The award capped off a
successful new chapter in
Dusseldorp’s career. “I had
spent 22 years in the theatre,
14 of those back to back, so
I decided to see if I could do
something else,” she says.
Her experience as one of
the long-time ensemble
members of the Actors
Company within the Sydney
Theatre Company – during
which she starred alongside
Cate Blanchett and Judy Davis,
among others, and won best
supporting actress Helpmann
Award for her performance as
Queen Margaret in The War
of the Roses – enabled her to
finally step forward and
become a leading lady.
“It was nice to move into
the TV world. I have always
been under the radar, so this
was the first time I’d really
popped up [in a starring
role],” she said. “I didn’t know
what it meant to be in a title
role, so there was a bit of pressure. But then I realised it was an
ensemble in television, too, so that helped ease me up a bit.”
Dusseldorp’s roles are diverse: Sarah Adams, the enigmatic 50s
nurse on A Place To Call Home (Foxtel), the journalist Linda Hillier
in the Jack Irish telemovie series and Janet King (both ABC).
“They’re great women and I love them for different reasons,” she says.
When she won the AACTA, Dusseldorp thanked her date for
the night, Margaret Cunneen, the Sydney barrister who
Dusseldorp bonded with while researching her role for Janet King.
“I grew up around people who believed in learning from others
who are better than you,” she says. “I always wanted to work
because I wanted to hone my craft.”
Her passion for throwing herself into her roles can take its toll,
she admits, and playing such intense characters can be hard to shake
off at the end of a long day, especially when two young children are
waiting at home. “I’ll wait in the car park until I’m ready, because
sometimes I would just sort of storm in if something had happened
[on set] and arrgh!” she says, arms flailing in mock stress. “They
don’t need that, so I’d wait until I knew they were out of the bath
in their pyjamas and I could just flop on the bed to read a story.”
Her decision to move to TV was made, in part, to give her
daughters a more stable home environment and to ground
her growing family without the irregularity of the gypsy theatre
life she and Winspear had become accustomed to.
“I realised soon after I was pregnant with my second child and
I was vomiting in the wings [waiting to go on stage], and I had
[another] baby at home ... that I had to learn to say no,” she says.
Dusseldorp is initially intense and slightly guarded, yet quickly
warms up, revealing a playful, dry and quirky sense of humour,
which stems from her Dutch
background. Her grandfather
was Dick Dusseldorp,
the multi-millionaire
philanthropist and founder of
Lend Lease, and Dusseldorp
says she never felt she fitted in
until she visited Amsterdam:
“I was like: ‘Ooookay, I see
now!’ I always felt a bit
different, but when I got to
Amsterdam, I saw myself
everywhere.” Her lack of
make-up only emphasises
her stunning Dutch looks:
blonde hair, clear green eyes
and strong bone structure.
Today she is dressed
effortlessly in off-duty chic:
Bally shirt and pants and
a Miu Miu bag. Clean lines
and no fuss is her fashion
mantra. Fashion, she admits,
is something she’s fallen in
love with only recently.
“In the last year I have been
involved in the fashion world,
and I really enjoy that,” she says. “Being an older woman it helps
to feel good about yourself. I have to run a whole household with
my husband – he does as much as I do – but there is a lot to do with
two other little people we have to pick up after, so when I work
I get very disciplined. The fashion thing ... I’ve learnt if you feel
good it helps,” she says. “I had a beautiful Armani dress on the
other night [at the AACTA awards] and I just felt great. No fuss,
it held me in – it frees you.”
Dusseldorp is now building on her fashion connections to do
more charity work. She lost her baby brother to leukaemia when
she was eight years old, so she has acted as an ambassador for the
Cancer Council. She is also a passionate advocate with the UN
Refugee Agency Australia for UNHCR. Last year, she and her
husband took her daughters to visit remote Aboriginal communities
in the Northern Territory for Save the Children.
“As you get older, I feel there’s not enough time to bother with
the stuff that isn’t important, that’s why I am doing charity work
with groups I really admire,” she says.
Dusseldorp is “starving” for more culture, and in between her
television commitments, has started developing her own stories
and is in the midst of creating new projects. Although for now, she
revels in being mum, wife, actor and a renaissance woman.
“The last year, I guess I was finding an identity: who is Marta?
I can be all of these other women, and there are parts of them in
me, but I totally love just disappearing and letting these qualities
out that are other peoples’ problems, not my problems. Janet is not
my problem,” she says. Her eyes twinkle, and she adds: “I don’t
want to be anyone else, I don’t want to have anyone else’s career.
I love what has happened, I love it.” ■“I DON’T WANT TO BE ANYONE
ELSE, I DON’T WANT TO HAVE
ANYONE ELSE’S CAREER”190 – MAY 2015
HUGH STEWARTThis page: Bally
blazer, $1,895, and
dress, $1,595. Tiffany
& Co. necklace,
$2,900. Cartier watch,
$43,300. Books from
Gould’s Book Arcade.
Opposite: Bally
trench coat, $3,195.
Tiffany & Co. necklace,
$7,800. Bulgari rings,
$1,470, and $1,680.