‘People are asking’: Why Kerry Armstrong’s make-up artist checked behind her ears

Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects we’re told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics they’re given. This week, he talks to Kerry Armstrong. The 65-year-old is one of only two actresses to win two Australian Film Institute Awards in the same year, bagging Best Actress for Lantana and Best Actress in a Television Drama for SeaChange in 2001.

Kerry Armstrong: “Strangely, though, my body hasn’t decomposed as quickly as it should have.”Credit: Joshua Morris

BODIES
Since you started acting as a teenager, there’s been a lot of attention on your looks. How much of that feels flattering and how much frustrating? With roles like Heather Jelly from SeaChange, we went out of our way to create a creature who was almost an idiot savant. She had no sense of self other than her exterior. Everything was tight: the breasts were out; the skirts were short. I didn’t realise that she’d stay with me – so much so that a man yesterday coming off the train ran up to me, out of breath, and said, “Kerry, I love you!” The look in his eyes told me this wasn’t about my Shakespearean work: it was about Heather Jelly’s breasts.

Does that kind of attention feel like a burden? It did for years. But honestly, if I’m complaining about my body … really? Get a life, Kerry. Strangely, though, my body hasn’t decomposed as quickly as it should have.

Any secrets there? You know, I found my wonderful make-up artist checking behind my ears a while ago to see if I’d had a facelift. He said, “People are asking.” And I thought, “Wow, that’s wild.” [Laughs] Because I actually have an enormous amount of wrinkles.

That reminds me of how, in the film Lantana, your character famously says, “I like being this age; I like the lines around my eyes.” Do you share her sentiments? Yes. I remember coming across that line at the first read-through of Lantana and saying to [director] Ray Lawrence, “Obviously, we’re going to have to change that – I haven’t got enough lines.” And he goes, “You’ve got thousands of lines; that’s why you’re perfect for this.” [Fellow actor] Vince Colosimo said, “Wrong answer, Ray!” [Laughs] But in my next life, I’m coming back in Miriam Margolyes’ body. I often feel trapped in mine, but look at how wonderful she is, how much she gets done in hers, and how funny she is.

RELIGION

Were you raised with religion? Yeah. My father was a church elder in the Presbyterian church and we had the most wonderful minister – a man called Gary Jacobs. He was one of the kindest people in the world, one of the first people who treated me as an equal.

So you were raised religious and are quite spiritual nowadays. You wrote a self-help book in 2008 called The Circles. How did that come about? I was a single mum at the time with three incredible young boys, working such long hours. I was getting up at 4.30 in the morning, getting home at seven at night, then trying to make their packed lunches. One of my best friends has since said, “I didn’t see you sit down for 14 years.” My neighbours remember me going outside and saying [to the sky], “What do you want from me?”

I thought, “How do we live in this life and not blame people? How do I find my way?” I started drawing circles and realised that if I put myself in the middle of a wonderful amphitheatre and put all the people who love me and encourage me in the front rows, I’d just hear them clapping and saying, “Good on you, Kerry!” They’d stretch further and further back: second row, third row, fourth row. Maybe by the fifth row, the people in the seats don’t like me so much and, by the sixth, they’re booing me to get off. [Shrugs] But the thing is, I can’t hear them.

SEX

So, you’ve rolled “sex”. For me, sex is about giving and receiving, and it’s always consensual. I remember my mum and dad – we were living in Barcelona when Mum said, “I’ve just given your father The Joy of Sex and he’s really doing very well!” They were very much in love. When I was about 13, I was sitting between my sister and brother and asking, “Mum, what’s making love?” She said, “Well, what’s your favourite ride at Luna Park?” My sister said, “The Ghost Train!” My brother said, “The Rotor!” And I said, “The Big Dipper!” And Mum said, “Well, making love is just like your favourite ride at Luna Park. Only much better.”

Wow, we’re never going to see Luna Park in the same way again. But I do love that your mother emphasised pleasure, because so often sex education is more about what not to do. We need to know that sex is supposed to feel good, right? [Nods] A lot of us have had incredibly damaging starts. What I’d like to say is, you’re not alone. I worked with this incredible woman in LA when I was in my 20s, and we went back through things that had occurred in my teens. What she said was that we must try to stay curious about every experience we have, even the ones we don’t ask for. Go, “OK, that’s [only] part of who I am.” As you get older, you become stronger and wiser and more able to help others.

What do you envy and what do you not envy about younger generations when it comes to attitudes and practices around sex? I don’t envy the younger generations at all, but I am in awe of their freedom.

What’s the key to making a sex scene less awkward? [Laughs] Make sure the person opposite you has a really good partner [in real life] whom they love!

Kerry Armstrong stars in Sydney Theatre Company’s Into the Shimmering World until May 19.

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