NORTH’S OWN MAKES IT IN HOLLYWOOD HOMETOWN STAR

IT’S A LONG WAY FROM BELGIAN GARDENS STATE SCHOOL TO TINSEL TOWN, BUT A STARRING ROLE IN BOX-OFFICE HIT THE INVISIBLE MAN HAS PAVED THE WAY FOR HARRIET DYER TO CARVE OUT A LONG CAREER IN SHOW BUSINESS

ible Man has been a critical and commercial success, grossing US$129 million ($186.09 million) at the box office on a US$7 million budget.

Dyer was at home in Townsville recently and spent time with her family, including her sister Madeleine, who is also carving out her own creative path.

In fact Dyer watched The Invisible Man for the first time while at home, viewing it at a local cinema after missing the LA premiere because of work commitments.

“When I got the part (in The Invisible Man), I was immediately

nervous, I was like, ‘*hit, now I have to play Elisabeth Moss’s sister’ and she is at the top of her game right now and all of my scenes are with her,” Dyer said.

“I’ve got to go head to head with her otherwise it won’t work.

“So I was pretty nervous but I took that little mantra that ‘I’m right for this’ all the way throughout the job.”

While she might be a new face to many cinemagoers, Dyer is not an overnight sensation.

Getting her first experience of acting in the musical Annie when she was seven, Dyer went on to per

form in groups such as the Townsville Choral Society, and North Queensland Opera and Music Theatre.

She left Townsville as an 18year-old to study a year-long musical theatre course before turning her focus to acting in 2009.

Roles in Australian television shows such as Janet King, Love Child and No Activity soon followed, and that domestic success propelled Dyer to move to Hollywood in 2017.

Dyer’s role in The Invisible Man is set to launch her to another level of success, but the down to earth

“Townsvillean” says North Queensland is still her slice of paradise.

“All those opportunities that Townsville provided, all those festivals, shows they put on, it did provide a pretty amazing training ground for me to really build that belief in myself,” she says.

”Without all those opportunities, I wouldn’t be here,” she says.

“To succeed and do well, you just need a few people to believe in you.” >>The Invisible Man is screening at Reading Cinemas Townsville.