Virginie Laverdure had always wanted to be an actor, but growing up in the 90s in Australia, it just didn’t seem possible. It was the era of Ali Brahe-Daddo and Elle Macpherson, “Aerobics Oz-Style” and “Home and Away”. The Decoré ad with blondes, brunettes and redheads singing into their bottles of shampoo was perhaps the most “diversity” we had on screen. No one on TV looked like Virginie.
But that didn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams.
The Sydney-sider with Mauritian heritage simply took a different path. She began by training behind the camera, doing voiceovers, and working for years on both creative sets as well as SBS News. When she felt ready and empowered to make the switch from off-screen to onscreen roles, she did, with a wealth of behind-the-scenes knowledge to boot.
Since 2019, Virginie has been steadily landing roles on stage and screen – “La Brea”, “Wakefield”, “The Unlisted” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, just to name a few. She’s also currently featured in the hit Aussie production “Optics” alongside Vic Zerbst, Jenna Owen, Charles Firth and Bali Padda.
Virginie talks to CelebrityKind about pursuing acting, the barriers diverse creatives face in the industry and how her experience as a woman of colour on set inspired her to start a business! Check out our Q&A below:
1. I always start my interviews by asking about names – is there a meaning or story behind “Virginie Laverdure”?
Virginie: I wish I had a meaningful story about my name but as it happens, my siblings and I all start with the letter V. I’m sure my mum thought it was a cute idea at the time until her baby brain kicked in and lasted about 15 years. She would yell out our names, mashed together in repeated succession – and us children were never sure who was in trouble!
Growing up in Australia, I was always referred to as Virginia and then Ginnie. In high school, I started asking the teachers to use my correct name. Not because I wanted to be French but so the boys would stop calling me “Vagina”! But in wanting to escape the bullying, I started to embrace and recognise other aspects of myself that I had firmly rejected in order to assimilate.
As I started to build a more public profile, I made the conscious decision to legally change my surname to my mother’s maiden name. She was a single mother during my childhood and I wanted to honour her, my grandmother and the other formidable women who came before them.
2. You’ve been working behind the camera for many years, and now you’re in front of it! What made you make the switch?
Virginie: I’m completely obsessed with most aspects of film-making. There are so many ways to portray a character: wardrobe, camera angles, editing and of course script. Being behind the lens is quite powerful. You are privy to the tiny, intimate actions of a person. You can see or even anticipate their thoughts through their body language. And as an actor, all that unspoken information is thrilling to watch. I made the switch because I had always wanted to. There were no brown women who looked like me on Australian screens in the 90s so I trained behind the camera. Becoming an actor was realising my greatest dream, and I also realise the power of representation. All around me, in the early 2000s, the landscape started to change and women and people of colour were demanding more representation in the workplace and on screen. Their voices gave me the confidence to try.
3. Congrats on your role in “Optics”. How did you prepare for your role as a news presenter?
Virginie: (laughs) My day job! I have worked as a television technical studio director for 15 years. I know the familiar rhythmic cadence of a journalist. I see the politics and the backstabbing. It was right up my alley!
4. Being relatively new to the “onscreen” world, what did you learn from your experience on the set of “Optics”?
Virginie: On Australian film sets, there’s never time to over-indulge in takes. You have to tuck your ego aside because there’s no time and there’s no money to shoot again. But I love that because it gives a sense of urgency and you have to give it everything you’ve got. I loved “Optics” because there was no segregation amongst crew, talent and production. And I was so inspired to see these young powerhouse female creators, Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst, make their vision come to life. They did it! They made a show!
5. Tell me about NYOOD Shapewear and why you started it?
Virginie: In 2021, I worked on the most expensive television show in history. My costume was sheer and required me to wear shapewear, but they couldn’t source it in my skin tone. Let me repeat myself – over one billion dollars in budget and no way of sourcing my skin tone! The costume department weren’t able to source anything within a quick turnaround and I was absolutely fed up. Film productions want brown people ON screen but aren’t prepared to support them in terms of hair, makeup and costume off screen. I didn’t want any other woman of colour to experience that frustration of constantly feeling invalidated.
Supplied
6. Having now had experience both in front of and behind the camera, what are some of the barriers you’ve observed women of colour face in the industry?
Virginie: Firstly, shooting brown skin and getting correct exposure and colour is difficult. Even in iPhones. Cameras are made for white skin. One of my favourite films is “Moonlight”, director Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton. I was floored by the lighting. I had never seen Black skin shot so beautifully. Also props to Ava Berkofsky who is Director of Production for Issa Rae’s series “Insecure”. Ava made use of reflected light and other ingenious ways to keep the mostly Black cast looking correctly lit. And that’s just the beginning.
Sometimes I would go to set with my hair already done and my curls set – I didn’t want a stylist straightening it. And I always bring my own skin foundation, even today. We have the challenge of getting the job in the first place, and then once we do, we have the challenge of advocating for what we need.
7. If you could work with anyone for your next acting project, who would it be?
Virginie: Viola Davis! Her gravitas, her conviction, her acting choices. I think she’s absolutely superb and she’s the entire reason I dared to even dream about trying acting.
(Feature Image Credit: Supplied)
You Might Also Like:
Bali Padda Talks ‘Optics’, Finding Joy in Acting and Why He’ll Never Stop Championing Diversity
‘Audrey’ Star Hannah Diviney on Rising Stardom & Shattering Disability Stereotypes
