Q&A: Yael Stone, actor, 33

Actor Yael Stone on creative auditioning and not being a child star.

Yael Stone. Picture: Stephen Cooper.

You’ve just wrapped season six of Netflix’s prison hit Orange is the New Black. Has the show helped shift attitudes? I believe we did have something to do with changing understanding of incarcerated people. We’ve tried to put a human face to what is sometimes an invisible and highly vulnerable population.

You’ve since become interested in prisoners’ rights… I am very passionate about criminal justice reform. That comes from an involvement with the show, but it has grown into something else. I work with Liberation Prison Yoga, bringing yoga and meditation into jails in the US, trying to create an environment where healing can happen.

Your OITNB character’s quirky Brooklyn-via-Boston accent is still a source of fascination for fans. Was it your idea? I see it as my job to come into the audition process with different creative ideas. We make a lot of offers as actors. This one worked.

You play busybody teacher Dora Lumley in the new TV version of Picnic at Hanging Rock. What did you bring to that audition? In the script she was compared to a sniffer dog and so I had the idea to give her an underbite. I auditioned with rolled-up toilet paper in my bottom jaw. Probably not good for my orthodontic situation but it worked for the character.

The story is set in 1900 but feels very modern… The way we tell stories is so coloured by when we tell them. I think the spirit of Joan Lindsay’s book was feminist and we’re coming through the lens of where we are now, when there’s a chance for a lot of change. We had to do something very different [from Peter Weir’s classic 1975 film adaptation], otherwise it’s just a poor imitation of a brilliant piece of art.

You landed your first role when you were 12, in Me, Myself and I opposite Rachel Griffiths. Is there an upside to entering showbiz early? It would be wrong to portray my experience as that of a child star; it’s not a Lindsay Lohan tale. A few funny little opportunities came to me but I always went back to school. I did learn the language of film and TV early, so being on a set from then on always felt like a friendly, warm place.

After NIDA, you spent seven years working in theatre. Is the stage still your first love? I’m very intimidated by it now, to be honest, as I haven’t been on stage for a couple of years. I really hope to get back to it soon, anywhere that will have me, but I will certainly need to get my chops back.

Will a new baby with your partner, indigenous mentor Jack Manning Bancroft, require a shift in focus? For the first time in my adult life, work’s not my priority. It’s a very privileged position to be in, but it’s also very necessary for me to focus on doing a good job with the baby. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to explore that part of my life.

You’ve lived in New York since 2012 but return often. What lures you back? I moved because I’d lived in Sydney all my life and I wanted a new challenge. But I don’t believe it’s one or the other. The freedom of an artist includes being lucky enough to come home and engage with stories unique to our country. When I come home, it smells right.

Picnic at Hanging Rock airs on Foxtel from May 6.