Everyone in Summer Bay is pretty friendly and laid back, everyone except Charlie! She's new to The Bay but isn't afraid to speak her mind, which comes as quite a shock to some of the residents.
Esther admits that Charlie doesn't come onto the scene as a Summer Bay favourite, but is a woman who is very driven and ambitious. Not far off from Esther herself. Charlie is Ross Buckton's daughter and Jack Holden's new partner at the Station. We asked Esther about her character and her first role acting on television.
How did you get into acting?
I got into acting through modelling actually. I’ve been modelling for ten years and then started doing television commercials, and I loved it! It’s a little more challenging from still photography, but, yeah I want to have a go at this so I moved back from Japan where I’d spent six years modelling. I moved back to pursue acting and took some short courses in Melbourne at various acting studios.
Tell us about when you first heard the news!
Well, I auditioned on a Friday and found out on a Monday, but I was away on a prolonged weekend. I had no reception all Monday, and I kind of had an idea from in the audition that I’d find out really soon, so all of Monday I just wanted to get back. So then I got reception for a little bit and called my agent, but the signal died before he could tell me. Finally when I got home, I got on the house phone and called. I was getting changed and I was half naked I was crying, laughing. It was very very exciting, quite a bit of shock! This is my first big break!
What was your first day here like?
My heart was just going so fast and it still is! I was quite nervous, everyone says that’s not quite a bad thing; it keeps you on you toes. My first scene was with Cornelia, who plays Morag; she was great. It was pretty cool, and there was so much to think about! We did an action scene and we had stunt double and everything, so it was good!
How have you found working with the cast and crew? It’s always been said to be a very family oriented group.
It is!! I couldn’t get over it. I walked in and cast members literally threw there arms around me and hugged me. I had an unbelievable welcoming; everyone just gets along so well. There’s not one person that you think, oh I’m sure if they like me or if I’m going to fit in here, everyone is just unreal. And the crew, they’re amazing too! They are unbelievable. We’ve got breaks in between our scenes, but they just keep going and still manage it all.
Tell us about your role as a cop and doing scenes with Paul O’Brien.
Paul is my partner. It’s good fun…I get to do little crash tackles and stuff. It’s funny, I actually did work experience in the police force. I wanted to be in the police force when I was younger. I’ve been to the academy and done all that, not that I remember though.
Tell us about your character.
It’s really good to have that nice sisterhood dynamic going on. Charlie, she is very driven. She’s very strong willed. She’s a cop, and she likes to play it by the book. She’s very ambitious, and because of this she’s quite naive when it comes to relationships. It’s nice though; she’s got to lot to learn, you know with boys and everything. She’s quite family oriented as well. She loves her little sister and dad, and she’s grieving her mother’s death which is why she comes across quite bitchy to begin with but after a while Summer Bay softens her. She has a love interest when she comes to the bay, which she meets there. He sort of breaks down the barriers around her.
She’s unreal, and it’s funny that there are certain similarities between us in real life. I guess you’d say I’m really ambitious. We’ve both have vision boards, I’ve got a one year and Charlie has both a one year and five year.
So what else is on your board?
It’s funny cos a lot of it has come true. A lot of it I updated at the start of this year. I had travel; I had beach house, and I am living by the beach now. I had TV, because I was presenting before this for a year in Melbourne. I always had that, but I couldn’t figure out if presenting was it. You know, every time I sort of asked the universe if I am going to get into acting because that was what I wanted to do and that was my passion.
Tell us a little about your background.
I have two siblings, Ben, my brother and my sister Laura, both older. I’m the baby. My sister is a natural therapist, she does a lot of spiritual work and my brother is a surfboard shaper. They are really happy for me, even though acting is not in the family they knew it was going to be at some point.
I’ve got a dog Jackson, I wanted to call my little boy Jackson (if I have one), but I got a dog first. Smokey my cat just passed away. I had a cats, dogs, and horses growing up.
Are you living in Sydney now?
I moved here in 4 days. We moved up here and hannel 7 have been great they helped me. I live near the beach and I love it; it’s just at the end of the road.
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