TV chef Silvia Colloca to return to acting in Foxtel’s The Twelve

She’s best known as a cookbook author and celebrity chef, but Silvia Colloca was an actor long before her foodie rep evolved, and has just joined the cast of a local drama.

Silvia Colloca was an actor long before she became known as a foodie.

The hugely successful cookbook author and TV chef, 44, is returning to her first love of acting in Foxtel* TV drama, The Twelve.

“It is not a bad way to be thought of, I love it,” Colloca said of her cooking.

“I have always been an actress before I started my cooking career. I studied in Milan and worked on stage and screen but it took a back seat in favour of my foodie career.”

Colloca joins Jenni Baird, Matt Nable, Coco Jack Gillies, Ben Mingay, Hamish Michael and Louisa Mignone as the final names to join The Twelve, a courtroom drama led by Sam Neill, Kate Mulvaney and Marta Dusseldorp.

Coco Jack-Gillies, Jenni Baird, Matt Nable and Silvia Colloca have joined the cast of Foxtel’s The Twelve.Picture: Richard Dobson

The 10-part series is currently shooting in Sydney and loosely based on a Belgium series of the same name with the story centring around an accused woman, being played by Mulvany, who is on trial for killing a child.

“When I do act these days, I appreciate it so much and I love it,” Colloca said. “They both (acting and cooking) spark from the same little creative flame. I just love the opportunity it gives me to be surrounded by other creative people and working off their energy, which is something I don’t get to do with my books as it is a totally solitary activity.”

Colloca met Australian husband Richard Roxburgh on set of Hollywood film, Van Helsing. The couple have three children together and she last acted five years ago when heavily pregnant with her youngest daughter, Luna, in ABC series, Pulse.

“It is about people that are completely different in background and life aspirations,” Colloca explained of the project. “They are being brought together and just have to make it work.”

The Twelve will screen on Foxtel later this year and will also star the likes of Brooke Satchwell, Hazem Shammas, Brendan Cowell, Pallavi Sharda and Ngali Shaw.

Of joining the cast, Baird said: “The role has been such a gift, I get to push myself into some uncomfortable places, and you couldn’t ask for a better bunch to work with, I love being on set.”

*News Corp, publisher of this website, is majority owner of Foxtel

Originally published as TV chef Silvia Colloca to return to acting in Foxtel’s The Twelve