Heather Mitchell has a screen presence that draws you in immediately. For four decades the Australian actress has redefined genres with her commanding performances and pulled at viewers’ heartstrings with every mesmerising turn. Off the back of her one-woman show, RBG: Of Many, One, Heather has been busy on cosmic horror The Killings at Parrish Station on Stan, as well as the rom-com Two Years Later on Paramount+.
But, after decades on stage and screen, Heather admits she’s none the wiser as to how it’s all happened. If she’s completely honest, she wishes she knew.
“I just feel very fortunate,” Heather, 68, tells TV WEEK. “All I can think is that, when I look at my resume, I say: ‘Wow, look at that, I’ve done all this!’ But in-between all that were so many things I didn’t do and so many times of not working, struggling financially and personal difficulties. A life is a big thing. It’s not all success.”
Logies and love for the screen
To top off her busy schedule, Heather has also been announced as a TV WEEK Silver Logie nominee for her role in Prime Video’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Despite her modesty, we would put forward the case that her immense talent is how this all happened.
“I’m so thrilled,” Heather says of the Logie nomination. “The entire team on this show were completely dedicated to the integrity of this story. It was remarkable.”
Despite the accolades, the Love Me star has kept a firm grasp on reality. Growing up, she wasn’t much exposed to TV or film but her parents “were empathic people, concerned about social justice”. Through them, she listened to people’s stories and discovered a love of acting by watching plays.
“I was always aware that this is a tenuous industry and an industry that was not going to be just there to serve you,” she says, adding that, even now, she remains quite critical of herself.
“Generally speaking, there’s always a part of me that feels disappointed with myself,” she says. “That critical mind comes into play but, when you read something like The Killings at Parrish Station, your mind is wild with the imagination of what could be. That script had everything there to be enthralling.”
Keeping clarity in the fight of her life
Over the years, criticism has made way for clarity in all aspects of Heather’s life. “I don’t hang on to things,” she says. “I’ve learned that, for a healthy life and mind, you need to be able to be at one place and present. Then, be elsewhere and present. Women are very good at that.”
When Heather was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she expected the experience to bring the clarity she feels now. “I would love to say it came from when I first got cancer, but it wasn’t,” she says. “I kept waiting for an epiphany or clarity of ‘Oh, that’s what life’s all about’. But it didn’t happen for me. I was just getting through. There were times that were incredibly stressful. I won’t sugarcoat it; it wasn’t easy.”
It was different when the second diagnosis came. This time around, Heather says, she accepted it immediately – not because it was insignificant, but because her life already felt full of things that mattered more. She had to keep going.
“I didn’t have time for it,” she says. “My thought was: just deal with it because these other things are too important to me. I had to make decisions and tell the kids and all of those things but something had shifted because I wasn’t frightened.”
The future is bright
With hindsight, she acknowledges that even with a different outcome, she would’ve still been okay with how she handled the experience.
“Had it not been as great as it was, I think I would’ve accepted that too,” she says. “We’re all going to die and I hope that, when that next thing happens, it might be a more critical event and I’ll go: ‘There’s another journey happening but, boy, have I been lucky.’ It’s given me comfort, in a way.”
As for what she dreams about, it isn’t shiny trophies – despite the honour of achieving them. Heather’s never been looking for her name in bright lights – just something that lights her up.
“I feel fortunate that, at the age I am, there’s been an incredible growth of roles and interest in women who are maturing and getting older,” Heather says.
“There are so many things to talk about, from sexual abuse and domestic violence, through to great achievements and glorious lives.
“I’m just very fortunate to be alive right now, as we’re beginning to examine these things. And it’s just going to get better!”
The Killings at Parrish Station is available now on Stan
The 66th TV WEEK Logie Awards will air August 16 on Channel Seven and 7Plus
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