Lounge Talk: Angourie Rice

At 21 years old, you have already starred in many hit movies and TV shows, and even run your own podcast. If you had to choose one moment when you realized you were meant to be in the acting business, what would it be?

I don’t think there was one single moment for me. I fell into acting at a young age, and just kept asking myself along the way: do I want to do this? Leaving home for months at a time was always a big decision, and it could be really hard to be away from school, friends, and family. I still ask myself with every project: Is this what I want to do? And as long as the answer is yes, I feel this is what I’m meant to do.

You started acting at a very young age. What do you think life would be like right now if you had never decided to pursue acting?

My life would be very different. I think I’d probably be at university in Australia. I always wanted to study English literature, but I was also interested in biology. I loved studying virology and immunology in school, so maybe I’m a scientist in a parallel universe?

As an actor, you often spend large gaps of time away from home to film. What do you do when you feel homesick?

I watch Australian films and TV. I spent about two and a half months in London filming Spider-Man: Far From Home, and I rewatched all of Dance Academy while I was there. Dance Academy was one of my favorite Aussie shows growing up – it’s about teenagers at a ballet school in Sydney. When I can’t call friends back home, it’s a good fix for homesickness.

Traveling to a foreign country as a teenager must have been very daunting. What was it like to leave home for the first time to film in another country?

It was really scary at first! I was so nervous and overwhelmed, and every second was a pinch-me moment. I’m grateful that my parents kept certain routines consistent. I still did school work during school hours. We went for walks around the neighborhood and called friends in the afternoon. I try to do the same thing now. I bring my life with me, rather than creating a completely new life overseas. Maintaining a routine definitely helps the adjustment.

From the Spider-man series to Senior Year and Honor Society, does playing a high schooler remind you of when you were in high school? Is there a character most like you when you were that age?

Playing a high schooler definitely reminds me of my high school experience, but it’s also quite different because I went to an Australian high school. There are many similarities, but a few cultural differences, for sure. I went to a small arts school, so we didn’t have big sports teams or mascots or anything like that. I think I was a lot like Honor or Betty in high school. I was definitely nowhere near as popular as Stephanie from Senior Year. I was friends with a few people, like Siobhan from Mare of Easttown, and wished I could be as cool as them.