There’s a scene in Safe Home when TV WEEK Silver Logie nominee Aisha Dee’s character’s eyes widen in fear as a businessman she’d been joking with moments earlier breaks through a door and smashes on a glass window, hell-bent on harming his wife.
“There are two types of people in this world. Those who think family violence would never happen to them. And those who know it can happen to anyone,” Aisha told The Weekly last year, summarising the premise of the thriller she returned home to Australia to film. “In reading it initially, it almost felt like the script was gaslighting me,” she adds. She had never read anything that felt so real. The drama, set in and around a family violence legal centre, picked up three Logie nominations, including a silver Logie nomination for Aisha.
The role was a sharp departure for Aisha who made a name for herself as the effervescent Kat in the hit, high-sheen US drama The Bold Type. Playing Kat was a thrill and a dream, she says, but shifting gear into this exploration of abuse offered a chance to do something that scared her. “I want to exist in all of the places,” she says. “Being on set is my favourite place in the entire world.”
Embracing the fear has paid off with Aisha getting Logies recognition for her gripping performance.
The Acting Bug
Ever since she was growing up on the Gold Coast, Aisha has wanted to act. “My mum’s an opera singer so we’d spend a lot of time in the library,” she explains. While her mother, Donna, was photocopying sheet music, Aisha would be in the classic movie section. This time in the company of Golden Era stars and their happy-ever-afters fostered in Aisha a belief that anything was possible.
“I would go through the newspaper when I was a little kid and I would present these opportunities to my mum, who was a single mum and working multiple jobs, and really she didn’t have time to entertain this pie-in-the sky dream.” Aisha laughs. “I always felt really supported by her which is something I’m really grateful for.”
Aisha filmed a few commercials then she booked a role in The Saddle Club but her elation was short when the producers called her to say they’d given the part to someone else. Happily, they wrote a new character for Aisha and there she received an education in TV acting. At age 17, she moved to the US and eventually landed The Bold Type. Initially she thought someone else would be better suited.
“She was this cool girl. I just thought there’s someone out there who’s much cooler who could do this. But I’m really glad that it worked out the way it did because that show was a transformative experience for me.”
Aisha Dee’s Logie hope
“In reading it initially, it almost felt like the script was gaslighting me. It almost felt like that experience put on a page,” Aisha explains.
The role is a sharp departure for Aisha who made a name for herself as the effervescent Kat in the hit, high-sheen US drama The Bold Type. That role a thrill and a dream, she says, but shifting gear into this exploration of abuse offered her a chance to do something that scared her.
“I want to exist in all of the places,” she says. “Being on set is my favourite place in the entire world.”
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