When Mother’s Day rolls around on May 12, Tammin Sursok will get the rare chance to spend it with someone very special this year – her mum Julie.
“I’ll be visiting Sydney so I can’t wait to spoil Mum by taking her out for a special ocean view lunch,” the 40-year-old actress tells WHO during a chat on the phone from her home in the US. “It’s the first time we’ve been able to spend it together in over a decade!”
WATCH: Tammin Sursok pokes fun at her husband
Of course, before she jets Down Under for her trip, the mum-of-two will have her own celebration a little early at her family home in Nashville with her husband Sean McEwen and their daughters.
“I’m such an active person that my idea of the perfect Mother’s Day is everyone waking up really early to go on a hike and then to have a picnic or a nice lunch somewhere,” Sursok says. “It’s not a plan that everyone is so keen on though,” she admits with a giggle.
Sursok had just finished Year 10 when she landed the role of Dani Sutherland on Home and Away which made her a household name in Oz.
After four years in Summer Bay, the bright lights of Hollywood beckoned and the actress made the move to the States, picking up regular gigs on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless, and hit teen drama, Pretty Little Liars.
She met McEwen at a film audition and tied the knot with the American producer and writer in 2011.
The couple share two gorgeous girls, Phoenix, 10, and 5-year-old Lennon. They are “at the perfect age”, their mum says.
“Sean and I were just saying that we are in such a lovely phase when it comes to parenting,” she says.
“It is no longer just about keeping these little people alive, changing diapers and giving bottles. They have their own distinct personalities and we can enjoy spending time with them. We are watching our daughters grow into the most amazing people. And they aren’t teens yet.”
When she’s not forcing them up at the crack of dawn to head into the great outdoors for some fresh air and exercise, Sursok says her and her brood are “definitely homebodies”.
The family just recently splashed out on a property about 40 minutes out from the Nashville city centre. Only two years old, the house was “move-in ready”, but Sursok still has a growing list of improvements she’s planning to tackle someday.
“My toxic trait is watching YouTube videos and thinking I can totally do that,” Sursok admits with a laugh.
“I’ve been told I am not allowed to touch the bathroom but there are a few other things I’d like to try, whether I can finish though…”
Family responsibilities and weekend DIY aside, Sursok already has plenty on her plate to keep her busy.
Not content to sit around and wait for opportunities to come her way, she decided to create them with her and McEwen launching their production company in 2011.
The couple wrote and produced the comedy series Aussie Girl and the movie Braking for Whales.
“We have about five options in the works that we are developing and the main reason is because they will have roles in it for me,” she explains.
“I think in the next two to three years, my career will undergo a big change because we’ve really made it a priority to ramp the projects we are doing up. I am a big believer in manifesting success. Some people want to put it down to luck but I make my own luck.”
She is also gearing up to share her new Australian podcast, The Sh!t Show, which will see Sursok interview local talent including Jules Robinson, Anna Robards and Candice Warner.
“It’s about trying to uncover all the bits and pieces of people that they haven’t really talked about in a safe space,” she says.
While Sursok says they have some “big international” stars lined up as well to chat with, her favourite interview so far has been with The Morning Show’s Larry Emdur.
“We laughed so much,” she says. “He was an open book and happy to talk about anything and everything. There was a point when we had to stop recording because we were laughing so hard and no-one would have been able to understand us.”
She is hoping it will be as successful as the US podcast she co-hosts with Roxy Manning, Women on Top. Launched five years ago, it has had over 20 million downloads.
Then there is also the book she is working on, a memoir told through deeply personal essays.
With so much to juggle, Sursok reveals she has a very easy mantra to follow when it comes to finding the right balance.
“I’m a big believer that you can have it all, just not all at the same time,” she says.
“There is so much pressure on women to have it all and do it all, but I can tell you, when I was doing five or six interviews a week to get my podcast ready, I was definitely calling in help to take care of my kids because I couldn’t have managed doing everything for both for that bit of time. I drop balls all the time. But you just keep trying until you can pick them up again.”
The Sh!t Show with Tammin Sursok is streaming from Thu., May 16
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