GEORGINA HAIG ‘PLAYING ELSA WAS A DREAM COME TRUE
THE ACTRESS OPENS UP ABOUT PLAYING THE ICONIC CHARACTER
Australian actress Georgina Haig recently starred in the Australian TV drama Secret Bridesmaids’ Business, but she is best known for her role as Elsa in Once Upon a Time. Here she speaks to New Idea about what it was like playing the Frozen princess.
The mum of one admits her daughter Greta is a huge fan.
“My daughter loves Frozen! There was a moment where she was at my mum’s house, and Mum’s got photos of me everywhere as Elsa. So all of a sudden, Greta was like, ‘Mummy? Elsa?’ And I said, ‘Yes I am Elsa. You have to do everything I say!’, trying to use it to control her behaviour! You’ve got to use what you can as a parent,” she says.
“[Playing Elsa] was a very surreal job, as every young girl dreams of getting to dress up like that! So many boys and girls dress up as those characters growing up, and I got paid to do it! It was really fun,” she adds.
But the 34-year-old admits it wasn’t all fun and games.
“Working in costumes like that can be challenging. I had to do a lot of running in a very heavy dress! I should put on my CV: Can run in heels and a giant frock. That is one of my skills. And after playing Elsa on Once Upon a Time, I had a six-metrelong cape, so I can navigate large costumes,” she says.
Originally trained as a classical ballerina, Georgina sidestepped into acting and won two leading roles in feature films
Wasted on the Young and Road
Train in 2010.
Four-and-a-half years ago, she relocated to the US with husband Josh Mapleston and landed the much-coveted role as Elsa in TV series Once Upon a Time, which she admits she almost fell into.
“I auditioned, a week later I was here [in Canada] and we were shooting. It all happened really, really fast,” she told IGN.
“It was a little nerve-racking at first, thinking about the responsibility of taking on such a beloved character and a character so many people identify with. But it’s been really fun and I was very supported here. It’s been good but very overwhelming in many ways.”
Georgina recently returned to the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, to film the drama series Secret Bridesmaids’ Business, in which she played a character very close to home.
“Olivia is very heart-on-thesleeve, an optimist and bright, but she can also be a bit reserved in putting on a front that everything is fine,” she told WHO.
“It was similar to how I am and how a lot of women in my family are. It just rang very true to a lot of things in my life. So, sharing it [on screen] feels very personal.”