Overcoming obstacles 'I COULD WIN AN OSCAR!'

Natalie's comedy comes from a traumatic place that she can joke about now

- Elise Cacace

Natalie Samy is best-known for her lively performances on New Zealand’s stand-up comedy circuit, however, her most recent time in the spotlight hasn’t been on stage, but on screen.

Her role in the hilarious new TV series Bouncers, which aims to do for Auckland bouncing what Wellington Paranormal did for policing, came as a surprise for Natalie, 30, who until recently had never considered acting.

“I did absolutely zero drama in high school and could not do speeches for the life of me,” confi des Aucklander Natalie. “I wagged whenever there was a speech!

“Then one random Tuesday I got a text from my friend Joe [Daymond], who’s also the Bouncers director, asking if I could read a script for him. And suddenly I was in a suit, meeting my co-star Dre [Mane] for the first time and acting silly in front of a camera.”

But it wasn’t just Natalie’s friendship with Joe that sparked her acting career. Her growing popularity as a stand-up comedian and the heavily improvised nature of Bouncers made her perfect for the role of wise-cracking security professional Shakti.