It may be 25 years ago, but Angela Bloomfield still vividly remembers her very first day on the set of Shortland Street. She was only 19, with no acting training whatsoever, nervous but doing her best not to show it and mortified when she was yelled at by an assistant director for not saying her lines loudly enough.
“I might not recall all of the years in between, but I remember every inch of that first day,” laughs Angela, now 44. “I was very preoccupied with what I was going to
wear to the studio. I told Mum I needed a new outfit, and ended up in denim pants and a matching jacket, which, looking back, was not the coolest thing in the world!”
Angela came of age playing the role of Rachel McKenna. At a time when her school friends were heading off on their OEs, she was appearing in New Zealand’s first soap opera and becoming a famous face. The experience changed her in ways she didn’t realise at the time.
“I learnt not to trust anyone,” she explains. “I realised people were judging me based on what they were seeing on TV, rather than on what I was really like, so I became wary and didn’t engage with strangers the way I do now.
“My friends and boyfriends were actors or members of the crew because they understood. And I really loved heading off overseas because no-one was watching me and I didn’t have to worry about not stepping out of line.”
At the same time, Angela felt like the luckiest person in the world. She was learning to act from the biggest talents in the country and being paid for it. Unlike most performers, she had job security and was able to save up to buy a house. And she loved her job.
“It was such a fun ride,” she recalls. “I was being invited to parties and getting dressed up for photo shoots – what’s not to love?”
Starting at 19, Angela grew up playing Rachel.
Having been Rachel for a quarter of a century, last year Angela decided it was time to break away. “I’d committed such a big chunk of my life to playing her and there was an ache in me to find out what else I could do,” she reveals. “It felt like the right time.”
So she was written out of the show, with her character, who had been battling alcoholism, walking out on her husband, Dr Chris Warner, to go find herself.
After playing some emotionally stormy scenes, it was a relief for Angela to have six months off just being a homebody and hanging out with her children, Max, who’s almost 13, and Maya, 11.
“I’d been feeling as if I hadn’t been there for the kids in the way I wanted, so I relished being able to do that,” tells Angela, who appreciated the little things, like starting each morning without a panic to get everyone ready and out the door.
“I really enjoyed just being happy in my day and going to bed with a clear mind. And I became a person who did the housework!”
Son Max is into making short films and there’s pride in Angela’s voice as she explains how some of his recent work was played in assembly in front of his whole school. “In the early days, things were a bit out of focus, but now he’s making so much progress and his camera angles are so creative,” she tells.
Daughter Maya’s big thing at the moment is making slime and there are jars of it all over the house. “All the kids come to our place to make it. I’m the only mother who’s sucker enough to let them,” laughs Angela. “Maya and I also do lots of baking. And I love to get out with them for bike rides and bush walks or to the markets.”
These days, Angela doesn’t get recognised quite so much when she’s out and about, partly because she dyed her hair a darker shade as soon as she no longer had to look like Rachel. She rarely wears much make-up – mostly just tinted moisturiser and mascara – and when dressed down in jeans and a puffer jacket is less likely to stand out in a crowd.
“I love the fact I don’t have to worry about my appearance right now,” she admits. “I’m not at the gym all the time. I don’t care about getting wrinkles. I can just be me and point the camera at someone else.”
While Angela is back working on Shortland Street in time for the show’s 25th anniversary, it’s as a director rather than a member of the cast. This is her second stint on the other side of the camera and it’s a challenge she enjoys tackling.
In one of her final scenes with Michael Galvin: “It was such a fun ride.”
“I smiled so much that first day, standing behind the monitor and looking at the actors,” she says. “I kind of feel like I’ve ended up where I was meant to be all along.”
Not that Angela has turned her back on acting altogether. She’s been going to auditions for other roles and if Shorty bosses decided to bring back Rachel to resolve her storyline, she’d be up for it. But she’s also busy doing lots of writing, as well as working on a short film and a web series, and last month she signed up as a director
for Australasian production company Eight.
“The kids are at an age now where I can freestyle a little bit,” she explains. “I’m a pretty hands-on mum and want to be around, but I also think it’s important for them to see that I’m driven and ambitious, someone who wants to make a mark on the world, and that they can do that too.”
Rachel with Nick (Karl Burnett).
Angela separated quietly from the children’s father about four years ago. She’s been staunchly private about her love life ever since, although she will concede that it’s not easy forming relationships when you’re a busy working mum.
“It must be the same for any person of my age and in my situation. You’ve just got to try really hard. If you like someone enough, you’ll make the effort and find
the time.”
So is she seeing anyone special? “That would be telling,” says Angela, who can’t help smiling. “But I’m pretty happy at the moment with that side of my life.Yeah, it’s good … it’s about time.”
A couple of months ago, Angela had a reunion with some of her old castmates, including Claire Chitham (Waverley), Blair Strang (Rangi) and Theresa Healey (Carmen). She says it was heaps of fun and they had so much to talk about.
Rachel with her mum Alex (Liddy Holloway).
“I’ve made amazing friends on the show and that’s been one of the greatest things about it.”
But most of the time, Angela isn’t interested in looking back. It’s the future that’s exciting her now – finding new roles, developing as a director and seeing
what comes next.
“The weird thing with acting is that in a moment, my life could turn upside down, just like it did when I got the role of Rachel McKenna,” she says. “You never know where this job is going to lead you.”
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