My name is Elise Quinn. I'm 5'3", brunette (my hair is just past my shoulders and is kinda wavy- ish), hazel eyes, tanned skin - well, it used to be, now it just looks normal, petite frame, elfin-like. I look about 24 but I'm probably closer to 29 by now. I was born and brought up in a comfortable upper middle class suburb of Brisbane with my parents Josie and Daniel McDonald (yes I changed my name when I got into acting but I'll talk about that later) and my two younger brothers. I went to one of those private girls schools that thinks it's a lot more elite than it actually is and got really involved in art, drama, English and several school productions where I had leading roles. Having an eidetic memory helped I suppose, it meant I never had trouble remembering my lines. I was pretty popular back then, not like "popular" and bitchy but well liked. I still keep up with a few of my school friends, especially Lauren (Bradley) as she's now down in Melbourne too. She works as a PA to Joseph Peterson so she's a really useful person to know if you know what I mean.
After finishing year 12 I was accepted into the VCA so I relocated to Melbourne to attend. I moved into a share house with a few of my fellow students there - Karen, Liselle and Scott. We used to get drunk and/or stoned regularly and occasionally dabbled in things like LSD, ecstasy, and a fair bit of bedhopping. One night we were all really drunk and Liselle cut herself while cleaning up a glass she'd dropped, which led to us all drinking each others blood and getting very silly. It was a practice we came to repeat on a number of occasions as part of our general excess and avoidance of homework. These days Karen and Liselle still share a place as they are both in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Karen plays oboe, Liselle the cello) and Scott is in the chorus of the Melbourne Ballet. We still catch up sometimes and, well, indulge for old time's sake.
As for me, well I was involved in a number of productions for the VCA, then had a few small TV roles, mostly as an extra and then I had my big break when I was given the lead role of Natasha in a film that was being made by a newcomer to the field, thanks to my then good friend and now agent Simon Wailes. "Hidden Voices" was a huge success in arty circles. The critics raved about us and we even won Best Picture at Cannes that year. That was when I met Xavier (Xavier Collins, you may have heard of him - he writes for The Age and has done a few books of political commentary). He interviewed me for The Age and we ended up dating for about 2 weeks before we realised we were better off just as friends.
I received a pile of offers around about that time for all sorts of shoddy film roles, mostly as the token love interest in big budget small intellect blockbusters. It was tempting, and it would have made me famous but by that time I had a reason to stay fairly low-key - A couple of months after "Hidden Voices" came out, after most of the publicity died down I met an art critic from Sydney who was so enamoured with my portrayal of Natasha that he "wanted to keep the character alive". So now I get to keep my youth but it means staying out of the spotlight so the world doesn't notice how well I keep my looks. Besides, finding a shooting schedule that takes place entirely after dark is not as easy as it sounds. I still do the occasional stage show and have had a few really small roles in films where I could limit my appearances to the evenings. My sire is quite well respected by the other kindred and even though he's normally based in Sydney he visits fairly regularly. We are quite close and he taught me most of what I needed to know to survive. He also pulled a few strings for me here so now I'm doing nightshift make-up at Channel 9 studios. It's not hugely exciting work in itself but it pays the rent, I get to meet lots of interesting people and it gives me lots of very juicy information. It's amazing how much people will tell you if you just pamper their egos. I've also learned how to disguise my lack of age with the right make-up which is going to be really useful in a few years when meant to look 35 but still look 24.
I'm living now in Brunswick. The great thing about terrace houses - they have no side windows and being in Brunswick gives me an excuse to have bars and deadlocks on all the windows and doors and no-one looks twice if you keep your curtains shut all day, every day. My curtains are all really heavy and lightproof and I have one room where the window is totally blacked out. I tell my neighbors it's a darkroom and make sure there are a couple of empty bottles of photography chemicals lying around my backyard to corroborate my story. The backyard is just a cement slab with a clothesline, a couple of dead potplants, a plastic lawn chair and a garden gnome. I have fire extinguishers in all of the rooms (electric hot water please, gas is just a little bit too dangerous) and I also have a hidden basement room where I sleep during the day. To get to it you have to go through the cupboard under the stairs which has a false back and enough clutter in it that it isn't obvious as an entranceway. The only problem with the room is that the cupboard is the only way in or out. I keep a gun in there for emergencies (who wouldn't).
Merits & flaws: