From a young age, the Gold Coast export has been thirsty for adventure and an artistic career.

“I’ve had a very colourful life,” the Revenge, Tidelands and now Home And Away actress laughs.

“I have always been drawn to the creative arts. When I was little, I loved getting involved in school plays, dancing, painting and music.

“I wasn’t always the normal kid. I would always be happy to put on different characters and voices and dress up in costumes.

“When I was 15, I realised that I could make money from doing what you love and acting happened to be it. I am now 32 and still loving every moment.”

After finding an agent, Annabelle’s first job was in a Courier Mail television advertisement. Then in 2005, she landed the role of Miriam Kent in the hit children’s TV show H20: Just Add Water when she was in Year 12, which was filmed at her high school Somerset College. After graduating, Annabelle was one of the select few to study acting at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) in Sydney.

Upon leaving NIDA, she quickly discovered that she was fierce, strong, full of fire and she couldn’t hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.

Annabelle jetted to Los Angeles for her birthday in 2013 and then ended up landing a job on MTV’s comedy Hot Mess. She called Tinsel Town home for six years and starred in the US hit drama Revenge, Pray for Rain, Escape Room, Rehearsal, Point of Honour, Mates, and the Australian made Netflix original Tidelands.

“My five-year-old scruff dog Murphy Brown, named after the iconic TV show, travelled to New York, Seattle, Los Angeles and Australia with me.

“It was incredible but over there people become absorbed in the celebrity name game, which I think is very fickle.”

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She says back home on Aussie soil — that’s not the case.

“Back home I am surrounded by the infectious and hardworking Aussie spirit,” Annabelle says with a glimmer in her eye.

“Aussie actors are all about the creativity and telling the story, which is the icing on the cake when you are in a difficult industry.

“You have to be in to win but life is too short to be too serious.

“I am so incredibly grateful for every opportunity.”

However, with a need for a breather, the wanderluster switched her acting career for a magical Italian experience last year.

Annabelle studied in an Italian school and lived like Sophia Loren for more than six months.

“I went for 6 weeks and decided I didn’t want to come home,” she laughs.

“It was the perfect experience to ditch English and brush up on my Italian skills, to cook authentic pasta and meet new friends from all over the world.

“I even qualified as an ESL teacher in Florence and I lived an Italian life and embraced my alter ego as an old Italian woman.”

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When she arrived back on the Gold Coast — her agent rang and soon after she scored a dream role on Channel 7’s drama Home And Away.

“The show is a box tick,” she says.

“It’s kind of an institution and if you don’t go through it have you really done the ropes?”

Annabelle is set to make her debut on the show on August 26 as Taylor Rosetta.

“Taylor is an independence, bold, smart and effervescent woman whose naturally happy attitude has been curtailed over time because her husband’s focus on his career has seen her and their marriage take a back seat,” she says.

“Taylor fell in love with her husband, Detective Angelo Rosetta, while she was studying to become a physiotherapist.

“They married not long after meeting but Angelo was a cop on the beat in the city, so he worked favourable shift hours and they enjoyed lots of time together.

“Taylor especially enjoyed the crazy stories from work and plans for a family in the future.

“However, once Angelo was accepted into a Detective course; he began to focus more on his career and Taylor felt systemically relegated to second place in his life and having children was put on the backburner.

“She found her career stalling but that hasn’t stopped her loving him and wanting things to work out.

“When huge career opportunity for him in Summer Bay presents itself, Taylor follows him, hoping against all odds that success as head of this Homicide Task Force will redeem him professionally and allow them to heal personally.

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“But it soon becomes apparent to her that Angelo’s focus is almost exclusively on the case and she once again finds herself on the sideline, vying for a moment of his time and attention.

“Isolated and unemployed, she’s vulnerable to the attention of local cop Colby Thorne who befriends her.”

The actress resonates with her character Taylor and believes other women will too.

“She finds herself in the middle of a man’s world and she is quite strong willed,” she says.

“She stands up for what she believes in.

“Like Taylor, I can easily make friends.

“I often don’t know anyone in the room and then have 10 besties by the end of the night.”

Annabelle tells Gold Coast Eye her time on set has been a dream, especially working alongside her childhood friend and fellow Gold Coaster Tim Franklin.

“He is a really close friend of mine and we are really stoked to work together,” she says.

“Our families are joined at the hip and close as can be because my family is in England.”

“Since he has been three, we have celebrated Christmas together. I went to Somerset College and he went to All Saints Anglican College.”

Travel has opened Annabelle’s heart, broadened her mind and filled her life with stories to tell.

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But spending time at her childhood home in Burleigh, running along the headland and whale watching, dinner at Labart and sunset cocktails at Rick Shores will always be at the top of her highlight reel.

“I have travelled all over the world and I have lived away from home since I have been 18, so the Gold Coast has always been my base when I have run the end of a course somewhere. “It’s always been my calling to come back to — it’s magnetic.

“I am always blown away by how beautiful and welcoming it is.

“It’s a growing city but it has a small town family vibe and I think that it is irreplaceable.

“My family immigrated from London to Australia when she was 8 months, I grew up in Mudgeeraba and became a Burleigh resident along with my mum, dad and brother when I was 10.”

“I am a very lucky girl to call that little space home when I come back.”

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Annabelle says she has noticed the unique and relaxed vibe of the Coast is injected into the people, including herself.

“The only thing is that I don’t surf so I feel I am not living up to the full Gold Coast potential but I watch from the hill with a wine.

“Honestly, my life has been incredible and I sometimes feel guilty because of how good it is.”

The girl with a warrior spirit says she would not be where she is today without her dad.

“I have seen a lot and since I have been little, Mark, my dad, has been my cheerleader,” she says with a glimmer in her eye.

“One of the most important lessons dad has taught me is that I have the power and I want to thank him for that.

“I hope other young women know that too and can stick by it.”