| First of all I would like to say thanks to everyone who ever
supported the show and to all of you for taking the time to send me these
great questions. And bravo to Ric and the webteam for this excellent
site. |
From: Olivia Ruiz-Joffre, 14, France "How did u start your job ?
I mean, how did u start actress job ? Because I'm very interested in this
job...
Thanks, |
| Olivia... Basically I studied drama all through school and secondary
school, then went on to study it at university as well, before I got into
drama school. |
From:Janneke
Hi Elena, I think you're a great actress and I would like to know what its like
to play the role. Is it always a lot of fun or are there also moments you would
like to do something else instead of acting? Thanks. |
| Thanks Janneke! I loved playing Jackie, it was lots of fun especially
since she is quite different to how I am in real life. But also some hard
work - preparing the scene, rehearsing, getting up early, learning
lines etc. The only time it is hard being an actor is when you are
out of work; in these times its easy to wish for another kind of job, but
when the next acting gig comes along again you forget all about that. |
| From: Rik Runge, Holland Have you been acting in other shows? |
| I've done a few guest roles here on Australian TV (Murder Call, Children's
Hospital). I trained in theatre, so most of my work has been theatre work,
so I loved the opportunity to do television when Heartbreak High came along.
My latest theatre job was in a production of urFaust which
toured to Weimar and Munich in Germany in October and will also be going
to the 2000 Adelaide Festival. |
| What is your birthday? |
| 26th of February. Any presents are welcome. he he |
| From: Karine I've got family who lives in Australia in Melbourne exactly. Are
you greek? |
| Well I was born in Australia so officially that makes me Australian.
But my mum is from Cyprus and my dad is from a Greek island called Icaria,
so yeah you could definitely call me Greek. |
|
Do you have a nick-name? |
| My friends call me Ele (pronounced Elli). Luke Jacobz used to call me
Jelly (a mixture of Ele and Jackie) on the set of HBH, so I called him
Zuke (Luke and Zak, geddit??) |
| From: Miljana I love vry much Heart break high.My favourite actor is
Callan Mulvey. Who's your favourite actor? Bye! |
| Callan is very talented I agree. I have loads of favourite actors including
Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush from Australia, Roberto Begnini, Johnny
Depp, Glenn Close, Lily Taylor, Isabella Adjani, Jeremy Irons, Kate Winslet,
Jerry Lewis, Olympia Dukakis, Richard E Grant ..... I could go on for hours,
really. |
| From: Rianne *Who's your favourite singer? |
| Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Madonna, Jeff Buckley, Nick Cave, and many more |
|
*Do you know Laura Pausini? |
| She is very talented but not as big in Australia as she is in Europe |
| *What's your favourite country? |
| I love living in Australia but I really enjoy travelling
and seeing other countries. I love Europe and Africa. |
| How did you get on with all the cast members? |
| I know this sounds boring but everyone was so nice! It's a bit scary
joining an established cast and crew but everyone on set made me feel very
welcome. I had a ball, not only with the actors but also with the crew
who were supportive and a lot of fun. |
From: Marion Claudon, 15, France
Hi Elena, would you have wanted that Miss Kassis fell in love with Marc in HBH? |
| Hi Marion. That's a tough one. I think that Jackie really liked Marc
very much, but she was bound by her responsibility as a teacher not to
let any feelings go too far. Maybe if Marc was a little older and not her
student....... |
| From: Rik Runge, Holland 1. How did you end up at Heartbreak High?? |
| Basically I went to an audition. I did a lot of preparation because I
really wanted a chance to do the show because like you I admired it very
much. |
| 2. Please give us an example of how your workdays were filled... |
| Drive out to the school at about 5.30 or 6am, have breakfast, get into
costume, make up, get the hair done, go out onto set, film the scenes,
maybe a rehearsal here and there in between, and have lots of fun. Then
the long drive home in peak hour Sydney traffic. |
| 3. Was the school, seen in series 6/7, the same school where the in-class
scenes were recorded? |
| Yes it was a self contained set. The science room was on the ground floor. |
From: Karine, 23. I live in France near Paris.
Do you know if "Heartbreak High" shootings will start again in one
or two years ? If yes, will you want to play Jackie again ?
Thank you. |
| Thanks Mourad, Karine, I'd love the chance to do Heartbreak again,
but as far as I know there are no plans for a series 8. :-( But
if they ever want me back as Jackie, I'm there. |
| What were Cal and Lara like to work with? Thanks |
I really enjoyed working with them, they are both down
to earth, very warm, friendly and professional. |
|
Im 13 years old and i live in Melbourne, Victoria. I would like to ask Elena
Carapetis about her role as Jackie.
Was it hard to get the part?, Do you enjoy playing Jackie?
and i would just also like to add that you guys should just keep on doing what
your doing because HeartBreakHigh has always been on my "things to watch" list! |
| Thanks Kayla. I was very lucky to work on Heartbreak, I nagged my agent
that I would love an audition and when I got one I was so happy. I was
even happier when I got the job! And yes I enjoy playing Jackie, because
she is constantly being challenged as a teacher and sometimes she panics
and gets herself into a bit of a mess. She's not much older than the students
she teaches so her youth makes her both passionate and naive; its good
to see a teacher learning as much as the pupils do. |
| From: Nicole Do u like working with the other acters off Heartbreak High??Thanks
From Heartbreak Highs No.1 Fan! |
| Hi Nicole. I think the actors I worked with on Heartbreak
are extremely talented and very generous actors. That really does make all the
difference when you are shooting a scene, because it comes alive. Sometimes
you see actors in a scene together but they are not working together, it
becomes the whole "my line, your line" thing, where you know
the other actor isn't even listening to you and all they are thinking about
is how they look and what they are going to say next. That can be very
frustrating. But I can't say that I experienced that at HBH. We had extensive
rehearsals based on fine tuning our listening skills and making detailed
choices about how to play a scene. I learnt so much from everyone from
the directors, Andrea Moore and Khristina Totos our acting coaches, the
crew, to watching the other actors work. I loved the fact that we were
from different acting backgrounds too. John Gregg has been an actor for
years and I loved working with him because he is so clear and precise,
you know you are going to hit the scene in maybe one or two takes. (And
he has great stories to tell about his career.) And then there's the younger
actors who have had little or no training who are full of this amazing
instinct. |
From: Kelly, 17, Melbourne Australia 1.what was it like working with
the cast?
2. were you disapointed when they stopped making hbh? |
| Like everyone I was very disappointed, not just because I loved my job
on the show, but also because it was such a good programme that deserves
to go on and on. |
| From: Del, 15, Sydney Australia What is your most fave episode? |
| I really liked the episodes where Marco and Jackie got close, and
the storyline where Lee loses it and stands screaming on the top of the
school building. Marcel's work was fantastic in that ep. And I really enjoyed
the whole love-hate relationship between Marc and Thania, I think they
had lots of spark and work beautifully together. And the Mr Carson outing
episode was an interesting one. But then I have heaps of favourite eps
from all the other series as well! |
From: Jelena Stojanovic, Perth Australia 1. How did u get onto HbH??? 2. In the
series, Marc has a crush on your character, if u were a teacher
for real, how would you handle that situation??? |
| Hmmm, I think the mistake Jackie made in that situation was to panic.
But that was due to her inexperience. Being a young teacher is challenging
because you do have so much in common with the people you teach and it
is absolutely understandable for teachers to develop a fondness for their
students and vise versa. Sometimes that fondness from the student can tip
over into a crush. If I were in a situation where a student had a crush,
I think rather than panic, I'd try not give it too much negative thought,
but figure out a way - still as a teacher- to let the student know that
a relationship between a teacher and a student comprimises the both of
them. Crushes are normal, they happen all the time and it would be nothing
to be ashamed about. But teachers have a responsibility to their students
and it would be unfair if they took advantage of their feelings. |
| 3. Who was your best friend on the set of HbH??? thanx for the time |
| As I said before, everyone was brilliant. Putu was hilarious. I spent
more time with certain people because I worked with them more. So I became
quite close to Tasneem who is a gorgeous person and Danny who is very special.
I also still love to see Luke, and John and Marcel (who are with the same
agency as me), Bianca, Lara, Cal, Catherine and it's fantastic when you
bump into a member of the crew on another job. |
| From: Angélique Middendorp (19 years old) from the Netherlands Dear Ms. Carapetis,
A few months ago I've discovered Heartbreak High and absolutely love
it. Currently I'm watching each and every episode of it and on France 2 I saw
the series with you in it, you were great. Also in the same series recently shown
on France 2, I saw that the character of Marco (played by Danny Raco) really
liked "Jackie" (your character). Was Danny easy to work with? |
| Thank you Angelique. Danny was great to work with, he has a great honesty and
sensitivity, but also a sense of humour. I would love to work with him again. |
| "Marco" later got a relationship with "Thania" (played
by Tasneem Roc). Did Danny and Tasneem get along or don't you know about
that? |
| They get along very well. Tas was disappointed
when Danny was out of town for her 21st, so we are planning a bit of
a reunion soon. |
| Did everyone in the cast get along? I already know about Callan ("Drazic")
and Lara ("Anita"). With whom were you able to work the best? Well,
this were my questions (as you probably notice, they're mainly about being
able to work with someone. It's really important to me to know whether my
favourite characters get along with each other as actors). Thank you for
your time. Sincerely. |
| By "get along" do you mean date/go out
with??? Most of us (apart from Cal and Lara) had partners at the time. |
A big thanks to Elena Carapetis for taking the time to answer all our
questions! |
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