KIWI STAR LOREN - 'I OWE MY LIFE TO MY SISTER'

The actress reveals why she seemingly disappeared after her starring role in Eagle Vs Shark

After a painful decade, Wellington actress Loren Taylor is back on top, celebrating good health, new motherhood, an unbreakable family bond and a thrilling career milestone -writing and directing her first feature film, which was inspired by her beloved sister, author Anna Taylor.

The Moon Is Upside Down is a comedy-drama starring Loren, alongside local acting legends Robyn Malcolm, Robbie Magasiva, Rachel House, Elizabeth Hawthorne and Flight Of The Conchords funnyman Jemaine Clement, who was Loren's love interest in Taika Waititi's 2007 classic Eagle Vs Shark.

Following a Russian mailorder bride who gets more than she bargained for when she marries a lonely Kiwi petrol station owner, Loren's screenplay was based on a "beautiful, extraordinary" short story from Anna's award-winning 2009 collection Relief.

"That story felt so vivid to me - I could really see and feel it," says Loren, 46, adding that Anna closely consulted on the script and editing.

The project might have happened sooner were it not for a devastating real-life plot twist after the success of Eagle Vs Shark. "I got breast cancer and I could only work in really limited ways for all of my thirties," the actress, then known as Loren Horsley, tells Woman's Day.

"One of the reasons I'm alive and well is because of the loving support of my family, especially Anna and Mum, but everyone's careers, our creative momentum, got stalled due to health."