ON-SET EXPERIENCE AND SELF-DISCOVERY
Media Super caught up with New Zealand actor Keven Souza, winner of last year’s Graduate Internship, to find out more about the route to achieving his dream and what insights he has to share with potential future winners.
As the arts and entertainment industry’s dedicated super fund, Media Super is proud to partner Equity Foundation and support the Graduate Internship Program, underpinning our commitment to supporting opportunities for new and emerging talent.
Keven Souza
When Keven finished his course through The Actors’ Program in Auckland, Aotearoa (NZ), in 2022, he felt ready to dive into acting work but strikes happening at the time made it challenging. This provided an opportunity for him to reflect on his heritage, leading him to write, produce, direct and act in the lead role in a short film, Voyage, an African-Latino coming of age story. Shortly after, he was booked for a New Zealand TV show, Spinal Destination.
“I secured a role as a nurse on Spinal Destination and it was a big deal for me,” Keven says. “Not only was it my first role out of drama school, but I also got to work with seasoned actors in New Zealand. People I had been watching throughout my life.”
Keven’s experience on the show, set in a hospital spinal unit, was a positive one, as he had the freedom to develop his character. “The director was open to my suggestions to enhance the character I played. It was so freeing to work in that space.”
In his last week of filming, Keven was delighted to learn he had won the Equity Foundation’s Graduate Internship, selected by the casting department of Neighbours from more than 100 impressive graduates from across Australia and New Zealand. In mid-December last year he arrived in Melbourne to be on the set of Neighbours.
“It was full-on,” he recalls. “I had no idea what a massive set Neighbours was filmed on. The detail that went into it blew me away.”
Keven says he felt there was a “fresh energy” in the writers’ room during his time there, which coincided with the show being taken over by Amazon Prime. “There were so many interesting discussions about character and plot. I felt there was new life being breathed into the show.”
Since then, Keven has been busy working in theatre, as well as securing a guest-star role in TV murder mystery, A Remarkable Place to Die, due out later this year.
For a long time, Keven thought he wanted to study law. “But in the end I decided I wanted to be an actor,” he says. His success since graduating has validated his decision.
When asked what advice he would give to people keen to enter the acting game, Keven says the main thing is to draw on yourself as much as possible. “I had a misconception for a long time that I had to be someone else, act like someone else. I started to see success when I leaned into myself more and wasn’t afraid to allow myself to come through in the characters I portrayed.”
Keven recommends the Media Super Internship to emerging actors and congratulates the winner of this year’s program, JK Kazzi. “It was a great experience! The amount of on-set and behind-the-scenes knowledge I gained, along with the number of people I met, made this opportunity so worthwhile.”
About the Graduate Internship Program
In association with leading Australian production companies and the country’s finest TV producers, the Equity Foundation offers recent graduates the chance to spend a week on set, learning their craft first-hand. Find out more here. The internship program is proudly supported by Media Super.
Media Super is the Principal Partner of The Equity Foundation
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