Nancy Brunning’s television debut was in the first episode of Shortland Street as series regular Nurse Jaki Manu. She turned in a memorable performance as gang girl Tania in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, and played a fun loving lesbian in When Love Comes. Brunning has appeared in a number of TV projects including Mataku and Fish Skin Suit. As well as acting, she also directed the WWII-era short Journey to Ihipa.

In this ScreenTalk, Brunning talks about:

• How it took six months to get used to working on the set of Shortland Street
• Feeling the pressure of playing the only Maori female character on primetime TV
• Having to tell her father she was playing a lesbian in When Love Comes
• Writing a diary to develop her tough role in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
• Learning to stand up to director Ian Mune on set
• Finding it hard to work out the character of Joy in The Strength of Water
• Why a particular scene in the movie proved to be the hardest to shoot

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

NZ On Screen: Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside