Acting is all that Emily Symons, star of Home and Away, has ever wanted to do.
At the 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards this year, she is nominated for a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress, which her mother told her she had already announced when she was only four years old.
Since the late 1980s, Emily has intermittently portrayed Marilyn Chambers from the hit television series Home and Away.
Marilyn, an iconic Australian character, is similar to Ray Meagher’s Alf Stewart in that she wins viewers over with her large personality and even bigger earrings.
“Delighted! extremely happy. I’m ecstatic! When asked how it feels to be a Logie nominee, Emily responds joyously, “Thrilled to be nominated.”
And if she triumphs?
She tells 7Entertainment that there will undoubtedly be partying involved.
If I won, I’d probably suffer a heart attack and need to be transported to the hospital.
But instead, I would probably be dancing the night away with my amazing friends and fellow cast members.
Ada Nicodemou and Lynne McGranger, two of the actress’ Home and Away coworkers, are her opponents, although she isn’t overly concerned about it.
“I genuinely think it’s amazing. Any of us winning is good for the show, she claims.
“I’m happy for all of my coworkers, and I genuinely don’t care who wins.
“The Home and Away family works well together.”
From 1989 to 1992, Emily initially portrayed Marilyn Chambers before leaving for an adventure in the UK.
She had no notion that Summer Bay would eventually lure her back at that point.
She continues, “I was in my 20s, so I was touring Europe, skiing, and doing all the things that young people should be doing.”
Then I returned and briefly resided in Perth before being asked to return by Home and Away.
“I’ve left the show twice to embark on some crazy trip, and both times they’ve asked me to return, which is fantastic.
“I’ve had a lot of luck,”
Emily claims that playing Marilyn has always been rather simple, and a lot of credit goes to her character’s distinctive appearance.
You initially wonder, “Oooh, will I be able to remember it?” she explains.
“And once you put on your costume, makeup, and hair, you’re ready to go.
Marilyn is such a wonderful person. Everything should be OK after I put on the dumb earrings and heels, in my opinion.
theatrical musical
Because of all the plays and musicals she saw in school, Emily’s first love was musical theatre.
“I did endless concerts for (mum) at home and I was always involved in the shows at school,” she explains.
There was never any doubt that was all I really wanted to do.
“My mother was a nurse, but she was also incredibly artistic.
“However, mother frequently took us to the theatre, and I believe that’s where it all began.
“I love a little bit of stage magic and a little bit of Disney magic.”
Emily claims that she still “drags” her soon-to-be eight-year-old son Henry to as much musical theatre as she can.
He loves music, according to Emily, even if he hasn’t yet expressed a desire to follow his mother into performing.
“He’s learning the drums and the guitar, so when we go to musicals we always go and have a look at the pit, at the musicians,” she explains.
“I’m sure he’ll be involved in music in some way in his life,”
After Emily, then 46, through numerous unsuccessful IVF cycles, Henry was born in 2015.
She said to TV Week last month that she “very much thought it couldn’t happen and I was too old.”
“I believed that I had explored every option that was open to us.
“If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the entire process, my advice is to not give up,”
Emily was able to balance motherhood and an acting career five months after Henry was born with the aid of a “really good support group” and was back working at her dream job.
What does the role of Marilyn Chambers mean to her, looking back on her career?
“It has been a big part of my life,” she explains. “After my first stint as Marilyn, I came back and played her from 1995 to 1999, and then I came back in 2009.”
“This work has treated me really well, and I’ve been blessed in my life by this character.
I feel really privileged to be a part of the Home and Away family.
