For Matt Levett, who plays free-spirited Jamie Norton on Seven Network’s The Secret Daughter, the role is a welcome change of pace. The Sydney-born actor, who won the prestigious Heath Ledger Scholarship last year, tells WHO that “I really enjoy the lightness of this role … a couple of years ago, I was a lot more drawn to darker roles.”
A peek at Levett’s clip reel confirms this: he had a pivotal role in the AACTA-winning miniseries Devil’s Playground, which centred on sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, played a closeted diver in the film Drown and was a regular in Stan’s Wolf Creek adaptation.
“I like to see how hard I can push myself,” laughs Levett, who had never met The Secret Daughter star Jessica Mauboy before joining the series. He did not, it turns out, have to make much effort to enjoy his new co-star’s company.
Courtesy of Channel 7.
“It’s very hard not to get along with jess because she’s a warm, giving spirit,” Levett says. “You just walk onto the make-up bus and she’s singing. You didn’t get that much on the other shows I’d worked on. It was lovely, coming in every day and hearing her.”
Levett then shares one of his favourite Mauboy memories. “I’ve got this beautiful image in mind of her sitting around a table with a bunch of kids who had come off the street and onto the set while we were having lunch. She was just taking turns singing with them. She takes a lot of time out for people, which is great. There’s a lot of her in the character [she plays], so that made her really easy to work with.”
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WHO caught up with Jessica Mauboy, too. The actress spoke about her character below.