Revenge star Annabelle Stephenson coming to Summer Bay

What do you get when you cross an Aussie, an Italian and a Colombian? A failed Home and Away audition tape. Find out how it didn’t quite go to plan for Aussie Revenge star Annabelle Stephenson.

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What do you get when you cross an Aussie, an Italian and a Colombian? A failed Home and Away audition tape.

Annabelle Stephenson took a year off acting last year and decamped to the historic Italian city of Bologna to learn the language and take a break.

Australian actress Annabelle Stephenson. Picture: Johnny Diaz Nicolaidis

While there, she decided to test the waters back home and record an audition tape for the long-running Australian soap and hastily grabbed some friends to stand in for the scene she was filming.

“I had a Colombian reading for my son and my Italian teacher as my lover,” she laughed.

“I think the lack of English speaking in my tape didn’t go in my favour.”

Stephenson, who was a regular on hit US drama Revenge and most recently appeared on Netflix’s first Australian series Tidelands, didn’t get the job that time around, but after returning to Australia she was more successful.

Stephenson in a scene from Revenge where she was a regular.

She will join the show next month as Taylor Rosetta, the wife of Detective Angelo Rosetto, played by Luke Jacobz, who is also new to Summer Bay.

After working in television in both Hollywood and Australia, Stephenson said it was far more relaxed back home.

“It’s the Aussie spirit, it’s so welcoming,” she said. “(In America) there is a powerhouse production company and there’s quite a hierarchy behind it. You just come in, do your job and leave.”