She’s either been on our screens or behind the scenes helping create some of New Zealand’s most beloved shows for the past 20 years. But former Shortland Street star Laura Hill says her flourishing creative career has mostly come down to luck.
“I’ve never had a life plan,” she admits. “I would be terrible in one of those interviews where they ask you to share your five-year plan. I’ve always known that acting is what I loved. And because of my parents, I knew that there were jobs where you could do that.”
Laura’s mum Helena Ross is a theatre actress, who has also made a brief appearance on Shorty, and her dad Peter Hill is a police officer-turned-writer who has worked in TV, as well as publishing crime novels.
Though their career paths showed Laura she could pursue a creative pathway, she was also fully aware of the harsh realities of not having a traditional nine-to-five job.
“I knew because of their experience how hard it was. So, I kind of felt I should try and have a back-up plan, but I never quite figured out what it was,” she laughs. “I’m lucky that it’s worked out for me – touch wood – and I’ve managed to have jobs where I get to be creative and still have money to pay the bills.”
Laura says her parents are her biggest fans and have always shown her unwavering support, even in her early days as a budding actress, putting on one-woman shows in her living room. One performance in particular stands out.
“I was horrendous,” she laughs. “I remember making my parents watch me acting out and singing the entirety of Les Misérables the musical, and they just sat there smiling politely. Thinking back on it now, I’m like, ‘What a monster I was!'”
Scriptwriter Laura was inspired by her dad Peter, a crime author.
After taking a break from acting to work full-time at Shorty as co-head writer, Laura steps back in front of the camera this week in The Brokenwood Mysteries, reprising her role as “morally ambiguous” lawyer Miranda Temple.
“It was really lovely to go be an actor again,” she tells. “Having my mind in one character instead of 20 was amazing, it felt like a holiday.”
Though she’s made a handful of appearances on the popular whodunit show before, Laura is looking forward to fans getting to know more about Miranda’s life.
“I like Miranda – she’s much stauncher than I am,” Laura admits. “Whenever she appears, she’s always getting a client out of jail time, so she’s clearly very good at her job, but we’ve never found out much about her personal life and what makes her tick.
It was fun to explore that side of her. Hopefully, she reappears in that world. I’d love it if she did.”
As lawyer Miranda on The Brokenwood Mysteries.
Following closely in her parents’ footsteps, Laura’s other passion is writing. Since her character Toni Warner was killed off Shorty in 2009, she has been working her way up the ranks in the writers’ room and was recently named as the co-head writer of the beloved soap.
Did she ever think when she arrived in Ferndale that she’d still be there 20 years later?
“Good heavens, no!” she exclaims. “I was very aware when I was an actor that another blonde nurse would be very easy to get hold of at any time – there will always be another Warner wife! I certainly didn’t imagine I’d have this longevity or that my role would change in this way.”
Given her history on the show with ladies’ man Chris Warner (Michael Galvin) – they got married hoping to give son Harry a stable home but eventually split after Chris’ many infidelities were revealed – it would be understandable for Laura to want to give him a bit of a hard time on screen. But she says she always stays impartial.
Toni and Chris’ nuptials were billed as Shorty’s wedding of the year in 2005.
“I don’t like to play favourites or enemies,” Laura reveals. “Although there’s a storyline at the moment of Chris being wary of hiring a nanny. I did put my Toni hat on, and say, ‘That’s because when we hired a nanny, you shagged her!'”
After having to postpone a trip to Argentina with a friend when the world locked down due to Covid, avid traveller Laura says she is looking forward to dipping her toe in the world outside of Aotearoa once again.
“I’m going to Melbourne for a long weekend of watching theatre. It’s been nice to be able to go back to public places and going to the theatre again has made my heart very happy.”
Watch The Brokenwood Mysteries Sundays at 8.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+.
