We spend 5 minutes with Neighbours star, Sharon Johal to talk about landing her dream job, life in iso and being the face of Mossimo W20 campaign.
SDT: You star as Dipi Rebecchi on Neighbours, but you haven’t always been in the arts. How long were you pursuing a career in TV whilst working as a lawyer?!
Sharon: To be honest I was pursuing acting from day dot. When I was little I would always put on productions at our house begging our neighbours and friends to attend (without telling my parents). We lived in rural country South Australia so we didn’t have access to acting classes or courses and in any event my parents were conservative so they didn’t support it. It was only when I studied Law and Commerce at The University of Adelaide I started secretly going to acting classes and began auditioning from there. I auditioned for years from this point until I was working as a fully fledged lawyer, getting bit roles and advertisements until eventually I scored the role on Neighbours.
SDT: You made your debut appearance in April of 2017. What have some of your favourite story lines been so far?
Sharon: Oh there are so many! In true “Neighbours” style, we get to play hilarious and extreme storylines and bring that family feeling/drama into the households of so many!
Some of them include Dipi’s “special” tea (you can read between the lines there), Dipi putting on her musical “Flapper”, Dipi predicting the death of residents in Erinsborough through her tarot card readings, Dipi forever catching the wrong end of the stick and so on. Some of the more serious and devastating story lines included the death of Dipi’s beloved sister in law Sonya, her Husband cheating on her and one of the girls becoming deaf and the either enduring racism through sport.
SDT: You’re the face of the Mossimo Winter 20 collection. Tell us more about the range.
Sharon: The range is the epitome of comfort and is made for EVERY woman. I love the colour blocking and the ability it has to be mixed and matched with every piece and dressed up:down according to your mood!
SDT:We’re all spending a lot of time at home right now. Which pieces are you getting the most wear out of in iso?
Sharon: For me it’s the Mossimo track pants when I’m lounging at home because they are warmest and also it give me the feeling of “home” and all the comfort and goodness associated with that.
The Mossimo black tights are a key piece as well because they match with everything and are great for running errands whilst maintaining that “cool Melbourne” look!
SDT: What are you most looking forward to post-ISO?
Sharon: Hugging my parents and family! Many of them live in South Australia and are considered “vulnerable” and because of the border restrictions and quarantine issues we just can’t do it right now. I particularly missed our mums over Mother’s Day, it was so sad, we love them so much. We, like many others have realised it’s the simpler pleasures that matter to us.
Catch Sharon on Neighbours 6:30pm weeknights on 10Peach
