Photos: Robert Trathen
Kura Forrester has just returned from London after a whirlwind trip acting in a friend’s short film and is straight back into her busy life.
The former Shortland Street and Taskmaster NZ star has been working away from home a lot, which means she is not only missing her adorable pup, a cavachon named Tūī, she is a bit worried she’ll never get her back.
“My mum has her and I’m starting to worry because Mum’s had my dog for so long now, I think she’s starting to forget me,” shares Kura. “Oh, it scares me.
“I just have a feeling that I’m not going to be number one any more. My mum is number one, her grandmother. And I’ll be like this cool, fun aunt and she’ll be like, ‘Oh, that chick’ when I pick her up.”
Kura’s mother Robyn lives in Ōhope, a seaside town in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, which suits the pup just fine.
“Tūī is getting walks on the beach every night and snuggles in bed, she’s living it up, which is so worrying, but I’m very lucky to have my mum,” Kura admits.
Back in New Zealand, Kura heads straight into her stand-up show Here If You Need on August 23, and stars in season two of the popular TV comedy Double Parked.
Kura’s character Lily is the flatmate of a lesbian couple played by Madeleine Sami and Antonia Prebble, who both have babies at the same time. It’s written by Chris Parker and Alice Sneddon, and they’re all good friends of Kura.
“Double Parked cast and crew are the loveliest people in the world. They’re so good at what they do,” enthuses Kura. “Every day going to work was a joy and it was a dream gig for all of us.”
Kura really enjoyed the one day on set where she got to hold the babies.
“Fortunately, Antonia and Madeleine are both mothers, so they knew how to keep them happy.”
Kura has plans for motherhood herself and has been to see a fertility expert, who told her that her eggs were fine and she has since had some frozen.
“Having frozen the eggs makes me feel like it’s bought me a bit more time,” she says. “It’s like a wonderful thing to hope for, but I’m also trying to work through the idea that I’ve given myself the possibility to do that. Hopefully, one day. It’s hard to explain how I feel about it, but I feel like it’s there and it’s great.”
Kura says she has always wanted babies and, at 39, is optimistic it will happen.
“It’s never been a secret that I want children,” she says. “I’ve always wanted them. How I get them now is just sort of up to the universe. Whether they’re mine or they’re someone else’s, I’m just sort of open to however that may be.”
Kura, who is of Ngāti Porou descent, was in a relationship last year, but is now “happily single”.
However, Kura and her friend, comedian Brinley Stent, have a show together next year on The Spinoff website about dating.
“Brinley and I realised that we were both in our thirties and both single. So, we worked up this idea that we would travel the country, go on dating apps and see what happened. We also interviewed people along the way.
“We ended up on Stewart Island. When you go on the dating app there, there’s only two people on the app,” she recalls. “One of them took us fishing the next day on his boat.
“We also went to Dunedin and drank with Scarfies, and then we went to retirement villages and talked to old people about dating.”
Kura says the process of putting the documentary together made her feel good about being single.
“All of a sudden, I’m actually really proud to be single. I want to celebrate it, instead of it being something that I feel is wrong with me,” she says.
Kura is also starting to look further afield for her career. As a comedian, writer and actor, she thinks it might be time to shake it up a bit.
“I’m thinking about how to live somewhere else with the same career,” she says. “Maybe Sydney, maybe London, maybe New York.
“Next year, I want to take what I’ve built myself in Aotearoa and take it to the world. I’m definitely going to branch out a bit, so maybe the Melbourne Comedy Festival and potentially the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It’s time I commit myself to international stuff.”
Watch Double Parked on Three and ThreeNow.
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