Screentalk

Actor Stelios Yiakmis created a name for himself playing doctor Johnny Marinovich for five years on Shortland Street. He gained further acting credentials in a range of Australian and Kiwi TV shows such as McLeod's Daughters, All Saints, and Underbelly – Land of the Long White Cloud, and the Australian feature film Jindabyne. Yiakmis is currently appearing as bad guy Derek Peterson in crime drama The Blue Rose. 

In this ScreenTalk, Yiakmis talks about:

• Being overawed by his first scene on Shortland Street
• How a fellow actor couldn’t help him adjust to the work schedule
• Loving the polarising nature of his character Johnny Marinovich
• How a role in Street Legal gave him a chance to stretch his acting wings
• Confusing the local population on the set of McLeod's Daughters
• Wanting to punch director Ray Lawrence while filming Jindabyne
• Playing a real life criminal in the Kiwi version of Underbelly
• Relishing the chance to be a 'bastard' in The Blue Rose
• How not knowing the plot in advance made the role harder

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Award-winning actor Jennifer Ludlam has played a range of strong female characters in TV shows such as Cover Story, Gloss, and Undercover. She spent time in Australia appearing in a number of dramas including Prisoner and Sons and Daughters. Returning to New Zealand, Ludlam starred in Sima Urale’s feature film Apron Strings. She is currently appearing in TV thriller The Blue Rose.

In this ScreenTalk, Ludlam talks about:

• Playing a country girl in a city pub in A Going Concern
• Lying about her horse riding ability for a role in Radio Waves
• Having trouble singing and dancing in Gather Your Dreams
• Forgetting all about one of her roles in Shark in the Park
• Loving the camaraderie on the set of Prisoner
• Playing a 'toughie' on Sons and Daughters
• Being an embarrassment to Ilona Rodgers in Gloss
• Being cast as a strong and forthright woman in Cover Story
• Enjoying playing a homophobic mother in Shortland Street
• Feeling nervous in her first scene in Apron Strings
• Giving up a theatre tour for a role in The Blue Rose
• Her one last ambition in TV

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

After making her television debut on Shortland Street in 2004, Siobhan Marshall won fame as straight-talking sister Pascalle West over six seasons of Outrageous Fortune. In 2005 she won celebrity singing contest Sing Like a Superstar. More recently she made a guest appearance on The Almighty Johnsons, and will next join her Outrageous screen sister Antonia Prebble as co-star of The Blue Rose. In this ScreenTalk, Marshall talks about:

• Being inspired into acting by seeing Les Miserables
• Playing her name-sake in Shortland Street
• Being accused of playing a slut on the show
• Moving from comic relief to ‘meaty’ drama in Outrageous Fortune
• Getting room to develop her acting and character on the show
• Having a serious migraine while taping Sing Like a Superstar
• Learning how to behave like a man on The Almighty Johnsons
• Discovering a penchant for bending the truth on Would I Lie to You?
• Being one of the only actors in the cast of Duncan’s Lady to speak English
• Playing a cool Kiwi girl in new drama series The Blue Rose
• Believing acting is the only thing she’s good at