Mcleod's Daughters: articles


Lauren Jackson, budding Brisbane actor

TALENTED... Keen horse-rider Lauren Jackson from New Farm has won an audition for McLeod's Daughters.

Lauren lusts after TV lights

UP-and-coming actor Lauren Jackson can already ride a horse ­ now she has to prove she can act as well.

Jackson, of the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm, has won a trip to the set of top-rating drama McLeod’s Daughters in South Australia and an audition with the series casting director Sue Manger.

The opportunity came through a one-day auditioning workshop with Manger, organised by Film and Television Studio International, in Brisbane in April.

The 20-year-old is taking every opportunity she can get, and said she had learnt not to pin all her hopes on one goal.

Jackson, who had been a dancer since she was five, was devastated when six months before finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (dance) degree, she tore the cartilage in her knee.

Her plans for a career in musical theatre were put on hold and she had to look for an alternative.

“When I was injured I was so lost for a while and I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “That’s the mistake I made with dancing and now I realise you need to be so versatile.”

Jackson began acting and, while her musical theatre ambitions are still real, she is open to a career in film or television.

For the past year and a half, she has cut her teeth as an extra in a number of television commercials and had a small role in Opera Queensland’s Carmen.

The McLeod’s Daughters audition is her first chance to try out for a television series.

Film TVI’s Dominique McMahon said because most major television series were filmed in other states, actors in Queensland were disadvantaged.

“It is difficult for actors around the country to get to those locations to attend auditions,” she said.

“The more experience they get, they have more confidence and they go in and know what to expect.

“Lauren has not had much experience but Sue was very impressed with her ability.”

By Natalie Gregg
June 06, 2005
The Courier Mail