Leg up for Jodi Gordon's acting career

[Barbara]

Leg up for Jodi Gordon's acting career

* By RICHARD CLUNE

* From: The Sunday Telegraph

* April 11, 2010 12:12AM

FORMER Home and Away star Jodi Gordon has enrolled in acting school after failing to get a job.

Despite five years on the popular Channel Seven soap, Gordon has told today's Sunday Magazine that she is learning her "craft" following several unsuccessful auditions, including her failure to snare a role on the new Channel Nine drama Cops: LAC.

"I'm doing what every other actor is doing, just getting out there and auditioning and trying to get to know the craft a bit better," Gordon, 25, says.

"I'd come from a modelling background ... so now for me it's about expanding my horizons, doing classes and courses, trying to get real experience in drama and comedy and films."

Of her rejection from Cops: LAC, Gordon said: "I'd just come out of Home and Away and it was my first audition. I tried for a regular part and didn't get it. That was sad, but that process - and doing the recall - is what I have to get used to now."

It's been nearly a year since Gordon's life unravelled when she was found cowering in

the corner of a Bellevue Hill bedroom with Sydney identity Mark Judge. The pair, who had allegedly been on a bender, had phoned the police fearing imaginary gunmen were on the property - but security footage showed no evidence of intruders.

"The past 12 months have been my most challenging," Gordon says of that night and her subsequent split from media heir Ryan Stokes.

"I made some bad decisions and learnt from my mistakes. I feel I know more about who I am and what I want out of life. I'm happier and looking forward to the future."

That future includes her beau of five-months, Roosters skipper Braith Anasta. Gordon says the couple are "still getting to know each other" and she is also coming to terms with rugby league.

She adds: "I love it but it also make me nervous. I can't help but worry, because [braith] gets hurt."

Gordon is currently supporting herself with modelling contracts, namely as the face - and feet - of shoe designer Tony Bianco, and as an ambassador for local label Crystelle Lingerie.

There is also a video of the photoshoot for Sunday Magazine.

Source

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Are they ever going to stop mentioning what happened last year? It's old news now.

I wish her good luck for her future auditions.

[Barbara]

Another article with pictures

Fresh Jodi is one flash Gordon

* By Claire Bradley

* From: The Daily Telegraph

* April 11, 2010 12:00AM

TURNING over a new leaf Its by no means a new concept, but one that never fails to lift a weight off heavy shoulders and bring 20/20 hindsight.

Today, when model-turned-actor Jodi Gordon steps inside the studio from the morning sunlight, it’s as if she brings it with her.

Her megawatt - albeit suspiciously veneered - smile is working at full capacity and she’s visibly fresh, light and bubbly.

Put simply, she glows, and it’s not just the slightly overcooked spray tan from the day before.

Free from the binds of the Seven Network and the obvious limitations that come with breaking onto the acting scene by playing Martha Mackenzie in Home and Away for five years, the 25-year-old has a few crucial months ahead.

Can she convert to a bona fide thesp, or will she forever be tainted as a soapstar?

“You work your butt off for five years and do the hard yards, but it was time to leave,” she says of her last days onset in February.

“It was bittersweet, but the right thing to do. It’s almost as if the world stops and you’re like, OK, what do I want to do now? Who am I?”

Not that she’s regretting the decision. She’s clearly excited about using her new-found freedom to expand her horizons, even if that means hard work.

“I’m doing what every other actor is doing, just getting out there and auditioning and trying to get to know the craft a bit better.

"Studying, being as well prepared as I possibly can, so that when the right opportunity comes up, I’m ready.”

One of the most endearing things about Gordon is her unashamed candour about her lack of real experience in the acting world.

After modelling for seven years, she landed her first job on Home and Away, and she’s more than willing to admit that while it was a great opportunity - and one that earned her the Most Popular New Female Talent Logie Award in 2006 - it’s no free ticket to a long and illustrious career.

For example, just weeks ago, it was reported she’d been approached by the Nine Network to audition for the new drama series Cops: LAC, which will star Gordon’s former H&A co-star Kate Ritchie. Somewhat awkwardly, her rejection was also reported.

“I’d just come out of Home and Away and it was my first audition. I tried for a regular part and didn’t get it. That was sad, but that process - and doing the recall - is what I have to get used to now,” she says with a shrug.

Having her every move followed is nothing new for the actor. As if starring in one of the country’s highest rating shows weren’t enough (along with dealing with the tragic death, in 2007, of her teenage sweetheart, Chris Burkhardt, who passed away from leukaemia at age 23), Gordon ended up high on the list of tabloid fodder thanks to her two-year relationship with media son Ryan Stokes.

Heaven forbid she let her tiara slip. But, not surprisingly, she fell into the same trap as many a starlet and let the party girl within get the better of her one Wednesday night last June.

After she’d been MIA for a few days, it was reported Gordon had been present at a “cocaine-fuelled bender”. She was found “cowering”, along with alleged bikie Mark Judge, in an apartment in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill, after calling the police to help protect them from armed gunmen. (Security cameras showed no evidence of intruders.)

Some would say her actions were no worse than those of her peers (in the same year, fellow H&A star Lincoln Lewis made headlines for a sex-tape scandal, while Todd Lasance was charged with drug possession) or that we all have the odd, uncharacteristic night we’d rather forget, but the Seven Network went into damage control and put together a two-strikes-and-you’re-out policy for stars who act unbefittingly.

While few will ever know the full whys and wherefores of what went on that night, Gordon is determined to learn from the incident and put it where it belongs - firmly behind her.

“The past 12 months have been my most challenging yet,” she says of the time that followed that night, which essentially resulted in her break-up with Stokes in July. “I made some bad decisions and learnt from my mistakes.”

Gordon’s energy shifts from energetic to careful and more than a little meek when she speaks about those days, but she’s proud to have found her way through it and come out a better person.

“I feel I know more about who I am and what I want out of life. I’m happier and looking forward to the future.”

And that future looks bright, with a budding romance with Braith Anasta, captain of the NRL’s Roosters. The couple of five months are often spotted hanging out at their local beaches.

Gordon bounces around on the couch as we chat about the relationship. But she can’t help rolling her eyes at the attention she’s still receiving from the paparazzi as one half of another celebrity duo.

“I honestly don’t understand what’s exciting about me going to the beach. It makes me not want to go for a swim. They have people everywhere – they pop up out of weird places and I’m like, oh, I don’t have any make-up on!

“On my birthday, there was a heap of them at Braith’s house and they were all wishing me a happy birthday – it was weird. But, you know what? They’re not hurting me.

"They’re simply doing their jobs and I understand that. You just have to laugh.”

All the same, it must be tough on a new romance. “I know – we’re still just getting to know each other.”

She also admits that the world of football and WAGs is a whole new experience. While her family is footy oriented (“all my cousins play and my father used to coach my touch team”), she says she’s still learning the rules and only now sees what a full-on job it is for her beau. “I love it, but it also makes me nervous.

"I can’t help but worry, because he gets hurt.”

Although Gordon may have stopped playing touch football herself, she keeps herself in shape with a range of sports, and says it was her focus on fitness that saw her through those difficult months after her break-up with Stokes.

“I love pilates and yoga, running and walking, and going to the gym.”

(Which may be just as well, seeing as her other pastime is cooking. “It’s really nanna of me, but I love baking.”)

As part of today’s photoshoot, the actor, who originally hails from Mackay, in Queensland, is channelling her globetrotting modelling days.

She won her first competition at age 13 and went on to travel the world, from one exotic shoot to the next.

“It was great. When I was 18, I lived in Milan, in Italy, for nine months, then went over to the UK,” she says. “When I was even younger, I went to Japan with my mum and did loads of little trips here and there. It teaches you to grow up quickly.”

In front of the camera, she’s working her magic with one sultry pose after another, and it’s hard to see the gregarious girl I was just talking to under all the make-up and designer gear. But while she says acting is her focus, fashion is also close to her heart.

“I’ve always loved making clothes and playing with fabrics,” says Gordon, who’s an ambassador for Tony Bianco shoes and Crystelle lingerie.

“I think Australia has the most incredible designers and style.

Travel overseas and you realise women here know how to dress. Some people say (we’re all about) blonde hair and denim shorts at the beach but, when you look closely, everyone has a unique style. I love that.”

I can’t help thinking that now might be the time for her to head stateside, in the footsteps of the many H&A stars in search of fame and fortune (think Tammin Sursok, Ryan Kwanten, Chris Hemsworth).

Gordon admits she’s considering jumping on a plane for ‘pilot season’, and that the CSI/Law & Order style of show appeals (“I want to play doctors and lawyers - something far away from Martha”), but she’d really rather do it all from an Australian base.

“Sometimes I think I’ve done things the opposite way around,” she explains. “I’m just relaxing and learning now, and mixing things up a bit.”

With her head newly screwed on and a fresh and grounded outlook on life, Gordon’s is a book other young soapstars could take a leaf out of. They might just need to leave out the more salacious chapters.

Pictures:

Source

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She looks great on those pictures.

[Jamey-Maria]

I don't know why, but there's two articles and one is significantly longer than the other. She actually talks about what happened, albiet briefly in this one.

ETA: You beat me to posting.

Anyway, I definitley enjoyed reading her words for a change. That article was certainley more insightful than the 24323543534 billion otthers that say the same thing every 2 days.

[Barbara]

^ Lol sorry!

Why are they posting two articles about the same thing lately? I only noticed the second one after I had already posted the first one but I thought I'd add it as well.

I agree. It's nice to read her words for once.

[Sabrina]

Wow, she looks amazing.

I agree, it is nice to read Jodi's own words

I wish her the best of luck in her auditions.

Thanks for the articles Barbara.

[bikinikill]

She's missing her pants in several of her photos. Maybe things are a bit tighter finanically than we imagine.

[HAA Girl 08]

Wow! She looks gorgeous! It's great to finally read a decent article about her.

Goodluck to her for her auditions.

Thanks for posting Barbara.

[Jen]

[Sabrina]

Thanks for the scans, Jen