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In a candid conversation, the acclaimed performer delves on topics ranging from her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons gleaned from onstage mishaps and fan interactions.

If You Could Be a Fish for a Day

Your latest role is the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

Without hesitation, the blue groper residing near a specific shoreline – since it is like an institution, and individuals visit specifically to spot it. It strikes me as remarkable that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Cinematic Favorite to Return To

Which movie do you always return to, and why?

Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 film To Be Or Not To Be. I love this film. When I was growing up, it used to come on the ABC occasionally, and one time I recorded it. I found it was hilarious. It stars Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Recently they were playing it at the Ritz and it turned out that it was also the favourite film of a friend of mine, and so we went and just laughed and laughed. It is a great piece of humor and all the actors in it are fantastic. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t successful. But the original film is a brilliant comedy, worth viewing often.

A Priceless Lesson Learned From a Co-Star

What is the most valuable lesson you took away from someone a colleague?

I was doing A Doll’s House with Pete – my husband now, but back then we were not together. We portrayed characters as scene partners and on opening night I tripped up – I jumped ahead a few lines in the script. I was unaware of my error but I suddenly realised something wasn’t right. I recall looking at him, and he completely saved me, and then our performance regained momentum and proceeded splendidly. But I think what I learned in that moment was, firstly, consistently rely on the people you’re working with. When you lose where you are, if you turn around and look at the actors you’re with, you can rediscover where you’re meant to be somehow. It’s such collaborative endeavor, performing live. And next, just to have a sense of fun about it. Sometimes when something goes wrong, things actually spark off in a wonderfully positive direction if you’re really present in that moment. It may become a gift when things go absolutely awry.

Memorable Interactions with Admirers

Can you describe your most memorable interaction with a fan?

There isn't just one particular interaction but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, particularly women, I hear a lot of accounts about how that character meant to them when they were growing up … things that had happened in their lives and the extent to which that character meant to them and was some kind of help to them during those periods.

What do you get asked about the most by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most specific inquiry concerns always about the stew that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Did that stew taste really that bad?” It has evolved into a running gag, the whole thing about the stew, and everyone wants to know the contents of the pot, and its preparation method, and in your opinion her skills improved now, or do you believe she really is a poor chef? People are, I think, obsessed with the humour of that situation. And I provide lengthy descriptions describing the ingredients that made up the stew – as I recall what they did; such as adding pieces of colored thread to make it look like blood vessels in the meat. The crew employed great detail to render it as bad as they could.

A Cringeworthy Celebrity Meeting

What was your most cringeworthy run-in with a famous person?

I attended a fitness session and another participant on a mat exercising, and the instructor remarked, “Hello Miranda, meet Miranda.” And I attempted some joke about, “oh, are you a journalist?” Because it’s an uncommon moniker and most of the time when I meet another Miranda, they work in media. I wasn’t really identified her. And when she got up, it was the actress Miranda Richardson. Then I was at a loss for words. I still had to complete my class, and I felt intense awkwardness. I wanted to say: “Goodness, I do know your work!” I think her talent is immense and I was just too starstruck to utter a syllable.

The Origin of a Moniker

Articles have repeatedly stated that you were given your name from Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet you've mentioned stating otherwise – can you settle the matter definitively?

Yes – I was christened for the Sydney suburb. Mum learned via broadcast that they were opening a mall at that location, and the name sounded like a nice name.

Pandemonium on Location

What was the chaotic thing that’s ever happened on set?

While working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon I experienced the least organized set of my career, and yet the final product turned out brilliantly. But they just work in such a different way. The sense of time there is really different. Typically, you normally have a schedule and must arrive on set by a certain time. But this was sort of open ended – you come on set at one's convenience. It was a novel approach for me. The elements were all coming together at the very last minute, and at times they wouldn’t know the next location or how we were going to do it. And then you’d be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What was that noise that just interrupted the scene? Ah, it was the producer popping open some champagne on set, to start a party.” It turned out great, but wow, it’s a really different style of film-making.

A Secret Talent

What are you secretly good at?

I’ve always been an aptitude for numbers. I memorise numbers more readily than I memorise words a lot of the time, I’ve just got that kind of a brain. So I believe if I hadn’t ended up in acting, I probably would have entered a field involving numbers, like mathematics or accounting.

The Best Piece of Advice Ever Received

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

When I was in secondary school, a speaker came to speak as we were graduating and they said, “don’t be afraid to fail” … an idea I consider is the best piece of advice, because you learn far more from setbacks than is gained from triumph. With success, you never really comprehends precisely why it happened. Failure, you learn abundant.