Asher's Next Act

After a two-decade reign as the nations sweetheart, a new role in an international thriller will ensure that Asher Keddies next chapteris all about winning over the world.

- Daniela Elser

Asher Keddie is in her element. In a sunburnt paddock on Warramba, a farm west of Sydney, a small herd of docile Scottish Highland cows is trailing behind as she is photographed. Far from being intimidated, Keddie is calm and content as she walks through the red dirt, her blue eyes shining.

Keddie clearly feels at home in the country. In fact, it was the seven-time Logie winner’s idea to trade a city studio for a rural backdrop for this story. “I was totally, totally selfish about it,” she says, laughing. “I was angling to get myself back into some mud, albeit in [Christian] Dior dresses and gumboots.”

For a number of years, she and her husband, acclaimed artist Vincent Fantauzzo, owned a property in rural Victoria. While Keddie might be best known to local audiences for her starring role as Dr Nina Proudman on Network Ten’s Offspring, it is away from the city lights tending to the chooks or horses or even mowing where she finds peace. “I’m a person who really enjoys space and nature,” says Keddie. “As an actor, you are often consumed with your thoughts and when you’re shooting in a chaotic manner for … months, the space in the country offers that respite. It’s lovely and peaceful and you can be alone.”

Keddie’s latest role took her, and her family, far from her country – all the way to Scotland. Audiences will soon see the actress in The Cry, a psychological thriller co-produced by the ABC and the BBC. With a heavy-hitting Australian cast that includes Alex Dimitriades, Jenna Coleman and Ewen Leslie, The Cry is adapted from the bestselling novel by Helen FitzGerald. Shot in both Melbourne and the UK, the four-part television series follows the disappearance of a baby from a rural town. Keddie stars as Alex, a mother facing a custody battle for her daughter – a shift from the warm, funny roles she’s known for.