When Geraldine Viswanathan describes the past two years as "completely surreal and amazing" she isn't joking - although comedy is one of her strengths.
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The 24-year-old actor from Whitebridge who attended Hunter School of the Performing Arts at Broadmeadow is quickly and not so quietly making a name for herself in Hollywood, where she already has an enviable list of movie credits to her name.
Read more: A leading lady in the making
When Weekender first spoke to Geraldine in 2016, on the eve of her flight to Los Angeles for "pilot season", she had this to say: "Mum had a friend of a friend who meets with you and tells you if you have potential. Apparently I did. We went to another meeting and from there I got an agent and a manager. That was the turning point for me. I had always felt, as a girl with darker skin, that there wouldn't be many opportunities for me in LA. I was the only kid with dark skin at my school and I didn't think I could ever get a lead role because I wasn't the right fit. Comedy and TV have always been the dream for me. I'm totally inspired by people like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and I would love to be on an amazing sitcom. But it's going to be an experience no matter how it ends."
And what an experience it has been. There is a seismic shift happening in the world of movie making in the US and Geraldine is smack bang in the middle of it. Female directors are stepping up; actors from diverse ethnic backgrounds are being offered quality roles; stereotypes are being challenged.
Diversity is being celebrated.
Geraldine's first "big break" was feature film Blockers, followed by The Package, Stan series Miracle Workers, Hala and now Bad Education. The rest of 2019 is being spent filming The Broken Heart Gallery followed by season two of Miracle Workers. And there is more to come.
It's an exciting time for this talented and delightfully down-to-earth Australian actor and her family: father Dr Suresh Viswanathan, who works in nuclear medicine, mother Anja and younger sister Indira.
"Life is pretty darn good. I can't complain," Geraldine says, laughing. She is in Newcastle enjoying some time out with family and friends when Weekender calls.
"I'm heading back to the US this week as I'm shooting a movie in Toronto in two weeks' time, but I've been home for almost a month. I had some time off and wanted to recoup."
While in Newcastle she had a birthday party at Oakvale Farm with friends while wearing a penguin "onesie" (very Geraldine), having previously celebrated in New York at a one-year-old's themed party organised by boyfriend Miles Robbins (son of Hollywood royalty Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins who also starred in Blockers and shares Geraldine's love of comedy).
And just last weekend the family enjoyed a quick road trip to Byron Bay to celebrate Anja's 50th birthday. They're a close unit, the Viswanathans, and friendly to boot.
"Everyone is very excited for me and I'm very lucky to be surrounded by such supportive people," Geraldine says.
"My friendships have remained the same, which I am really grateful for. It's so nice coming home and it's like I never left. I'm just in my pyjamas constantly and I'm like 'Mum what's for dinner?'."
Anja loves to cook and is particularly proud of her lamb curry, she tells me when we meet at Redhead Beach.
Geraldine backed herself and her abilities when she moved to Los Angeles in 2016 to audition for pilot season, having been shortlisted for the 2015 Heath Ledger Scholarship the previous year.
During pilot season aspiring actors attend audition after audition in front of time-pressed casting agents. Even if an actor scores a role, the program itself might not make it through to a network. It's a ruthless process but a necessary one for actors seeking their big break.
Anja also backed her daughter's drive and ability. She tells Weekender she was "very anxious" when Geraldine left for LA but also excited for her. She couldn't accompany her because Indira was still at school at the time.
"Geraldine was so convinced about going to the US she went to the embassy in Sydney to get her six-month visa. She just went ahead and did it; it was meant to be," Anja says.
"She was used to LA because we had lived there for three months when she was 15. She wasn't frightened. She went at the perfect time, too, working with all these first-time female directors after the Me Too movement.
"And she has a great team around her. They are really thinking about her career and not just about the money."
Anja herself comes from a creative family in Switzerland.
"My dad is a filmmaker and he was a ballet dancer. I always wanted to be an actress but my focus was on horses and competitive horse riding," she says.
"Dad didn't make movies with actors, he made documentaries. I very much grew up in that world.
"When I finished school I went to a musical theatre school in London for three years, having already met my husband in Paris. Then we came to Newcastle and had a family. Suresh was training to be a doctor and I was a mum but I did do a couple of shows here and there, like Annie and West Side Story.
"I had an agent in Sydney and I got guest roles in TV shows but, you know, with my accent I was always cast as the German."
A friend of Anja's suggested that Geraldine audition for Hunter School of the Performing Arts. Geraldine was five years old at the time and the previous year had appeared on a Kodak television commercial.
"With Geraldine's outgoing personality she got in straight away, they loved her. She was so bubbly. That was the beginning," Anja explains.
"She always had this special something about her. A presence, something you can't learn.
"I didn't realise acting was her passion until she was about 15 and she did some acting courses in LA. Her passion had always been the horses. She wanted to ride all the time. Then she got a very high ATAR. She could have done anything, really."
Geraldine's talent and presence allowed her to leap-fog the canned laughter and uncertainty of a dime-a-dozen sitcom during pilot season. Her big break was a feature film. Blockers.
She describes her Blockers experience as "a bit like studio boot camp". John Cena played her overprotective father in the film alongside Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz.
"Blockers was my first gig in the States and I learnt so much by watching Leslie and Ike; the way they were able to be so relaxed and improv and have fun," she says.
"That's when it clicked for me. I was like 'That's what I should be doing'. Having fun instead of freaking out over whether I was going to get something right. And straight after that I filmed Netflix movie The Package, then the drama film Hala which went to Sundance Film Festival this year and just got bought by Apple."
There is a hint of pride in her voice when she speaks of Hala. In this coming-of-age drama, directed by Minhal Baig, Geraldine is a Pakistani-American teen struggling to find her identity in a divided family. Her stand-out performance in this leading role proved that Geraldine's talent wasn't confined to her comedic timing.
"It was completely different, yes, and I did it right off the back of this really outrageous Netflix comedy. It was a big adjustment but such a rewarding experience," she says.
"The role was so intense and the opposite of what I had been doing. I am so excited for that movie to come out, it's really special."
Her next project is The Broken Heart Gallery which she will be filming in Toronto, Canada, this month with fellow Aussie and Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery.
"It's going to be really fun," Geraldine says.
"It's produced by Selena Gomez's company and has a really awesome first-time female director Natalie Krinsky."
Geraldine tends to gravitate towards female directors. She worked with Kay Cannon on Blockers, best known for directing the Pitch Perfect trilogy.
"It's just the way that it's unfolded - it wasn't necessarily intentional - but it's worked out so well. Every experience I have had has been great," she says.
Geraldine was drawn to the US, where diversity was being embraced and celebrated by writers and directors alike. She took a leap of faith and it paid off. And she isn't alone. Keep an eye out for fellow Australian actors Chris Pang, Keiynan Lonsdale, Remy Hii, Eka Darville and Dichen Lachman. Like Geraldine - and perhaps following her lead - they come from diverse backgrounds and have found more career opportunities in the US than at home.
"I think Australia is, hmmm. It's hard to describe," she says, carefully.
"Film making is always about telling diverse and interesting stories, and the people who are telling them. I think that we should embrace more diverse people and put storytellers in positions of power because that has a trickle-down effect and they'll cast diverse people.
"It starts there, with the people working at the networks or the producers and directors.
"I used to be a reader in casting rooms, and I was a reader for the Australian casting process of Crazy Rich Asians so I read with Ronny Chieng and Chris Pang and it's been really cool seeing them make their way in the States at the same time as me.
"I was so stoked at the success of that movie, I think it speaks volumes about what the audience wants.
"You know, I get messages every day asking if I'm Indian, if I'm ethnic. It's interesting because it's just a quick Google away, you know? We're all ethnic, really, so it's a strange question. But people aren't used to seeing someone like me in movies, and in the roles I'm playing."
Not only are stereotypes changing in Hollywood, so too are the scripts. Blockers is not your average teen comedy. It essentially turns a tired and traditionally sexist genre on its head.
"It was really cool to be a part of that. In Blockers the girls got to be funny and smart and strong and interesting. So often teenagers are portrayed as one-dimensional and stereotyped," Geraldine explains.
"Typically, those kinds of raunchy sex comedies are a boys' club all round - they star men, they are directed by men and it's meant for men. But this film completely flips that, and it's so refreshing. You kind of go into it thinking it might be the same, then it has this totally fresh perspective where the girls are funny and also the main characters of their own stories."
Working with Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi on Stan series Miracle Workers was a definite "pinch me" moment for Geraldine. Did she think she had a chance when she auditioned for a role?
Geraldine laughs.
"Hell no. Of course not. I loved the script so much and I'm a big fan of Simon Rich too. I auditioned for another character in the show and they brought me back for Eliza," she says.
"Everyone always asks me about Harry Potter and what he's like. Daniel has amazing taste when it comes to roles. I really love his movie Swiss Army Man and I know he's really proud of that movie in particular. He's an artist who keeps it interesting. And it just so happened that he got this really iconic franchise role when he was a little kid."
Speaking of big names, last year Geraldine filmed Bad Education with fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman. It's due for release later this year.
"We did re-shoots a few weeks ago, actually," she says.
"Cory Finley, the director, is so amazing. The combination of Cory and Hugh as the leaders of the project made for the most wonderful working environment. Everyone was just so stoked to be there; we had the best time.
"It's based on a true story, an embezzlement scandal that happened in a local high school. I work at the student newspaper and end up breaking the story of the year."
Her busy schedule also includes a second season of Miracle Workers, which Anja says will be shot in Prague. She also lets it slip that Geraldine is "up for a part in another big movie but it hasn't been confirmed yet".
The general consensus is that Geraldine was the "breakout star" of Blockers. And Hollywood Reporter included her in its Next Gen Talent 2018 list as one of "20 rising stars among the blockbuster breakouts and small-screen discoveries who are shaking up the industry". Does this kind of recognition - and expectation - put pressure on her?
"It excited me, to be honest," she says. "I feel really honoured to be called a break-out star and be put on the Next Gen list. They are all 'pinch me' moments because I am in the company of other artists that I really admire.
"Every now and then I get moments of 'Well, I hope I do carry on with all this' but for the most part it is just an honour."
I ask Geraldine about a horse race she attended last year in the UK with Sarandon where she spent time in a VIP area occupied by Queen Elizabeth II herself. In true Geraldine style, she and Miles posted a few humble but hilarious photos of the occasion on Instagram.
"That was so insane," she says, laughing.
"It feels so completely absurd it's just funny sometimes. Where was I again? Oh yes, Windsor. In the royal box with the Queen. I was like 'This is ridiculous'. You've got to enjoy it and laugh.
"That's why the Miracle Workers ideology resonated with me so much. It's like everything is completely random and nothing makes sense. That's what I keep saying to myself, anyway."
As for the future, anything is possible. But for now Geraldine will continue to live out of two suitcases and go where the work takes her.
And Anja? Her chicks have left the Whitebridge nest and she has started a small acting school in her downstairs "creative room".
"I've helped Geraldine with her monologues and screen tests for a long time and now I've started to help my friends' children. It's called Anja's Place but it's still in the very early stages," she says.
"I'd like to spend some more time in Switzerland with my family as well, maybe do some acting.
"And I think Indira will probably join Geraldine in America ... who knows what the future will bring?"
