A graduate of NIDA’s inaugural Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance course, Mia Healey, has landed agency representation in Australia and LA, and a part in Amazon pilot The Wilds.
Photo: Mia Healey at the VET Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance Showcase with Joseph Moore.
A graduate of NIDA’s inaugural Diploma of Stage and Screen Performance course, Mia Healey, has landed agency representation in Australia and LA and a part in Amazon pilot The Wilds. The drama about a group of teenage girls forced to survive far from their homes is co-produced by ABC Signature and Amazon Studios.
We caught up with Mia to talk about the preparation she went through, and what she learnt from her course at NIDA, which she completed in 2017.
How did you prepare for the auditions?
I spent a lot of time working on the ins and outs of my character, exploring the grit and the depth that she has. Asking myself questions about her, for example “what would she buy with $5 at a 7Eleven?”.I would record on my phone the other characters dialogue and I would play it in my headphones and walk around LA playing the lines,trying to make them as natural and human as possible so that people on the street would think I was having a genuine conversation with someone on the phone.
How did your studies at NIDA assist you in your journey for the Amazon casting?
NIDA, and in particular our tutor Les Chantery, taught me the importance of having a passionate point of view not only in my work but in my everyday life.I was to truly honour my characters and defend them, which I find is so important. It’s true that you need to know yourself before you can pretend to be somebody else and NIDA really helped in that sense, giving me the freedom to be bold and dangerous.
What types of skills do you think you drew on?
I drew on so many things that I learnt at NIDA – voice, movement (being comfortable in my body and owning the space I was in) and lots of point-of-view work. I kept pushing myself to not make the obvious choices, a mentality that NIDA has really given me.
Applications are now open for NIDA Vocational Diploma courses including Make-up, Musical Theatre, Live Production and Stage and Screen Performance. Visit: apply.nida.edu.au for more info.
