Starring in a new comedy, Rebecca Breeds talks marriage, career and a cuddly animal attack

Rebecca Breeds still laughs when she remembers the scene she shot with Karl Stefanovic, Kick Gurry and a very cranky koala. It’s a pivotal moment in new comedy series CAUGHT, where Rebecca, playing Today* co-host Josie Justice, is sitting alongside Karl, and Kick’s character Dylan is standing on the show’s set, a koala called Blinky in his arms.

“They put the koala in an old gum tree between takes,” Rebecca tells TV WEEK via Zoom. “What they didn’t realise was a different male koala had sat in that tree previously. He kept smelling this other koala and they were like, ‘Gosh, he’s really riled.'”

In the script, written by Kick himself, Blinky was supposed to bite Dylan and Dylan was supposed to stab him with a knife he was holding. The shot of Blinky biting was going to be added later.

No-one expected the koala to follow the script. But he did.

“The koala actually bit Kick!” Rebecca, 36, says with a laugh. “Thank God he didn’t actually stab him!

“Karl’s reaction was probably the best thing I’ve ever seen: a full-grown man on his back with laughter, kicking his feet in the air at just how funny this was.”

CAUGHT* is one of the most talked-about Aussie comedies of recent years. Series creator Kick, Lincoln Younes, Alexander England and Ben O’Toole play four Australian soldiers captured while on a secret mission to the island nation of Behati-Prinsloo. Their hostage video goes viral, which is exactly what they want. Big names such as Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Bryan Brown round out the cast.

Rebecca is a pretty big name herself, having racked up impressive credits while living in the US with her actor husband Luke Mitchell. But she probably wouldn’t have ended up in CAUGHT* if not for her long-standing friendship with Lincoln, who played Casey Braxton to her Ruby Buckton in Home And Away. She says when she was living in Los Angeles, Lincoln would help her out with auditions if Luke was away for work.

“He would read for me sometimes and I would read for him,” she explains.

“He was living in this townhouse with Kick and some of the boys. I was living around the corner, so I’d pop over. Afterwards, we’d often end up having lunch, or once we went to the park and were doing sprints together – just random fun LA stuff.”

It was back then that Rebecca first heard that Kick had “this hilarious idea” for a TV series. Years later, she got a call from her agent, saying Kick was interested in her for a role in CAUGHT.*

“Kick is one of those brilliant people who really honours friendship,” she says. “It’s so cool I was privy to its development through Lincoln, the whole way through, and then all of a sudden end up on it. It’s awesome.”

Rebecca is speaking to TV WEEK from her home in Sydney. She and Luke, who she met when he was playing Romeo Smith in Home And Away, have been based back in Australia with their beloved dog Alfie for “two-ish” years.

“It’s been really, really nice just to ground ourselves and be back home,” she says. “I finally have a garden – I’ve been wanting to have a vegetable garden for so long. So we’re literally putting down roots back home and that has been very soothing for the soul.”

In the US, Rebecca played Nicole in two seasons of Pretty Little Liars as well as Aurora de Martel in The Originals and its spin-off, Legacies. Her biggest role came in 2021 when she starred as FBI agent Clarice Starling in crime drama Clarice.

“It was a lot of pressure,” she admits. “But in a lot of ways I’m better under pressure. I was looking at myself from outside, going, like, ‘Wow, go girl! You’re really doing this!’ I’m really glad to have had that experience because I know I can handle it and I’m ready for more.”

Rebecca has acted alongside Luke in Legacies as well as Home And Away, and she says if the right project came along, she’d do it again.

“There’s actually a film we’re thinking about producing and starring in together that’s very funny, very much in the CAUGHT* vibe,” she reveals.

In January this year, the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, posting loving tributes to each other on Instagram.

“10/10,” Luke wrote under a photo of him kissing his wife. “Would recommend.”

Rebecca says throughout their marriage they’ve grown together, and they’ve always had fun.

“Even when we were living overseas and working on different things, we always said, ‘Are you having fun? Because if not, we can move home and open a cafe and we’ll have a great time.'”

She’s grateful to have had Luke with her during her years in the US.

“It was really powerful to have someone who was your anchor and your home base, because it can be a very difficult experience, moving away from everything you’ve ever known. Our industry has a lot of pressure and a lot of highs and a lot of lows. It can be very lonely.

“And it’s amazing as well to look back and go, ‘Wow, do you remember this?’ Luckily, he remembers stuff that I forget and I remember stuff he forgets. And he always takes the best photos. I’m terrible at taking photos.

“We know we always have each other, and that’s enough.”