Less Drama, More Honesty
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ|January 2020
What’s next for actress Amanda Billing? As she ponders new directions, she reflects on her grief on leaving Shortland Street, the ups and downs of an unconventional life and the power of being a great teacher.
Judy Bailey
Less Drama, More Honesty

I wish I could look out into the world and find a place that I fit.” Amanda Billing pauses wistfully for a moment and then smiles her beautiful broad smile and says, “I think it probably exists and I’m in it!”

These thoughts are, as she would say, “classic Amanda Billing”. She is one of our most successful actors. A teacher and former star of the long-running TV soap, Shortland Street, she has also held lead roles in heavyweight theatrical productions like Lysistrata and Macbeth.

She finds herself now at a crossroads, in between gigs. “I feel like I’m at a place I’ve been before. What happens next? It’s forcing me to be more creative and think what I really want to do in a deep way.”

We meet in her tiny central city apartment which happily overlooks an equally tiny but beautiful, leafy park. It feels like an oasis from the bustle outside. It’s a steamy Auckland day and she’s sporting one of her own clothing designs… a tank with the words “Force

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