She’s been a body double for Sigourney Weaver in Avatar, played a beloved Shortland Street character and won awards for her work in theatre, but Laurel Devenie says no acting job could have prepared her for her hardest role yet – keeping up with the active imagination of her three-year-old daughter Lyra.
“She loves to role play and she loves being told bespoke stories,” tells Laurel, who shares Lyra with partner Matt Keene, 52. “All day, she’ll be like, ‘Can you tell me a story about me and you going to the moon?’ Or it’ll be about going to a different land.
“During the most recent lockdown, Matt had to be Shrek for three weeks. And we’ve had to be all of the Dr Seuss characters, and you have to stay in the role for a long time. Even with all my training, I’m still exhausted,” she adds with a laugh.
Laurel and Matt have a little star on their hands!
Lyra’s keen interest in performing is no surprise considering the impressive pedigree she hails from. Laurel’s dad Stuart is also an actor, starring in Kiwi classics like The Brokenwood Mysteries and Shortland Street, and though her mum Gillian retired from acting a long time ago, she is often roped in to help on shows that Laurel and Stuart create together.
With actor dad Stuart Devenie.
But it’s not just Lyra whose been bitten by the performing bug: all three of Laurel’s stepdaughters – Kaitlin Scott, 26, Sophie Gilbert Keene, 22, and Finn, 16 – have also picked up the family trade in their own ways.
Though Finn is still in high school, she had a small role on Shorty last year playing a teenager who had gone through conversion therapy. Sophie is about to start her first year as a teacher in English and drama, and Kaitlin works with Laurel as a manager and producer at OneOneSix, the theatre they run in Whangārei.
The only member of the family who hasn’t joined the fun is Matt, who works in IT.
“He’s far away from that world except for supporting me, which is probably good,” explains Laurel.
The 39-year-old is back on Shorty, reprising her role as Kate Hannah, the no-nonsense nurse who had a brief tryst with Chris Warner (played by Michael Galvin) before finding love with Mo Hannah (Jarod Rawiri) and having his baby after he tragically died in a plane crash.
A final mo with Mo
Appearing on the show for four years from 2016, Laurel says the best part about being in Ferndale is that she never knows what the next day would hold for her character.
She explains, “One moment you’ll be in a really serious emotional storyline about some extreme social issue that they do so well. And the next week you’ll be on a blind date with someone crazy or you’ve got a bad hair day. I loved exploring that dynamic.”
Apart from a brief appearance last year, this is the first time she’s been back properly since she welcomed Lyra. Laurel was pregnant during her final season on the show and it was special to be able to bring her daughter back to meet everyone who knew her before she was even born.
Laurel adds they had to keep Lyra away from the set as she knew once she saw what was happening, it would be impossible to keep her from getting in front of the cameras.
“Lyra’s got a very clear sense of acting and performing and what it is. She’s pretty wild and would definitely want to come and be involved in it.”
With daughter Lyra
The last time the Weekly caught up with Laurel not long after the birth of Lyra in 2019, she and Matt were basking in the joy of not only their new arrival but also their recent engagement.
But have they made it down the aisle since?
“We have made no advancements on that!” Laurel laughs. “But I hope we will do it next year. I don’t know how people fit everything into their days. Having a toddler while organising a wedding feels so intensely difficult to do at the same time, but we’ll get there.”
Though they’ve struggled to find the time to organise it, Laurel and Matt know exactly what they want for their big day.
“We both want a big party with friends and family,” shares Laurel. “I want to make sure everyone is fed and we can have a boogie. I’m not too fussed with all the other stuff. I’m turning 40 in March, so I thought I’ll have a big 40th and that can be a practice.”
