Julie's Prime Time I'm Taking Off For Tinseltown!

The TV Star Can Finally Act Her Age!

- Fleur Guthrie

While other pensioners may be contemplating life in a retirement home, veteran Kiwi actress Julie Collis has found it’s the right time to pack up and try her luck in Hollywood.

In a surprising turn of events, the 66-year-old and her ceramicist husband Peter (67) are saying goodbye to their two adult children, closing their arts studio and taking advantage of a shortage of older actors in Tinseltown.

“How many people my age get to chase their dream?” smiles Julie. “They’ve either retired or given up. But in LA, they actually want actors with wrinkles and grey hair now!”

When the Weekly arrives for a chat, the couple are in the midst of wrapping pottery pieces from their gallery underneath the Birkenhead home they’ve lived in, overlooking Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour. The excitement of the move outweighs any stress (“the visa hasn’t arrived yet but the plane tickets are booked for Tuesday!”) and Julie reckons the whole thing has been nothing short of serendipitous.

It was a year ago, when Julie was invited to perform a one-woman stage monologue called Slow Dating at the Short and Sweet Festival in Hollywood, that she caught the eye of a US acting manager.

Julie played the role of Ester, an elderly woman overcoming guilt and loneliness in a search for love, and took out the festival award for Best Actress (English-speaking).