After years working overseas with celebs like Jodie Foster and Steven Soderbergh, actress Michelle Ang – who Kiwi audiences will remember from her roles on Xena and Outrageous Fortune – is home at last.
Outrageous Fortune
For the former Neighbours star and director of the New Zealand International Film Festival feature Kāinga, trading Hollywood glitterati for the shores of Aotearoa was exactly what she needed.
“Being back in New Zealand was the best move I could have made,” says Michelle, 38, who relocated from Los Angeles in 2019. “During COVID, I felt like we’d won the lottery! And being close to my friends and family is incredible.
Michelle on Neighbours with Delta Goodrem.
“Having lived in other places, I know New Zealand is truly home. There’s a world view that’s really aligned with how I feel. There’s just this sense that as Kiwis, we take care of each other.”
Michelle found herself experiencing a very different vibe in LA, where she moved in 2006, in between stints in Melbourne, London and New York.
“Los Angeles is quite an intense city to live in,” recalls the Christchurch-born star, adding that while she enjoyed star-studded events, like attending Woody Harrelson’s birthday party in a treehouse, she quickly found there was much more to life in Tinseltown.
With Woody Harrelson in Triple 9.
“I got to work on some great series like Grey’s Anatomy, but what I struggled with was the in-between times. I would work crazy jobs, catching multiple buses all over the city to get from one job to an audition to a second job. It was hard, but I liked the feeling that I was in the game – that I was taking my shot.”
The hard work paid off when Michelle booked a role on Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462, which earned her an Emmy nomination.
“When my team called to tell me the news, I literally thought they were joking!” she laughs. “But I was so excited at the same time – after the grind of LA life, it was nice to get a shout-out.”
But when her character left the series and Michelle discovered she was expecting a baby boy, the talented Malaysian-Kiwi actress found herself between jobs – and re-examining her priorities.
“A lot of people talk about how clarity hits them once they become a parent,” she muses. “For me, that was realising I needed the support of my close friends and family more than I needed the career opportunities.
“Landing in New Zealand and seeing the grandparents scoop my two-year-old up at the gate – I knew I’d made the right choice,” tells Michelle. “Knowing my son would grow up getting to spend time with them felt amazing.”
Love brought the talented Kiwi back to our shores.
Michelle’s other big move, into the director’s chair, was also inspired by becoming a mum. “I directed my first short film when I was grappling with having a newborn in LA, far from home. I had a lot of stuff I needed to process and the idea for Nai – which means ‘milk’ in Chinese and is about an isolated young mother – just came out of me.”
Michelle had no difficulty getting more directing jobs once she had settled back in Aotearoa, including her first feature film Kāinga, which premiered in Auckland last week and will screen across the country as part of the Whānau Marama: New Zealand International Film Festival.
Kāinga is a project close to Michelle’s heart.
Kāinga – which means “village” or “home” in te reo Māori – is made up of a series of short vignettes, each helmed by a different female Asian-Kiwi filmmaker, reflecting eight different experiences of what it means to be an Asian person making a life in New Zealand.
“I was excited to tell a story through a Pan-Asian lens,” says Michelle, whose mum and dad both immigrated from Malaysia in their twenties. “And I loved directing this film, especially since I resonated so much with the story that writer Mia Maramara came up with.
“Our lead character forgoes being close to her family as she bravely leads the way as provider for them. I understand what it’s like to have no family when you’re overseas trying to make a life for yourself, both through my own and my parents’ experiences.”
Just as Aotearoa quickly became home for her folks, Michelle is enjoying watching it become home for her now-five-year-old son as well.
“My little one was born in the US, but he’s definitely a Kiwi,” smiles Michelle. “He says ‘Mum’ now instead of ‘Mommy’, so that’s proof!”
