Shortland Street’s Lara McGregor was aiming for a completely different career

After many years in theater, actor Lara McGregor bursts onto the big screen to play Moira, the glamorous talent agent mother of Shortland Street’s Monique Strutter (Courtenay Louise). The American-trained McGregor recently returned to TV and film, starring in Netflix dramas One Of Us Is Lying and Clickbait, Prime Video’s The Wilds, and Alice, which was featured at this year’s New Zealand Film Festival. – Appeared in Englert’s critically acclaimed dark comedy “Bad Behavior.”

You are a film actor, stage actor, director, and dramaturg. What is a dramaturg?

This is a fancy way of saying script advisor for a play, but don’t change the “g” to a “d”. Basically, I’ve helped develop a lot of New Zealand productions in the theater world over the past 10 years.

So, what is your favorite role and why?

My first professional theater job in America was as the lead in a new play by Helen Edmondson called The Clearing. Her name was Madeline and she was an Irish woman torn between love for the land, her husband and children, but at a time when the Irish were being cleansed from Ireland, choosing between them. I was forced to do that. That would be one of my favorites. And just recently, I had a bit part in the movie Bad Behavior, and I got to sit in a room with Jennifer Connelly and Ben Whishaw for a week, kind of like a training camp. What could be better?

Which do you prefer, stage or screen?

After all, I’ve been mostly directing for the last 15 years or so, so I’ve been doing more theater than TV or film. I really like it, but I’m really happy with the change. There was a trial by fire on Shortland Street and I love that challenge. There were 26 scenes in two days.

What do you do between gigs?

I’ve always been involved in the industry. It’s either acting or directing, which we teach from one end of the country to the other in our acting programs and theater studies at the University of Otago. So I never stand still. I think I’m a so-called peripateticist.

What do you think you would have done if you hadn’t become an actor?

I wanted to be a battlefield photographer. It’s always fascinated me, but I’m too old for that kind of thing anymore. But physically I’m not that fast. You have to stay out of the way in a gunfight.

What was your first acting job?

It was on Shortland Street. I didn’t even know what the part was, but it was a very small part. All I remember is that in the scene where Elizabeth’s character (Carla Crozier) is admitted to a mental hospital, she was working with Elizabeth Easter and Robin Malcolm.

Do you have anything in common with Moira?

Dare we say, our sense of humor? Moira loves her daughter Monique and I loved working with Courtenay, so we have that in common. she was amazing.

Do you still have ambitions to achieve?

I’m in the TV and movie zone now, so I feel like that’s a new ambition, if not more. I would really like to continue working and see if I end up working on other roles or other stories.

What would people be surprised to know about you?

I’m actually very shy, incredibly shy, but no one would guess. Even your closest friends probably don’t know about it.

Where are you happiest?

My happy place is with my family at Te Horo Beach on the Kapiti Coast or at home in Carey’s Bay (Dunedin). However, if you look at the common denominator, I think it is precisely the proximity to the sea. The reason Te Horo is so memorable in my life is because my grandparents built the first bach on its shores and it has been passed down from generation to generation. It’s the one constant in my life, and actually my brother’s life, and that’s why it’s so special. There’s all the history there and it’s such a fun place.

I love Lara McGregor

• photograph. It’s a passion I’ve had for a long time and I do it whenever I can take pictures. I have been to India several times to work with young Indian women and teach them how to take photographs.
• my cats. There are two. they are brothers. They are black and indistinguishable, but each has a special food they must eat, which can be a problem if someone else has to take care of them. They were about to drown, so we rescued them.
• storytelling.

I hate Lara McGregor

• Leaf blower. they are redundant. Even with noise pollution, when the wind blows, all the leaves return to the road again.
• phone in the car. People using mobile phones while driving.
• olive. Everyone was saying, “You’ll absolutely love this,” so I tried it once. Everyone was wrong.

Shortland Street, TVNZ 2, weeknights