Tilda Cobham-Hervey never expected to be an actor. “I still think it’s
quite a foreign word when people relate it to me,” she muses. But,
foreseen or not, the 23-year-old from Adelaide is very much an actor- and so much more – with theatrical roots deep and familial.
“I started off doing circus at age nine,” she explains. “At 12, I did my
first professional show at the Sydney Opera House with an incredible
choreographer and director called Kate Champion. My mum was in
the show and my dad lit and designed it, so it was a full family affair.”
But it wasn’t until she was cast as Billie in52 Tuesdays, a coming-
of-age Australian indie about a young woman’s experience dealing
with her mother’s gender transition, that acting before a camera
became her focus.
“I attended the audition because the person running it was this really
interesting theatre-maker, and I wanted to learn more about her,” Tilda
explains. “I read the character description of Billie – it was like, “16 and
fierce and sexually aware”. I was 16 and had never kissed a boy! I was
completely shocked when they decided to give me the job, but I’m so
glad they convinced me, because it completely changed my life.”
52 Tuesdayswas a game-changer for Tilda. The untraditional
filmmaking experience saw the cast receive scripts a week before
shooting – that happened once a week, every Tuesday, for a full
year. “It was like being in a Choose Your Own Adventure novel,”
Tilda says. “You couldn’t plan.” The production also introduced her
to her collaborator and good friend, director Sophie Hyde. “She’s
truly my idol,” Tilda gushes with signature sincerity. “Sophie is
part of everything I do. We’ve made art installations together and
done all this other work.”She’s also responsible for encouraging Tilda to respond to an
ABC callout that saw her write and direct the quirky short film,
A Field Guide to Being a Twelve Year Old Girl. Drawing on her own
collaborative experiences from 52 Tuesdays and her childhood
circus troupe, Tilda created a documentary that’s at once quaint
and profound – the 12-year-old love child of a Wes Anderson movie
and Miranda July short story.“I really wanted to make sure the project wasn’t about me trying
to tell everyone how I felt when I was 12, but actually getting a
group of 12-year-olds together and letting them tell me what it’s
like to be 12 in this day and age,” she says. As with acting, Tilda
humbly explains that she never expected to direct – it’s just another
experience under her belt. For now, she’s turning her attention back
to performance, starring in Fucking Adelaide, the latest mini-series
from Sophie Hyde’s South Australian company, Closer Productions.Tilda plays Kitty, a free-spirited young woman who, along with
her two siblings (played by Brendan Maclean and Kate Box), faces
upheaval when their mother decides to sell the family home. “It was
totally life imitating art,” she says, when questioned about her
likeness to Kitty, and the show’s overall depiction of growing up in
the small city. “I’ve been attempting to move away from Adelaide
for about five years, but I keep getting drawn back. I’ve done four
feature films there. The last film was meant to be set in India, but
they still shot half of it in Adelaide.”
Currently based in Los Angeles, Tilda’s about to shoot her first
movie on American soil – the thriller Plume. She’s a long way from
living in the “fantasy world” of her South Australian childhood.
No longer reenacting parts of The Lion King in her parents’ lounge
room, as an accomplished actor (not to mention writer and director),
Tilda is living the dream.the accidental actor
YOU CAN TAKE TILDA COBHAM-HERVEY
OUT OF ADELAIDE BUT SHE’LL KEEP
ON COMING BACK.
Wor d s Stephanie van Schiltfamous folk