Twiggy Forrest’s daughter praises ‘queer storyline’

Sophia Forrest speaks to Stellar about her relationship with Ride Like A Girl co-star co-star Zara Zoe, saying queer storylines can help reveal “who you are.”

As she models a mix of tough textures, biker boots and just a hint of sparkle, Australian actor Sophia Forrest tells Stellar why her latest role is so close to her heart – and finally has her feeling as if she has come into her own.

Growing up, Sophia Forrest wishes she could have seen more love stories on screen that resembled the one she’s now living in real life.

At the time, same-sex relationships – like her own with her former Ride Like A Girl co-star Zara Zoe, who she has been dating for more than two years – were largely absent from mainstream television.

Sophia Forrest: ‘A queer storyline...could help you understand who you are.” Picture: Daniel Nadel.

Sophia Forrest: “You can’t know what you can’t see.” Picture: Daniel Nadel.

Which is why, Forrest tells Stellar, she is so excited about her latest project. “You can’t know what you can’t see,” she says.

“If you’re constantly watching heteronormative storylines, you can’t connect with, maybe, a queer storyline that could help you understand who you are.”

The 27-year-old daughter of billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest jumped at the chance to play Dani, a queer character in Barons, a new ABC drama series based on the genesis

of quintessentially Australian surf brands Billabong and Quiksilver in the 1970s, when the local surfing culture was truly starting to crest.

“[Dani] is deeply loyal to her friends but hides this big part of who she is, which is her queerness. She is scared of being rejected due to who she is,” says Forrest, who adds that she was loosely influenced by women of the time who “were the first female surfers. It was incredibly hard to do that in that time period, as it was such a male-dominated industry.”

Forrest channelled the early ‘90s in her shoot with Stellar. Picture: Daniel Nadel.

Forrest begged to take home the wardrobe from Barons. Picture: Daniel Nadel.

While Forrest dabbled in her own surfer girl phase (“I had the little boardies and thought I looked so cool”) she admits her onscreen counterpart’s looks are “a million times cooler”, and gushes over a green singlet she wears in nearly every episode and, ultimately, took home as a memento once shooting wrapped.

“I wore three pairs of jeans [in Barons] and I begged to take them but I wasn’t allowed. The majority of the wardrobe was vintage fashion; other pieces were modern and tailored to look more of the time period.”

For her shoot with Stellar, Forrest channelled another pivotal fashion era – the early ’90s – in edgy leather looks and biker boots, elevated with sparkles to amp up the glam.

Sophia Forrest features in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Damian Bennett.

With roles in projects such as the Nine Network drama Love Child and films like Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner and the blockbuster Aquaman under her belt, Forrest, who was raised in Perth, will soon travel to LA for some downtime that “might eventuate into meetings.

“It’s funny with LA, you can always head over and do the hustle [but] a huge majority of the [audition] tapes I do in Australia are for American projects. I feel like the need to base yourself in LA isn’t as common anymore; people audition and book American jobs from right here in Australia, and end up flying over for the work. I’m keen to go where the work takes me.”

Barons premieres at 8.30pm on April 24 on ABC TV and iview.