She’s no stranger to the small screen, but veteran actress Laura Hill’s latest role has challenged her in ways she never imagined – including getting her kit off in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers every Sunday night on TV One’s Nothing Trivial. But that’s not the only reason Laura is “terrified” of baring all – she’s playing Shane Cortese’s new love interest, the raunchy Lauren.
As Shane played her brother on Shortland Street, it could take getting used to. “Yeah, that was a bit weird,” she laughs. “The first day I went to rehearsals Blair Strang was there and he started singing Like Sister and Brother by The Drifters.”
Despite the relationship shake up, Laura is loving being back on TV after her dramatic exit from
Shortland Street in 2008, when her character Toni Warner died after suffering kidney failure.
“I’ve been doing mostly theatre since I left Shortland Street, but doing this has reminded me that I love TV as well,” she says. “What I really love are the new challenges, so I find doing both exciting.”
Stripping down for a role is not something she’s ever had to do before, either on screen or on the stage. “It was terrifying,” she laughs. “You’re wearing nothing more than two bits of plaster on your boobs and a stick-on G-string, and you’ve got strangers looking at you. “But by day two I was just like, they’ve seen it all before now.”
Laura admits when she realised how much skin she’d be showing, she was motivated to change a few naughty habits. “I went to the gym and worked my butt off for two weeks, but then my body kind of gave out so I thought, ‘Okay, maybe every second day.’
“I’m not a naturally healthy person, it has to be an active discipline for me to eat well. A life without blue cheese is not worth living!”
It’s Laura’s grounded and easygoing nature that’s seen her stay in New Zealand rather than try for the bright lights of Hollywood – that, and she loves New Zealand too much to leave just yet. “No Hollywood!” she grins.
“I’m not interested in doing the hard slog over there, I don’t want it that much. I’d just be another blonde actress trying to get a gig. I don’t have the fake boobs and the plastic face, and I’m not interested in getting them.”
For now, she’s content with local TV and theatre, starring in three plays this year with her latest being the Auckland Theatre Company’s The Gift. “I’m all about feeling the fear and doing it anyway – stripping off for a role definitely counts!”
