The adventures of Essie Davis

At 55, Essie Davis says she's just coming of age - with a little of Phryne Fisher's bravado, a resilience learnt as a wild child in Tasmania, and her own deep love of family and nature – which she's even more conscious of in the wake of her new role in Alien: Earth.

- SAMANTHA TRENOWETH

It will come as no surprise that Essie Davis is going out tonight, with an old friend, for cocktails and a spot of karaoke. Such a Phryne thing to do. One hopes it's in a retro bar that serves dry martinis or sherry cobblers that's frequented by undercover police and mobsters. To undertake all this, it's critical that Essie leaves The Weekly's photographic studio by half past six.

She's been here for a solid five hours already, dressing up in sparkly skirts and platform heels, twirling for the camera. All the while, entirely joyful - not even a yawn - though she's mere hours off a plane from London via Bangkok, where she's been on the promotion trail for Alien: Earth, a streaming series and prequel to the first Alien film, directed by Ridley Scott. At 55, Essie has boundless energy. She is the mother of twin teenagers, Ruby and Stella (19), wife to film director Justin Kurzel, articulate defender of wild nature in her home state of Tasmania (particularly of those communities affected by salmon farming). And she is an actor whose stellar career takes her all around the globe.

Outside Australia, she is probably best known as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook or as Lady Crane in Game of Thrones. Here, of course, she's renowned for her starring role in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries — three much-loved series and a feature film. And Essie appears to juggle all these roles - the personal and the public - as graciously as Phryne might a gold Smith & Wesson revolver, a grappling hook and a champagne coupé.

With little more than an hour to spare before she must fly out the door, we sit down to laugh a lot, shed just one tear and chat about her extraordinary life.

This year, we lost Kerry Greenwood, author of the Phryne Fisher books which evolved into