Natalie

Article Scans

The Street Of Dreams
If you're a young actor looking for regular work in Melbourne, chances are you'll end up auditioning for Neighbours. Natalie Bassingthwaighte did and now, three years later, she's leaving in search of bigger things. Some, such as Kylie, Delta and Guy Pearce make it, but most Ramsay Street graduates don't. Melinda Houston reports.

It’s no wonder these kids have stars in their eyes. While a quantity of talent churns through the Factory without making a splash, there are still the glittering successes. People such as Delta and Dan MacPherson, whom many of these kids worked with. And now Natalie Bassingthwaighte, who is in the process of shedding Izzy Hoyland and reinventing herself as a recording star, as front woman with Rogue Traders. Bassingthwaighte herself is uneasy about the inevitable comparisons. She’d been working in musical theatre (in Rent and Chicago, among other things) when she got the call to say she’d scored an audition for Neighbours. “I said to my manager, no way,” she says. “I’d made the decision I’d done my last theatre show for a while. I wanted to concentrate on singing and I wanted to give film a go. We were all a little bit over the soapie star-turned singer. I didn’t want to be that.” But her manager sat her down and gave her a good talking to. “I was fearful that people would judge me. But I realised it was something I was interested in doing if I could stop worrying about what other people might think.” Within a week she’d auditioned, scored the role, and moved from Sydney to Melbourne. That was three years ago. The experience has been important to her, both in terms of developing a work ethic and gaining a thorough understanding of the process. She had only the scantiest idea of what a DOP (director of photography) was, what an AD (assistant director) did, what multi-cam meant. “And it’s taught me to be a bit more open-minded,” she laughs. “I might have been one of those people who judged it but now I feel so honoured to be working beside the Jackie Woodburnes and the Alan Fletchers.” Now she’s 30, she’s had her turn, and she’s itching to get back on stage full-time. LA is on the agenda. “I’m ready to do the next thing, whatever that may be. And I’ve played such a bitch, you do get categorized. So even I wanted to stay and didn’t have other things to do that would be a big question mark. Because I want other acting jobs. I want to play other characters. And it’s really hard to change that.” Even now, Rogue Traders audiences chant “Iz-zy! Iz-zy!”, “But I would never bag this job in a million years. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” And if there was one ex-Neighbour whose career she’d like to emulate? “Maybe Guy. Because he’s gone into the acting world that I so want to be a part of, and chosen roles that aren’t about the fame and fortune, that are about characters. So, definitely Guy.”