Why Julia Zemiro is more than ‘just a host’
FROM short films to Shakespeare, Julia Zemiro is arguably a triple-threat — but her acting chops remain largely unknown, she tells Stellar.
Stellar
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JULIA Zemiro is feeling a little hoarse. She’s been in the studio doing voiceovers for her new Seven Network show, All Together Now, and then there was the trip to Adelaide where she was “smiling and talking” for four days nonstop in her new role as artistic director of the city’s Cabaret Festival.
Even for a woman who’s made a career out of conversations, it’s a lot — yet the 51-year-old is still happy to have a chat about her latest projects.
Including one, she admits, that she almost self-sabotaged.
“When they asked me to do [the Adelaide Cabaret Festival] I was so overwhelmed with excitement but said, ‘Are you sure you want me?’ Because I’m not a musician per se,” she says.
“[They] said, ‘No, you have such a history of different things: you’ve been in musicals, you’ve done TV, you’ve done rock TV, you do interview shows, you talk with people, you’ve been an emcee, you’re a host,’ and I thought, ‘Well, look, OK, I have actually had a bit of experience in all that stuff.’”
That’s quite the understatement. Since the ’90s, Zemiro’s career has been a medley of hits, from short films and Shakespeare to hosting New Year’s Eve broadcasts and Eurovision, appearances that have made her one of the country’s most familiar faces — and given the woman herself a unique insight into Australia’s tastes.
And through her new gig fronting All Together Now, the rest of us will get a feel for the nation’s preferences, too: as a range of singers take to the stage, a group of 100 judges will decide whether their performance is worthy of joining in on the song and earning the performer points, or whether they’ll sit it out.
“Music out there is a big beast and everyone has different tastes,” says Zemiro of the show’s appeal.
“In ‘The 100’ there’s some opera singers and there’s a glam rock band… it’s a broader spectrum. It’s really about being flexible with your tastes; don’t lock yourself in, don’t miss out on things that are quite interesting.”
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It’s advice Zemiro is well placed to give, having had a career marked by diversity. A self-described “actor who can sing”, she was born to an Australian mother and a French father in France, where they lived above the family restaurant.
“One of my loveliest memories is my dad making me hot chocolate with real dark chocolate. We had a big slab of chocolate that he would use for the restaurant, he’d cut that up, melt it into some milk and zhoosh it up with a spoon,” she says.
The family moved to Australia when Zemiro was two. After studying acting at the Victorian College of the Arts, regular gigs with Bell Shakespeare and Totally Full Frontal followed, and when she was tapped to join SBS’s RocKwiz in 2005, she made her mark as host of the rollicking game show.
Never one to lock herself in, she’s also said yes to acting in French in the 2013 ABC TV-movie An Accidental Soldier, and taking celebrities back to their childhood homes in the popular series Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery.
Hosting, she tells Stellar, is where she’s found her happy place.
“The thing that’s a little bit frustrating with making drama or comedy for Australian TV, there’s still a lot of waiting around and I’ve become impatient.
I get sort of testy; I like being a little bit in control. When you are the host you’re in control to a certain degree. I think that more and more people see me as a host, not an actress, and that’s all right.
I’ve had such variety in my work, I’m certainly not complaining. I’m extremely happy with the amount of work I get and the sort of work I can say no to that I don’t like.”
When she’s not working, she’s at home with her partner, Carsten Prien, whom she met on a plane five years ago.
“He happened to change flights that day to that flight, and I happened to be literally moving from Melbourne that day; I’d packed everything up and sold my place.
It was like, ‘Wow, you really have to move cities to meet The One.’ You know how sometimes if you make a big change that is really scary and you go, ‘Oh, is this my reward? I’ll take that, that’s a good reward.’
You know, you’ve got to be more alert when you’re on a plane. Look around, chat, look nice, try not to go in your thongs and a singlet. Maybe just wear a closed shoe and a closed shirt — and you never know.”
All Together Now premieres 7pm, Sunday October 7, on the Seven Network.
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Originally published as Why Julia Zemiro is more than ‘just a host’
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