{"id":114819,"date":"2025-11-03T01:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T01:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114819\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T01:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T01:24:23","slug":"kiwi-star-keara-tyler-on-surviving-near%e2%80%91death-crash-and-finding-her-acting-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114819\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi star Keara Tyler on surviving near\u2011death crash and finding her acting dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keara\u2019s first role was as a sheep in a school play and from there, she performed in theatre productions, TV commercials<\/a> and dance.<\/p>\n

Just two years later, after her parents split up, her acting dream was almost scotched when Keara was in a horrific quad bike accident.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Riding with stepsister Ellana, her scarf got caught in the wheel, strangling Keara and leaving her unconscious for eight minutes. Luckily, stepdad Chris saved her.<\/p>\n

Keara shares, \u201cWhen the ambulance crew arrived, they said, \u2018She\u2019s dead,\u2019 but from working on oil rigs, my stepdad knew some weird CPR he did after standing me up, so I didn\u2019t choke on blood \u2013 and it worked!\u201d<\/p>\n

Placed in a coma after she suffered seizures, doctors dubbed Keara a miracle, given many people wouldn\u2019t survive two minutes without oxygen, let alone eight. However, they insisted she would be a \u201cvegetable\u201d when she awoke.<\/p>\n

\"KearaKeara woke up with severe friction burns, weak neck muscles and paralysed arms. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n

Astonishingly, two weeks later, Keara woke up. With severe friction burns, weak neck muscles and paralysed arms, she was told her paralysis would be permanent. But once again, she defied expectations.<\/p>\n

While Keara faced more than a year of physical rehabilitation, needed frequent naps and wore a neck collar for years as her burns healed, eventually she made a full recovery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey studied me in hospital because no one knows how I survived,\u201d she tells. \u201cThe accident gave me a whole new appreciation for everything. I got over caring what people think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although her scars and injuries didn\u2019t restrict her acting opportunities, a scholarship led Keara to study law, psychology, politics and international relations, then at 23, she became pregnant. While her relationship with her partner didn\u2019t work out, her family rallied around.<\/p>\n

However, like many new mums, she experienced postpartum depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt 23, Keara became pregnant. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mourn your old life,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m a dancer but couldn\u2019t go dancing. I was breastfeeding and felt like a milk bag. It was lonely not talking to anybody. My friends didn\u2019t have babies, so I had to find a new circle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Keara found her balance by returning to acting.<\/p>\n

One of her first roles, in Sydney, was in the booming \u201cverticals\u201d industry \u2013 short, episodic dramas filmed in portrait orientation, rather than the usual landscape, to be viewed on cellphones. They attract millions of viewers, pay well and have exploded in China because of the country\u2019s limited streaming services.<\/p>\n

That one role has led to several more.<\/p>\n

\u201cVerticals have created so much work for actors who would normally need cafe jobs too,\u201d enthuses Keara. \u201cThey\u2019ve enabled me to work fulltime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shooting a movie-length production in a week, with lengthy hours and little time to prep, Keara doesn\u2019t learn lines until she\u2019s in makeup.<\/p>\n

\"KearaKeara found her balance by returning to acting. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n

With projects featuring similar storylines, usually with heroes, love interests and villains, she aims to bring something unique to each role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like boot camp and has been the best professional development,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI\u2019ve done my 10,000 hours and could confidently jump into any filming now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phyllisann has joined Keara on trips to Australia and China to help care for Wolfe, who has learnt to enjoy spicy food via their travels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome seeing that childlike wonder of discovering something new,\u201d she explains. \u201cHe\u2019ll notice every statue and go, \u2018Whoa!\u2019 which makes me go, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s pretty cool!\u2019 I don\u2019t get homesick because I have Wolfe and my mum there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KearaKeara Tyler with Wolfe. Photo \/ Woman’s Day<\/p>\n

Keara\u2019s now on a break from verticals to avoid burnout, while exploring acting opportunities in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never think you\u2019ll get to live your dream life,\u201d she muses. \u201cBut after my first four verticals, I went, \u2018I\u2019m a professional actor. I don\u2019t have other jobs. This is awesome!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Having previously found dating difficult, she\u2019s also keen to get back out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, I could take time to get to know someone and mesh our lives together, but with a kid, you have less time and priorities shift,\u201d she says. \u201cIt takes a special person to want to share time and affection with Wolfe, who comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Keara on Instagram at @kearatyler.<\/p>\n

Photographs by: Aidan Burridge and Megan Goldsman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keara\u2019s first role was as a sheep in a school play and from there, she performed in theatre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5813,9980,8239,95,6186,3549,299,156,2949,1364,26022,81767,194,76634,424,81768,111,139,69,90,81769,2737,53883,24465,65508,1316],"class_list":["post-114819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-acting","tag-adam","tag-american","tag-and","tag-changed","tag-crash","tag-dream","tag-entertainment","tag-finding","tag-her","tag-idol","tag-keara","tag-kiwi","tag-lambert","tag-life","tag-neardeath","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-popstar","tag-star","tag-surviving","tag-tyler","tag-watching","tag-when"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}