Former dancer and musical theatre actor Kirsty Sturgess takes to the small screen in Paramount’s scandalous murder mystery, North Shore. Here she speaks to B&T about storytelling in Australia.
Set around Sydney Harbour, North Shore follows the clash of cultures and personalities when a British and an Australian detective are forced to team up on a high-profile homicide case.
L-R: John Bradley, Kirsty Sturgess
Sturgess (Young Rock, Thirteen Lives) plays Meg Driscoll, a powerful and instinctual homicide detective who speaks her mind and doesn’t suffer fools.
Driscoll’s unapologetic ability to back herself is something Sturgess resonates with.
“There’s a lot of facets of Meg that I resonate with, the good and the bad. And I think the one thing that I love the most about her is that she has a faith in herself and her abilities – she’s not afraid to be vocal and advocate for herself.” said Sturgess.
“She knows she’s capable of taking on this huge task of leading an investigation. That’s something that I really resonate with about her.”
And navigating the tidal waves of the fluctuating Australian film and television industry is definitely something that requires a strong sense of self-belief.
After studying dance at the Broadway Dance Centre, Sturgess was admitted to the prestigious Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London where she got her Master of Arts in Acting for Screen.
And while she intended to continue working in the UK, covid had other plans for her. She came back to work in Australia during the pandemic, where she was excited to see how the pandemic had shaken things up for the Australian film industry.
“The most obvious thing is we’re quite a small market. So historically there have been less opportunities. So it’s really exciting right now to see as our entire industry worldwide evolves to see that there are more opportunities for everybody across the board.”
As major streaming services are pushed to invest revenue into producing more Australian content, Sturgess is excited about Australian content finding its place in the world.
“It’s going to be an important time for us as an industry to really find our identity and to make our content relatable globally. And to perhaps make a shift from the typical stories that we’ve seen to something more broad, and something that maybe reflects Australia, modern Australia, as it is now, which is just so diverse. There’s so many stories to be told.”
Having lived between two worlds, it’s fitting for Sturgess to take on this role.
“Australian and British culture is interesting, we Australians come from the Brits, and there’s so much that is similar, culturally. But when you are so similar, it makes the differences really stand out. And they’re quite stark.
“So it’s a strange thing to be so similar, but to also, it’s just enough differences that you feel you are a different people.”
You can watch North Shore on 10Play.
Feature image source: Instagram: @kirtyjoy
