Actor, musician and comedian Madeleine Sami has been on our TV screens since the age of 18 when she debuted on Pio! and Shortland Street. Since then she has appeared in a number of TV shows including The Insiders Guide to Happiness, The Jaquie Brown Diaries, Diplomatic Immunity and Super City – a programme of her own creation in which she played five roles.

Sami has also graced the big screen in Sione’s Wedding, Under the Mountain, and in 2012 a sequel to Sione’s Wedding. 

In this ScreenTalk interview, Sami talks about:

• Having to be taught continuity on the set of Shortland Street
• Learning a lot from her more experienced co-stars on the soap
• The fun and chaos on the set of the feature film Sione’s Wedding
• How action in her most memorable scene was not actually in the script
• Being in the most blood-thirsty episode of Xena
• Loving her role as the comic patsy opposite the lead in The Jaquie Brown Diaries
• Wanting to create a different type of comedy in Super City
• Mixed reactions to the show – from confusion to a cultural icon
• Not realising how much work was involved in playing five lead characters
• Being taken by surprise by the news of a sequel to Sione’s Wedding

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

NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside