She’s the daughter of two high-profile journalists, TVNZ newsreader Simon Dallow and former Breakfast presenter Alison Mau, but Paris Dallow hasn’t followed their footsteps into the newsroom – instead, she’s determined to make a name for herself in musical theatre.
A profession famous for its constant rejection, it can be soul-destroying, but for 25-year-old Paris, she chooses instead to look at the audition process as character-building.
“Every single actor will have more rejections than job bookings, no matter how good or well-known they are,” she says. “None of your credentials are really looked at – it’s your skills in the moment. They are critiquing your performance. The instability of it is really tough – you’re always doing a job interview.
“It’s taken a lot of inner work to make sure I don’t tie that to my self-worth. One of the most important parts is prioritising my mental health. It’s a combination of a lot of things – mindset and repeating those things that I know logically to be true, but that are hard to feel when you’re being rejected. The exciting stuff comes when you get to do a project.”
And that next project for Paris is being a core cast member for the New Zealand production of Kinky Boots, playing at the Civic Theatre in Auckland and St James in Wellington. It’s her first significant role back home since she left for Melbourne in 2018.
The well-heeled cast of Kinky Boots.
Determined to prove herself, Paris has forged her own path straight out of high school. Simon and Ali were both incredibly supportive when, in her final years at Epsom Girls’ Grammar, she decided to abandon her goal of becoming an architect to pursue a career in performing arts.
“It wasn’t really a shock to them,” recalls Paris. “I’d always loved to sing, dance and act. They could see the passion I had and they were happy if I was happy. But what probably made them a little
bit anxious was knowing the instability of the career.”
Paris grew up watching movie musicals such as Annie, The Sound Of Music and Mary Poppins. She remembers, “My first experience with dance was ballet when I was five – and I hated it. Mum and Dad let me quit pretty quickly because Mum didn’t want to pay for the recital costume if I was going to have a tantrum about going on stage.”
Paris didn’t do a high school production until she played Lily Smalls in Under Milk Wood in Year 13. Based on that and other drama assignments, Paris won a scholarship to be put towards her performing arts education. “That gave me the confidence boost to know that maybe I actually could pursue this thing,” she tells.
Paris then took a gap year and moved to the theatre hub of Melbourne, where Ali was born. After a year off, she went on to do a Bachelor of Music Theatre.
Schoolgirl Paris caught the performing bug early.
Fast-forward five years and she now supplements paid performing with a job as a part-time usher at a heritage theatre in Melbourne, where she flats with her best friend, who flew to Auckland to see Paris perform at the opening night of Kinky Boots last week.
Paris plays Nicola, whose fiancé is lead character Charlie, as well as doubling in the ensemble, meaning she is in almost every number in the show in some capacity. She admits to being nervous that she will be performing the Cyndi Lauper musical for her parents and friends, even though she knows they will be incredibly proud.
“I’d feel much less nervous performing for a crowd of 2000 strangers than 10 of my closest people in my life,” Paris confesses.
“The thing I miss most about New Zealand is the people – my family and my closest friends still live here, so it’s always lovely to come home. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to visit once or twice a year, pretty much every year since I left.”
Paris admits she’s nervous about her parents being in the audience.
She laughs when she says that spending time with her mother or father on this sojourn has been an adjustment for them all.
“I love my parents, but I’ve been doing my thing for a long time. In Melbourne, I’m not speaking to them every day. They have no idea where I am, who I’m with, if I’m eating enough or what time I’ll be home. And yet as soon as I come home, it’s almost like I’m a teenager again. But I know it’s only because they care!”
