Andrew takes to crime with passion
After causing ripples across both stage and screen in the past decade, WA-trained triple-threat Hollie Andrew is roaring in 2014.
Graduating from WAAPA's revered musical theatre course in 2002 alongside Perth stage sweetheart Lucy Durack, Andrew went on to score an AFI Award nomination for her breakout supporting role in the critically acclaimed 2004 film Somersault, which starred an emerging Abbie Cornish and a pre-Avatar Sam Worthington.
Her casting in the 2010 touring stage revival of The Sapphires cemented her rise.
After a two-year stint in Los Angeles, the Adelaide native is back on home turf and appears poised to take her career to new heights with the role of Roberta Williams, wife of late Melbourne gangland figure Carl Williams, in Nine's drama series Fat Tony & Co.
While Offspring star Kat Stewart won an AFI Award in 2008 for her foul- mouthed portrayal of Williams in the original Underbelly series, Andrew, who also had a minor part in 2012's Underbelly: Badness, welcomed the challenge to make the role her own.
"I knew (the character of Roberta) was a feisty woman and Kat is a good friend of mine and her performance of the role was so incredible last time and I knew where it kind of took her and how it pushed her, so as an actress I just thought that would be an amazing challenge," she said.
While the role proved taxing, Andrew said she enjoyed delivering the physicality her character demanded.
"They wanted me to be as womanly as I could, you know, enjoying my curves, enjoying that feeling of being a strong woman . . . so pushing that kind of side and owning my body, that's the sort of direction we went in," she said.
While Fat Tony & Co. sees her grace the small screen, Andrew is also treading the boards in the touring stage revival of Wogboys, which comes to the Regal Theatre from tonight , opposite her Fat Tony co-star Vince Colosimo, who played Alphonse Gangitano.
Andrew is also co-writing, co-directing and acting in two film projects, including a horror-comedy called The Den, tipped to start production mid-year, and is in the midst of considering music recording offers.
