Teuila Blakely began her TV career presenting C4’s live music show Freestyle, before landing an extended role on Shortland Street. Blakely has shown her versatility by appearing in comedy shows (bro’Town, RadiRadiRah and Funny Girls), dramatic series (This is Not My Life) and films (Sione’s Wedding and Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business). She also made a splash as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

In this ScreenTalk, Blakely talks about:

• Taking on tough character Vasa on Shortland Street
• Having an emotional reaction to a teen pregnancy on the show 
• Feeling out of her depth filming her first movie, Sione’s Wedding 
• How the makers of Outrageous Fortune changed her screen character after auditioning her
• Regretting only having one season on the show 
• Feeling much more confident tackling Sione’s 2 - Unfinished Business
• Being a good omen for the first season of Westside 
• The challenge of being part of Dancing with the Stars
• Feeling cheated when knocked out of the competition 
• The honour being an "11th hour ring-in" on sketch show Funny Girls 
• Learning how to deal with having her life open to public scrutiny

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

NZ On Screen: Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside