You\u2019re in a new TV show called The Killings at Parrish Station, playing a detective who is plagued by an unsolved mystery. What do you think is life\u2019s greatest mystery?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want to say anything too obvious, like death, but it is such a mystery. It\u2019s hard not to sound like a cliche, [but] the greatest mystery is: how does it all end?<\/p>\n
Speaking of death, and it\u2019s a bit morbid, but what song would you like played at your funeral?<\/p>\n
Oh, that\u2019s not morbid. My dear friend James Valentine<\/a> died recently, through voluntary assistant dying; knowing his family so well, joy is the word that kept coming up, so I do not find the idea of death morbid.<\/p>\n But the music I\u2019d like? Oh, far out, I have thought about this, but I\u2019ve never really come to a \u2026 I am drawn to songs that my sons love rather than what I love, and one son loves Teeks, the M\u0101ori singer. But my father used to play the steel guitar and sing American folk songs; I\u2019ve got a recording of one of his. I\u2019d like that played, I think.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve just finished touring RBG: Of Many, One, in which you play not only Ruth Bader Ginsburg but three US presidents \u2013 along with 29 other characters. Which president did you enjoy being the most?<\/p>\n I certainly got the biggest audience reaction for Trump, but I must say I really enjoyed Clinton. Because of the way Suzie [Miller<\/a>]\u2019s written it, there\u2019s humour in his conversation and that southern drawl. It\u2019s a lot of fun, and I suppose it\u2019s the longest scene I\u2019ve got with any of the presidents; Clinton and Ruth are sort of getting to know each other before she\u2019s chosen to be on the court. Also, people react so much to what they believe his relationship with Hillary was all about.<\/p>\n \u2018I found it very hard to stop speaking like Ruth\u2019 \u2026 Mitchell in RBG: Of Many, One, in which she plays more than 30 characters. Photograph: Prudence Upton<\/p>\n Is it true you found yourself brushing your teeth like Ruth<\/a>?<\/p>\n In the first season, yes, but not any more. We\u2019ve done more than 300 shows, and in the first season I found it very hard to stop speaking like Ruth, because I was still trying to get the language and the voices, so even in my non-theatrical hours I was practising her movements. I found myself driving like an old lady, for example, but I am now completely able to switch her off.<\/p>\n You met your husband, Martin McGrath, shortly after a seeing a tarot reader, who told you you\u2019d meet a man<\/a>. Have you returned to a tarot reader since?<\/p>\n Yes, in fact, because of that. Once our relationship began and we were definitely going to be together, I said, \u201clet\u2019s go and see someone, it was really fun\u201d. We went to a woman in Melbourne, who had turquoise eyeshadow on. She was scary, and I\u2019ll never forget it. She did Martin first and said all these amazing things about him \u2013 and I was kicking him under the table, going, See? Isn\u2019t this great?<\/p>\n Then she turned to me and said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go out for a walk, Martin, I\u2019ll talk to Heather now\u201d. She put her arm around me and said, \u201cThere\u2019s not much to her, is there?\u201d and then said to Martin, \u201cNever mind, where did she go wrong?\u201d I just panicked and looked at him, like don\u2019t leave me, don\u2019t leave me.<\/p>\n He did go for a walk, and she said one terrible thing after another \u2013 telling me that I was going to ruin his life \u2013 and, anyway, that was my last time.<\/p>\n You made your professional acting debut aged 22 in Sydney Theatre Company\u2019s production of Henry IV, Part 1. What\u2019s the most overrated Shakespeare play?<\/p>\n Oh, I don\u2019t know if any of them are overrated. I mean, I think the ones which are usually held in the greatest esteem, or seen the most and produced the most, are pretty magnificent plays \u2013 the Scottish play, Hamlet. Overrated? I mean this will be controversial: I\u2019m not as crazy about Twelfth Night.<\/p>\n If you could be any animal, what would it be?<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always identified with a giraffe. That long neck, their head being so far and small compared to their body; it\u2019s hard for them to get down on the ground, but they can. They seem to overcome their extraordinary physical challenge in order to reach the high leaves and yet still be able to get down. I just find something about giraffes so magical and wonderful.<\/p>\n Sarah Snook, as painted by Heather Mitchell, using toast and Vegemite. Photograph: Heather Mitchell\/Sydney Theatre Company<\/p>\n