Pascoe said it felt “surreal”, especially as the premiere was packed.
“I’m just a mum … how did this happen?”
Pascoe thought her acting “glory days” were over.
Her professional acting career began at 11. She travelled regularly to Auckland auditions and landed roles in commercials and feature films as a teenager.
She did speech and drama throughout her Rotorua schooling under Gabrielle Thurston, whom she described as an iconic influence on the city’s performing arts scene.
She was named Rotorua Performer of the Year in Year 13 at Rotorua Girls’ High School.
But as she got older and was moving out of children’s television, her auditions were for more mature shows such as Shortland Street or Outrageous Fortune, for which she did not feel ready.
Being “quite academic as well”, she was offered a full scholarship at 18 to study business at Auckland University of Technology and graduated with a degree in marketing and human resources.
She later studied law at the University of Waikato and secured a role at top Auckland law firm Bell Gully.
Marriage and motherhood followed.
She also did contract work for a bank.
With her youngest child starting kindergarten in the past couple of years, she found herself with more time and thought about returning to an acting class.
“It felt so uncomfortable to just show up to this class and to pick something up, like a script and just cold read it in front of [people] …
“It was like being thrown into the deep end.”
The class led to auditions, short film roles and a table reading for Where Beauty Hides.
Two weeks before filming began, she was offered the lead role.
“It was pretty crazy,” she said.
Adele Pascoe with her husband, Clive Pedersen.
The role required her to master an American accent and work alongside New Zealand actor Michael Hallows.
Some scenes were shot at 3am, when it was “absolutely freezing”.
It didn’t bother Pascoe, though. Those challenges “completely fade away” when snapping into character, she said.
“You’re just so present.”
Looking back, she believes taking a different path after leaving school made her a better actor.
“I can bring so many more life experiences to my work now.”
She credited the Rotorua community for giving her the confidence to return to her “glory days”.
“I was always made to feel like, ‘Yes, this is what you were made for’.”
Where Beauty Hides begins a limited cinema release at Auckland’s Bridgeway Cinema next week, with screenings planned for other boutique cinemas around the country.
Pascoe hopes Rotorua audiences will eventually get the chance to see the film.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.