Educating Essie I'M A FIGHTER LIKE BUNNY

Beloved as the super-stylish slevth phryne. the actress sees another side of life playing a Kiwi batter trying to keep her kids

- Slevth phryne

As the glamorous private detective Phryne Fisher, actress Essie Davis has captured hearts all over Aotearoa. Now, she’s set to break them.

The Australian star plays the lead role in the new Kiwi movie The Justice of Bunny King, about a down-and-out jailbird battling the system for the right to raise her kids – and for the actress, the fight felt intensely personal.

“The story is funny, dangerous, and powerful,” shares the mum-of-two. “And so many people who were involved in the movie felt it was their story. The extras would be in the wardrobe bus going, ‘Oh, my God, that happened to me.’ So many people whose stories aren’t told are being told in this.

“Bunny is a woman who is full of life and full of fury, who will never give up on her children.”

Family is close to the actress’ heart. Born in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1970, Essie – short for Esther – was the youngest of seven children. The Davis clan “didn’t have much money”, but her artist father George inspired his brood with his passion for the local landscape, and her mother Mary made the most of the family’s orchard and veg garden.

Even from a young age, Essie knew she was headed for a career in show business.

“I watched tons of black-and-white movies because we only had three television stations and an old black-and-white TV,” she recalls. “We used to go to the drive-in, where I remember watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I knew then that I wanted to be an actor and I had no doubt that I would do it.”