Samara Weaving has revealed she struggled to land acting roles after walking away from Home and Away in her early 20s.
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The 29-year-old starred as Indi Walker on the iconic soap from 2009 to 2013, before going on to forge a successful career in Hollywood.
But Samara admitted it wasn’t an easy road to stardom after departing Home and Away, saying she faced many “reality checks” along the way.
“I started working when I was 14. I did another show called Out of the Blue and then I went straight to Home and Away,” she told Digital Spy.
“I think I had a very naive perception of how the industry works. I thought, ‘Oh I got the two jobs I auditioned for. This is easy.'”
“And after Home and Away, I really had to work very hard on my acting and my manager was like, ‘I think you should see a drama coach.’ And I didn’t work for nearly two years. It was a real reality check in terms of the life of an actor.
Samara, who is the niece of Australian acting royalty Hugo Weaving, said landing a role on the 2017 comedy/horror The Babysitter “opened the door” for her in America.
“But I think in the entirety of SAG [Screen Actors Guild], 1% of actors are working. It’s hard,” she said.
Since her days in Summer Bay, Samara had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed drama Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award.
She also starred in horror film Ready or Not alongside Adam Brody and Andie MacDowell, as well as G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant starring Bruce Willis and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
But the Adelaide-born actress recently landed the role of a lifetime opposite Nicole Kidman on the upcoming drama series Nine Perfect Strangers.
The limited run series is based on the novel of the same name by esteemed author Liane Moriarty. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because she’s also the author of acclaimed novel and subsequent series Big Little Lies.
Samara plays one of the nine strangers, Jessica, who is searching for a better way of living by attending a boutique health-and-wellness resort.
Watching over them during their retreat is the resort’s director Masha, played by Nicole, a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their minds and bodies.
