the second season of TV series Harrow.

Growing up in the inner-eastern suburb of Hawthorne, she originally set out to be a theatre actor, topping her QUT Fine Arts (Acting) course and winning the prestigious Jennifer Blocksidge Medal in 2013.

“I’d love to do more theatre,” Gruhl says tells U on Sunday. “I have been auditioning, but the industry keeps pushing me in the direction of film and TV,” adding with a smile, “which is something I’m definitely not complaining about”.

Film has been good to Gruhl. She and Osment (Rake, Home And Away) met when cast two years ago in the short rom-com film, The Bookshop, which won Best Comedy at the 2018 Noosa International Film Festival. They have dated ever since.

Based in Sydney for four years, Gruhl moved back to Brisbane last year to be closer to her family ahead of the LA move. It proved fortuitous.

“I’d just done the drive to Brisbane and was spending some time with my family. I was at the beach at the Fingal caravan park (Tweed Coast) and my agent called, ‘Oh, there’s a role going on Harrow, but they want you to be Brisbane-based’,” she recalls. “And I was able to say, ‘I am now, as of yesterday!’

“It was so cool because their production office is in Woolloongabba, and I’m living in Hawthorne, so I’ve never had a professional job where it is just down the road.”

She knows the work in LA might not be as convenient or steady, and she’s already planning for the day she will need to expand her skill set.

“You can have a few lucky breaks – and I have seen that happen and have experienced that – but I think to keep the momentum going you do need to branch out,” she says, citing Margot Robbie as a screen industry vanguard.

“In order to secure your place and to almost be a bit more respected in the field, you need to become a producer, or a writer, or a creator of some kind. And that way you can also do the projects you want to do and have a bit more creative control.

“I can definitely see myself directing and writing in the future.”

Gruhl is signed to Beverly Hills-based management company Magnolia Entertainment.