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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 17 december 2016
Aussie star of ‘Place to Call Home’ set sights on Hollywood

LYNN ELBER available on streaming ser-
AP Television Writer vice Acorn, is building to
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aus- its season-four finale to be
tralian actors and Holly- released on Christmas Day.
wood tend toward mutual The intricate, 1950s-set fam-
admiration, with the gang- ily saga has been dubbed
buster careers of Cate the Aussie “Downton Ab-
Blanchett and Hugh Jack- bey,” for those who need
man, among others, as evi- a nudge to binge-watch
dence. the previous seasons and
So it’s understandable that catch up.
Marta Dusseldorp, a lead- Dusseldorp is another rea-
ing TV star down under, has son, an actress whose in-
decided to give America a telligent, nuanced perfor-
try. Or a second try, to be mances are matched by
accurate. She briefly came her finely etched beauty.
here as a novice actor two (Cheekbones to die for?
decades ago, but couldn’t Check.) She veers skillfully
afford to pursue stage work from a steely prosecutor
in New York and found the (“Janet King”) to an intrep-
LA industry challenging for id journalist (“Jack Irish”)
a young outsider. to a nurse with a troubled
“It was incredibly competi- past. The last is Sarah Ad-
tive, and also then Austra- ams, her character in “A
lians weren’t really well- Place to Call Home,” who
known. I went home and alienated her Catholic
just never stopped work- mother by marrying a Jew-
ing,” said Dusseldorp. ish man, converting and
She became an award- moving with him to Europe. This undated image released by Acorn TV shows Marta Dusseldorp as Sarah Nordmann in a scene
from, “A Place To Call Home.” available on the streaming service Acorn TV.
winning stage actress and Minimal spoilers: Fate sent Associated Press
then, after marrying actor her back alone to Austra-
Benjamin Winspear and lia after World War II and to which she says reflects the grandfather’s company Sorkin method” of ensem-
having two daughters, fo- a job at a hospital in rural return of series creator Bev- helped build the Sydney ble acting, on display in
cused on TV work that was New South Wales. an Lee. It’s a “page-turner,” Opera House and formed Sorkin’s “The Newsroom”
more conducive to family That brings her into the she said, with “revenge, the roots of a major Austra- and “The West Wing,” holds
life. orbit of the wealthy, influ- murder, hope, despair and lia firm. particular appeal. Her goal
Now at the top of her ential Bligh family — with a little bit of laughter as “I’m glad when I came to isn’t to conquer U.S. tele-
game, Dusseldorp hopes whom she’d had a fateful well. It’s a little cheekier.” the U.S. before that I only vision, she said, but to ex-
her next U.S. foray might be encounter on her home- As for her second go-round stayed for six months, be- pand her creative horizons
different. Among her call- ward voyage — and its in America, that’s on hold cause I feel I have a lot and keep learning.
ing cards: The successful matriarch, Elizabeth (Noni until she fulfills her Austra- more to offer now as an “I’d love to work with some
TV dramas “A Place to Call Hazlehurst), who makes lian TV obligations late next actor. I could now actually of the best of the world,
Home,” ‘’Janet King” and no secret of her hostility to year. She’s hopeful but keep up in the television and a lot of them are in
“Jack Irish,” all on the air Sarah. not cocky, although suc- world,” Dusseldorp said in a America. You want to find
this year in Australia. Dusseldorp is especially cess does run in the family: phone interview. those artists and work with
“A Place to Call Home,” pleased with season four, Her Dutch-born paternal What she calls the “Aaron them,” she said.q

Wonder Woman dumped as a special

UN ambassador after uproar

MARK KENNEDY and Girls would end this indication it would end so
AP Entertainment Writer week, a move that come quickly.
NEW YORK (AP) — The com- less than two months after “It’s ending because it’s
ic book heroine Wonder a splashy ceremony at the ending. And it was al-
Woman has been abruptly U.N., which attracted ac- ways meant to end,” U.N.
fired from her honorary am- tresses Lynda Carter, who spokesman Jeffrey A. Brez
bassador job at the United played Wonder Woman in told The Associated Press.
Nations following protests the 1970s TV series, and Gal “The objective was to
from both inside and out- Gadot, who has taken on reach out to Wonder Wom-
side the world organiza- the role in the forthcoming an’s fans and I think we did
tion that a white, skimpily “Wonder Woman” film. a great job of that.”q
dressed American prone Critics said the appoint-
to violence wasn’t the best ment was tone deaf at a In this Oct. 21, 2016 file photo,
role model for girls. time when real women are Lynda Carter, who played
Rheal LeBlanc, head of fighting against sexual ex- Wonder Woman on television,
listens during a U.N. meeting
press and external rela- ploitation and abuse, and to designate Wonder Woman
tions, said Tuesday the that there were plenty of as an “Honorary Ambassador
appointment of Wonder real heroines that could be for the Empowerment of
Woman as an Honorary the face for gender equal- Women and Girls,” at U.N.
Ambassador for the Em- ity. At the time of the ap- headquarters.
powerment of Women pointment, there was no Associated Press