Underbelly: Razor S04E09

Crying. Lying. Pretending to kill someone. Getting naked in a room full of strangers. Anna McGahan has been paid to do all these things. When asked how she came to do all this, and more, her reply is simple: “I fell into it” she tells Caitlin Scarr...

The scent of brewing tea fills the apartment, and Buddhist prayer flags frame the doors, flapping in the breeze, as 23-year-old, flame-haired Anna, a professional actor, bounds into her Sydney living room, surprisingly thunderous footsteps offsetting her petite frame. It is hard to know what to expect when visiting Anna. She is many things. Passionate. Fragmented. Mischievous. Elegant. Left-handed. “Unco-ordinated”, she quips. These last two things may, or may not, go hand-in-hand.

Anna is less than six months out of actor-training school, and has had consistent professional work. This is rare in her profession. Her current job, as a lead character in a high-profile Australian drama, airing soon, has crossed a new acting frontier for her. Anna has, for the first time, been required to appear naked on-screen. But she is assertive about the artistic merit of the project. “…I find that it’s not gratuitous, and if it was, I wouldn’t be doing it… the character cannot be played without the required nudity. It’s an inherent part of her… I think it looks really beautiful, quite honestly…”


But is there a mantra that makes it easier? Something to repeat quietly when the lights are a bit too bright, and the work is that little bit daunting? Anna is philosophical when she responds, “someone once said to me that when they’re calling action, pretend they’re calling cut.” Now, as if being on-set full-time is not demanding enough, the self-confessed “stretchy” Anna is also pursuing a second, equally difficult, career. She is a budding playwright. Her most recent play is in the process of being produced and staged with an independent company in Brisbane, and seems to be eliciting an element of the perfectionist within. “I’m finding it very difficult to edit it without starting the whole thing again… If I plan it, it comes out contrived…”

Intrigued by her range of skills, I asked Anna how she identifies herself. Taking a moment to weigh up her thoughts, her response is calculated, and then surprisingly concise. “I’m an actor, and I’d like to also be a writer… I consider myself creative, but at the moment I’m being paid to act, so I’m an actor.” Despite Anna’s success, she admits that it is still a difficult profession. “…everyone asks you what your next job is going to be, even if you’re already in one. And I don’t like that, but it’s just part of it.” So, I ask the difficult question. What about the future? Anna answers firmly, adamantly, that she will be “wherever the work is”. It seems that confidence really is the key.

Television Series: Underbelly:Razor (S04E09- The Crash)
Release Date: October 2011
Actress: Anna McGahan
Video Clip Credit: Johnny Moronic










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