by Dov Kornits
“I returned to Australia in January [2022], and I was really keen to sink my teeth into the industry here,” says actress Freya Tingley, who has been working in LA for the past decade. “I emailed all the casting directors I knew from my time when I was younger from workshops I had done, and I let them know that I was back and keen to work. Soon after that, I got an email back requesting an audition for Time Addicts. I fell in love with the character and the project and poured my heart into the audition which, after two call-back auditions, I landed!
“I’m super excited about this project in particular: I think it’s going to be different than a lot of other films – it’s genre-bending, fun, dark but also has a lot of levity and I think it’ll be a wild ride for the audience!”
What drew you to acting in the first place?
“When I was really young, I loved playing make-believe – like most children – playing different characters and conjuring up a different reality. I grew up an only child and remember one particular time when I sat all my teddies around and pretended I was their teacher and would mark their lessons, pretend to drink coffee, tell them off, maybe I was projecting, but I really put on the identity of a teacher. So, by extension, as I grew up, I realised that acting was the professional pursuit of playing make-believe and most importantly that I could have an emotional impact on people through the art form.
“It wasn’t until I was sent to an acting workshop when I was 14 that I decided I really loved the craft. My parents were always very supportive of anything extracurricular that I was interested in learning, so they asked if I wanted to continue doing weekly classes which I ended up doing for a few years. Being from Perth, there weren’t a lot of acting workshops around and so I would make trips to the east coast to do various workshops so I could soak up as much as possible, but I found that I was mostly learning by doing. It wasn’t until I went to Los Angeles for the first time when I was 16 and I found an acting school called The Acting Center which taught the craft of acting from the ground up: teaching first the basic skills of an actor and gradually building, developing and practicing more and more the 56 or so specific skills an actor can carry in their tool bag. It was there that I really learned and developed the skills needed to become a character which is what brings me so much joy as an actress – really transforming into a different person entirely.”
How’d you master the American accent?
“I think growing up with predominantly American movies makes it easier for Australians to pick up the standard American accent. That, and I had a really great dialect coach who taught me the specifics. When I first moved to LA when I was 17 I decided to do the accent 24/7 so that I could really let it sink in and become second nature. And it did to the point that I would talk in my sleep in an American accent!”
How was the experience of heading to the US? Did you land a role there before you went?
“I had my heart sent on going to “Hollywood” ever since I decided to be an actress when I was 14. I guess it was because I was aware that there were more film opportunities in the US, so it seemed like the place to be. My parents saw how passionate I was about acting, how hard I worked to learn the craft, and had also seen that I was starting to get the support of casting directors and getting call backs for some big projects – when I was 16 I was in the top few for the role of Katniss in the Hunger Games – and so I think they saw how real it could be that I could turn my passion into a career. I am really fortunate to have two amazing and wonderful parents who supported, and still support, my career path and helped make my dream of working as an actress in the US a reality. In January 2012, I went out to LA for pilot season with my mum and having had the moral and financial support of my parents from a young age really gave me a strong sense of stability and grounding so the move never felt daunting.
“From the minute I arrived in the US, my goal was to book a major role by my birthday – which is the 26th of March. My mum had also told me that after pilot season, which usually ends in April, If I didn’t book anything, then we would have to return to Australia – so that increased my necessity level to want to land a role. I auditioned a lot that pilot season and then on the 26th March 2012 I signed the contract for Hemlock Grove, helmed by Eli Roth and one of Netflix’s first original series, and, as they say, the rest is history.”
Is the work and life in the US all that you expected?
“In a lot of ways, it is. Because it’s a huge country with a big population there is a lot of opportunity and a lot of opportunity to be able to expand to a global level. I spent the last 10 years of my life living there and I have learnt a great deal from first-hand experience in that period of time which I look forward to being able to carry with me moving forward. On the life side, I never really had any expectations as I was more career focused, however, from when I first landed in LA, being frank, I was never a huge fan of the city. That’s why, for the meantime, I have relocated to Australia so I can re-establish my roots. I realised also that with all the auditions being self-tapes it has made it so actors no longer have to base themselves in the US in order to secure auditions but can choose to base themselves wherever they see fit.”
What’s ahead for you?
“The third season of DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, an animated Netflix Original, which I voiced one of the characters for, is set to be released in August. Other than that, I’m hoping more interesting and unique projects, especially Australian ones, come my way and I’m able to sink my teeth into a variety of unusual characters. I also hope to work with more directors who have a unique voice and visual style.”
Time Addicts is streaming on Netflix from 7 June 2024
