JESSICA GREEN [THE OUTPOST] — A BOOK OF MAGAZINE

WORDS BY IRVIN RIVERA

Australian actress, Jessica Green’s entry in the mainstream media as the strong, empowered Talon from The OUTPOST during this era of Women Empowerment couldn’t be timelier. Jessica fills the gaps where a tough, independent, female character lead in TV is needed.

The Australian beauty is also a model and it was through modeling that she booked her acting gig in Lightning Point (a.k.a. Alien Surf Girls). Since then, Green landed roles in several major productions such as Pirates of the Carribean: Dead men tell no tales, Roman Empire, Ash vs Evil Dead and now The Outpost which is now on its second season.

In this exclusive interview, Jessica opens up about her acting journey, her dream role to be a Bond girl and a lot of things about The Outpost.

How did acting start for you?

I was super lucky. Absolute fluke. I was modeling full-time and there was a show called Lightning Point and they were auditioning all over Australia for a certain role. For some reason they happened to not find it in acting agencies so they started auditioning models. When I went for it I was a bit confused why they’re sending me for the job. I haven’t done any serious acting though I did some extra work when I was seven years old but that was it.

They must have seen something in me. They put me on hold straight away and flew in an acting coach that I trained with in Melbourne for four hours a day. At the end of each week I have to send self-tapes off to Gemany and yeah I ended up booking it and filming on it for eight months. And that was when I was 16 or 17. And ever since I did that, I was like This is what I wanna do!

This is the best job in the world and I just fell in love with it and I’ve been following it ever since.

STYLING: LINDSEY DUPUIS BLEDSOE, MAKEUP: FABIOLA ARANCIBIA @ TMG-LA, HAIR: RICHARD COLLINS @ TMG-LA

Would you say that it was your most memorable audition or do you have other memorable audition stories?

Probably it was because it introduced me to the whole process. I haven’t been in one or done one before so I definitely remembered that whole thing. The coach that day, Kate Ellis, whom they flew from Melbourne, became super close and wonderful friends with me. She’s helped me a lot. The whole process was very nurturing and wonderful so it’s definitely memorable!

How has it been after that?

It’s a big wake up call, really. It’s not as easy as I thought it was. Once you come into this industry you realize it’s very cutthroat and you have to be very eager to have a good head on your shoulders and just roll with the punches. You’re going to get a hundred NOs and just one Yes.

I didn’t know the industry when I came in. I didn’t even have an agent or a manager when I went to Lightning Point. It’s crazy just entering that whole world. It’s a tough industry but I love it. I just persevered, kept consistent, keep getting up and eventually got another yes and then next thing you know you’ll be back filming and doing what you love.

Are there some people that you dream to work with in the industry?

I would love to work with Rachel McAdams. I love her. Julia Roberts is another one of my favorites. Will Smith would be epic to work with. I think he’s super inspirational.

Dream role or Project?

I’d love to be a Bond girl. I think that would be wonderful. A bit of everything really. I love action stuff. I do my own stunts and everything on the show.

What stunts do you usually do?

I do horse stuff, my weapons stuff, and I’ve trained doing MMA and boxing over the years. Just pretty much everything they’ll let me. But they won’t let me do wires, poles and all that stuff because we film for six months. So if something happens to me I can be left out on a limb.

Let’s talk about the outpost. How did you land the role and how was the process?

So I read the script and fell in love with the role. Talon is this lone warrior; a super strong female character. I knew that the role will be physically demanding as well so I put myself on tape for it. I sent it and hope that something will come out of it and then I got a callback, had Skype interviews with the producers and ended up booking it. Then they flew me out here to Utah and started filming it.

What’s the best part about playing Talon?

I guess getting to play such a strong female character is really important especially these days when female empowerment is such a big movement at the moment. And having young girls look up to someone like that is something really amazing. I love that aspect. Also we have a great cast. We’ve got so lucky with our cast and crew. We’re like a big family. Immy and Anand- they’re two of my best friends, we’ve decided that if we ever happened to get picked-up for a third season, we’re all gonna get a house together. Apparently this doesn’t happen a lot in most shows. You don’t usually get a cast that gets along this well and never have arguments or whatever. I am really blessed with who I get to work with. They make every day so much fun and it was such a good time all the time.