Abbey Lee Kershaw ditches her last name, cuts back on modelling and moves to LA to pursue her dream
ABBEY Lee Kershaw pretty much has one thing on her mind. The hugely successful model is finding her feet in the acting world and couldn’t be happier.
“You see tonnes of actresses doing campaigns and big-money modelling jobs and covers for magazines, so I am just going to make decisions based on work that supports the acting rather than catalogue work,” Kershaw tells Insider on the phone from Los Angeles.“I’m aiming to do what I need to do for acting and nothing more. I’m bowing down to it,” she enthuses.
Kershaw couldn’t sound more chilled. She’s pretty damn happy. And why shouldn’t she be?
After winning the Girlfriend Model Search competition in 2004 she quickly soared to the A-list of international modelling and has worked for all the big fashion houses, from Alexandra Wang and Oscar de la Renta to the more mainstream Victoria’s Secret.
She’s appeared on the cover of most of the major international glossy mags and fronted campaigns for the likes of Gucci, H&M and Chanel. And then, leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, V magazine dubbed her a supermodel.
More recently though, she’s been focused on her new love. As an actress, Kershaw has ditched her last name in favour of Abbey Lee.“It is sexier,” she laughs. “It’s short and sweet. It’s nothing against my dad, I love the guy.”
The 26-year-old will soon be seen on the big screen in Mad Max: Fury Road as one of the main characters in the much-hyped George Miller follow-up to his earlier Mad Max films.The trailer was released just a few weeks ago and gives us a first look at Abbey Lee’s character The Dag. “I’m pretty stoked, I’m pretty excited. It is the beginning of hopefully a long-lasting career,” she explains. “I’m in the middle of a very exciting time, but also the difficult part of starting at the bottom (of acting) and so, for something to come out like this, is a relief in a way, and also the fact that it is going to actually come out, it’s amazing.” Starring alongside Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy in a $100 million-plus Hollywood blockbuster is an impressive start. If that’s the bottom, Kershaw is well ahead of the game.
She also recently filmed Alex Proyas’ Gods Of Egypt in Sydney, starring Gerard Butler.
And Insider can reveal she’ll return home to Australia this month to begin filming the feature film adaptation of Brendan Cowell’s acclaimed play Ruben Guthrie.
Shooting Mad Max: Fury Road in Africa was a “psychotic” experience. The film also stars Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. “It was an adrenalin kick and it was also a huge downer at times,” she says. “It was tough. It was gruelling. It was challenging and really testing of a lot of things — patience, physical durability and your emotions. We worked really long hours and six-day weeks. But it was also f…… fabulous. “I made some lifelong friends and discovered the mecca of all arts for me. I also got to hang out with really inspiring people. “The way George Miller’s mind works is pretty incredible. I wouldn’t change a minute of the whole experience.”
Kershaw is philosophical about her new passion. “It was a flame I didn’t even know, or was waiting to be lit,” she says. “I didn’t realise that it was an option for me. I also didn’t realise that it was exactly what I was supposed to be doing.“I just can’t believe that I’m here doing this. It gives me so much.”
All of that passion aside, Kershaw is acutely aware and under no illusion that her career as a catwalk model has sparked interest in her as an actor. And that makes her more determined to succeed. “I do think I have a lot to learn and there is going to be a point where my skills are going to have to be stretched. But right now I am getting by with what I’ve got, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet. “We’ll see — maybe Mad Max will come out and people will think I’m f…… terrible.”
New York has been home for Kershaw for nearly a decade now but she’ll soon set up home in LA. “This is kind of where you need to be with what I’m wanting to do right now. “New York is the heart of modelling but it doesn’t quite work with acting, so I’m moving here in October.”
As for Ruben Guthrie, in which she will play a Czech woman, Kershaw can’t wait to get home to Australia to start shooting. “I’m super amped on this one and not just because it is Australian. It’s because it’s an independent film that is character driven and emotion driven and based on real-life stories. “What I’ve done so far has been an extended version of reality and to do something that is just so raw and real, and I’m not getting paid, is exactly what I need.”
Wait … what? Not getting paid. That’s dedication from someone who is paid top dollar for campaigns as one of the new wave of supermodels.
“Well, no, I am getting paid, but as it’s an independent, I don’t get a trailer and a car and I’m happy about that,” she explains. “The thing with studio films is they are such big productions and there is so much going on that you are left very much alone in what you do performance-wise.
“To be going and doing this is a really big deal for me right now. It is a whole other experience.”
