\u201c[Acting] is kind of like ready-made therapy on a daily basis,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you\u2019re role-playing constantly and you are doing one of the most important things in the world, I think, which is telling people stories about themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody said to me once that being an actor is like being God\u2019s squirrel. You\u2019re constantly going, \u2018oh! oh!\u2019,\u201d she says getting excited. \u201cIt\u2019s always different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Memorable characters and real-life figures Malcolm has brought to our screens include Outrageous Fortune\u2019s Cheryl West, Shortland Street\u2019s Ellen Crozier, and more recently Bafta-nominated After The Party\u2019s Penny Wilding and Pike River\u2019s Sonya Rockhouse.<\/p>\n
Like West, she\u2019ll soon bring another crime mum to Kiwi screens in Run – as the mother of notorious Australian bank robber Brenden Abbott.<\/p>\n
Robyn Malcolm, 60, says acting is like therapy. Photo \/ Simon Westlake<\/p>\n
It was Shakespeare that sparked Malcolm\u2019s acting fire after she left Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1987.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually had no interest in [acting on] screen; I had no interest in television – my only interest was theatre. I was a complete Shakespeare nerd and still am,” she says.<\/p>\n
The acting gods had other plans, not that Malcolm is complaining. Just recently, a full-circle moment put things into perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the success of After the Party, I ended up in the casting offices of the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, with them saying \u2018what do you want to do? What are you interested in?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI burst into tears and told them the only reason I went to drama school was so I could be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her new TV series, Run, was shot in Australia, and she stars alongside Ashleigh Cummings, who coincidentally played a young Cheryl West in Outrageous Fortune prequel Westside, and fellow Kiwi George Mason, who plays her son Brenden Abbott. He was known as \u2018The Postcard Bandit\u2019 and was one of Australia\u2019s most notorious bank robbers – it\u2019s believed he robbed more than 40 banks. <\/p>\n
Watch the trailer for Run here:<\/p>\n
Malcolm works a lot across the ditch. In the past few years, she\u2019s had roles on three other Aussie dramas. It\u2019s a place many Kiwi actors go to get stable work.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I think [Australia\u2019s film and TV industry] is in better shape than we are here at the moment. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve got a Government that supports us too much here,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia feels to me like it\u2019s in magnificent shape right now. There\u2019s been some really fantastic work happening and lots of little independent local productions, and it feels very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melanie Lynskey, left, as Anna Osborne and Robyn Malcolm as Sonya Rockhouse in Pike River. Photo \/ Matt Grace<\/p>\n
Right on cue, a door slams in the background. It\u2019s one of Malcolm\u2019s teenage sons, Charlie or Pete. <\/p>\n
Both are following in their mother\u2019s footsteps as actors; one\u2019s started drama school, and the other is starring in a new web series.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have said to me, \u2018you must be horrified\u2019, [that the boys are acting]. And I go, \u2018no, I\u2019m not\u2019, because in my mind, it\u2019s the best job in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that they\u2019ll get a career. My hope is that they will love it as much as I do and that it won\u2019t be about the money. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that they will find stability as they move through and that they will cope with what is an incredibly unpredictable life.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for her own film future, Malcolm \u201cdoesn\u2019t give a s**t\u201d about – or fear – getting older.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t agree with this \u2018need to look younger and behave younger to hold on to youthfulness\u2019 thing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you fight it, you\u2019ll lose. It\u2019s trying to shift that narrative a little bit – that\u2019s kind of where I\u2019ve got to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Malcolm\u2019s honesty is refreshing and raw, but not conceited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been 36. I\u2019ve been 40. I\u2019ve been 52. I\u2019ve been through all those ages and I know what they\u2019re all like. It\u2019s not my job to try and stay there,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my job to be the age that I am and to own it. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the lovely thing is that there are so many female stories, particularly older women\u2019s stories, that have yet to be told, so it\u2019s kind of like the world\u2019s your oyster right now. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn M\u0101ori culture, they worship their kuia [women elders]. Everybody talks about the wise older woman. We don\u2019t. And it\u2019s about time we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robyn Malcolm has plenty more stories to tell. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n
Malcolm\u2019s career has been full of surprises. She\u2019s \u201cridden horses, fallen off the back of boats, been set fire to, had to act with llamas and scary insects\u201d.<\/p>\n
And while turning 60 is a major step in anyone\u2019s life, for Malcolm, it\u2019s just one big, beautiful journey she\u2019s ready to tackle with the same positivity she\u2019s had since drama school. She\u2019s not slowing down; she\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor somebody like me who\u2019s not too crazy about routine, it\u2019s really amazing. And I feel very lucky to be at the age I am, and it seems to be getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catch Robyn Malcolm in Run, streaming on TVNZ+ now. <\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201c[Acting] is kind of like ready-made therapy on a daily basis,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause you\u2019re role-playing constantly and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5813,6946,10791,24752,95,9060,156,1888,3011,71,29163,5431,3012,57638,171709,5430,11692,13631,111,139,1536,69,90,5823,46440,3876,4514,5419,62105,54681,6180,6100,6182,13917,6642,698,6923,1316,4276,102,4741],"class_list":{"0":"post-316821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-acting","9":"tag-actors","10":"tag-ageing","11":"tag-ago","12":"tag-and","13":"tag-decades","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-first","16":"tag-four","17":"tag-from","18":"tag-generation","19":"tag-hageman","20":"tag-hopes","21":"tag-malcolm","22":"tag-malcolms","23":"tag-mitchell","24":"tag-nearly","25":"tag-never","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-next","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-on","31":"tag-passion","32":"tag-retire","33":"tag-robyn","34":"tag-same","35":"tag-screen","36":"tag-screens","37":"tag-shell","38":"tag-shes","39":"tag-still","40":"tag-stories","41":"tag-telling","42":"tag-tells","43":"tag-until","44":"tag-what","45":"tag-when","46":"tag-why","47":"tag-with","48":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316821","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=316821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}