Why getting a part in Outer Banks is a ‘pinch me’ moment for Aussie Mia Challis
Most people are scared to take a chance. Mia Challis was scared not to, leaving Australia to follow her screen dreams and, now they’re coming true. she’s still pinching herself.
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Aussie actor Mia Challis was bingeing Outer Banks during Covid when she got the call to audition – and is still pinching herself she landed the part in the cult Netflix drama.
The 26-year-old has been living in LA for the last three years trying to make it on the big screen. She was in Vancouver for two years before that – working visas are easier in Canada, she advises – a bold move realisation she made while sitting in a university lecture back in her hometown of Perth.
“When I was younger, I loved doing theatre – that was how I started getting into acting,” she tells Insider from her US base this week.
“I was doing a lot of school plays, and I kind of just fell in love with it, but I didn’t really know if it was a tangible career.
“In my head, it just felt like a dream.
“But I just remember this moment – I was I actually enrolled in university, and I had this almost movie moment, where I was sitting in a lecture and I just said, I need to give this acting thing a go.
“I need to put all my eggs in the basket and just go for it and have no backup plan and just see where it takes me.
“Because I think I was just scared that I would regret it – that I’d wake up one day and go, damn, I wish I gave it a go.
“I think a lot of people don’t do that out of fear of – what if it doesn’t happen.
“But I think the fear of not trying scared me more, as cliche as that sounds.
“So I just got on the plane and didn’t really give myself time to think about it.
“I had to lead with ‘go for it’ energy.”
Best known for playing Jenny on 2021 mini-series Clickbait, she also starred in YouTube original User Not Found, which she also wrote and directed.
She gets homesick for Australia, of course – her mum is her best friend – but landing a gig like Outer Banks makes it all worth it. She plays Ruthie in the next instalment of the popular coming of age story starring Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey, set on the Banks of North Carolina.
Ruthie is ‘a wild one’, Challis laughs, and develops a close relationship with Austin North’s character Topper, and starts dating him. She’s the season villain – nothing like her personality in real life, Challis laughs again.
“Getting the role of Ruthie was an interesting one, because she is so different to me in so many ways,” she continues.
“I did have to try and find some similarities in the sense, I think I relate to her back in my earlier youthful days when I kind of threw caution to the wind and had a bit more fun, whereas now I’m a bit more reserved.
“So just throwing my mindset back to Aussie parties growing up and not really having too much to worry about in your life.
“When you’re younger, you’re just a little freer, so I really tried to tap into that, to make her convincing as a teen having so much fun like she does on the show.
“But it’s definitely one of those shows you want to binge watch – and once you’re watching, it’s really hard to stop.”
Getting the call was one of those life-changing moments. She’d actually tried out the year before too. This time it was meant to be.
“I had auditioned for the show previously the year before, so I was familiar with the team, but it’s one of those shows where you think it’s out of reach because it has such a big reach – it’s one of those major Netflix shows that, as an actor, most of the time it’s ‘nos’ rather than ‘yes’’ – that’s the pattern your mind goes to,” she explains.
“So when I got the call back, I was very excited, but I stayed pretty humble, and then I did the chemistry read with Austin and the creators, they just made me feel so comfortable that I got off the Zoom and went, ‘oh, I think I could possibly have a chance here’.”
Her first day on set was eye opening. The scale of the production was something she hadn’t experienced before.
“It was so wild,” she gushes.
“It was five cameras on you at every time – there were drones, stunt guys, like 300 extras on our first day – it was just massive. Obviously there were some nerves, but working with the cast, I instantly felt at ease. They’re like a big family over there, and they just welcomed me.”
While she misses her mum and friends, she says moving away from home made her who she is – and showed her what she’s capable of.
“I definitely had my foundational years of living away from home for the first time. It teaches you a lot,” she explains.
“And life just kind of happened from there.”
For the first year in LA she lived in a ‘massive actor house’ with six other Aussie actors, also finding their way. As she found her feet and started working more, her friendship group expanded.
“I definitely started not knowing an American for like a solid year,” she laughs.
“(Us Aussies) really love to stick together, which I think is so nice, because it’s like a little piece of home.”
She was going to do a Bachelor of Arts. But since filming Outer Banks, felt the confidence to try and study again. Speaking to Insider on Thursday she had just finished an exam for a criminology degree. And it’s already helping with horror films.
“I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do, but I think having a role like Outer Banks under my belt, I think I felt free to go, maybe I can start doing other things that interest me as well.
“I just spent six weeks in Australia filming another horror film called Diabolic … so I’m definitely getting into my screen queen era and I’m loving it.
“Honestly, this is more than I could ever have expected of where I’d be in my life. Every day, I wake up and it’s still a pinch me moment. Because this career is so big, and it’s very erratic and sporadic, and one minute you’re here and one minute you’re there, I think I crave the calm moments, whether that’s just being at home with my mum, just having a cup of tea … and just being still. They’re my favourite moments, for sure.”
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