You only need to spend a few minutes with Claire Chitham to realise why this Kiwi actor is still as loved today as she was 20 years ago when she played fresh-faced Waverley in Shortland Street.
A mile a minute is her go-to speed. She laughs easily, is endearingly self-deprecating and doesn’t take herself too seriously.
While winning the role of Waverley just before her final year at school in the early 1990s proved a sliding doors moment for her, you get the feeling she would never have lived a conventional life anyway.
At 40 she is an unstoppable ball of energy. Equally at home in New Zealand or abroad (although she’s chosen to be close to family for now) she takes pride in her wide group of friends and relishes a career that offers variety and challenge.
Her well-documented battle with Crohn’s disease has taught her the importance of self-care and self-love.
Best-known for her seven-year stint on Shortland Street and her time on Outrageous Fortune as Aurora (the girlfriend of Van West), Claire is back on our screens again, this time as Penny on Fresh Eggs – a home-grown black comedy that follows a couple’s quest for “the good life” that goes wickedly awry.
In our video, above, which was shot at Muriwai, northwest of Auckland, Claire chats easily about what makes her tick. She also shares a hidden talent, which many of us would love to possess.
Claire Chitham talks exclusively about her life in reverse, family heartbreak and finding confidence as an actor in the latest issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, onsale now.
