Quotes from Rachel House

With 'Woman Far Walking,' that was as good as it gets and I didn't want to do any more. It was satisfying but really exhausting and I didn't want to go back there any more. It was feeling like a 9-5 job and I didn't feel excited about it.

I got this secretive, very secretive email from my agent saying, 'You have an audition for Marvel, no one's letting us know what the name of the film is, but are you available on this day? That's all we know.' And I went, 'OK, well, I think it will probably be 'Thor,' because Taika's got it.'

I was around when there was only one channel and when that second channel arrived, it came with the wonderful world of Disney on a Sunday night. We would drop our bicycles and run home to see it, it was just pure escapism.

It still surprises me when I get cast in something. I'm not your, you know, I'm... I remember thinking really early on that you have to look a particular way and I'm quite aware of my look, so I always thought I wouldn't get a lot of screen work.

'Whale Rider' was quite an extraordinary shoot. We were in that community on the east coast and so much of what you see in that film was very present.

Diversity is where it's at for me. I think we need more and that could be all kinds of different cultures, big conversations.

I really love the work that I do, and I feel like you have to go that extra mile to do it because it is a responsibility. Telling stories is a responsibility.

Like all good stories, there are universal things that 'Moana' has - a young, resilient, strong woman goes against the wishes of her people and sets out on her own - that's a pretty universal bravery.

In Maori culture there's a lot of humor and just as quickly we are able to express grief.

I didn't want to direct any more theatre because I wanted to try something different, to move into another realm.

Mum got a QSM (Queen's Service Medal) for her community work in mental health. She was a psychiatric social worker, so she'd travel all around the north visiting people back in the day.

Seeing ourselves reflected in stories gives people the courage to keep doing what they are doing or make a change.

I think we are progressing with race relations but assumptions hold us back.

Having worked with so many directors, I liked the look of what they were doing. It seemed to be a lot more creatively satisfying, putting all the parts together, joining the puzzle together, creating the tone of a piece.

It's really idealistic and hippy-dippy but I do believe film is a really powerful tool for reaching people.

Actors wrestle with it all the time; they want to be liked. They do. They want to play something that people are going to like.

I felt that I had done years and years of theatre, and it had been a wonderful journey where I'd learned a lot, but I wasn't as passionate about it as I once was.

With 'Soul' I was just here in Aotearoa, New Zealand the whole time so I never got to go to the studios.

When I went on to the team on 'Korero Mai,' I realized how much I didn't know and how much I wanted to know in terms of sound, lighting and editing which is a process you don't go through in fast turnaround TV.

I just haven't had that level of ambition in terms of being a lead in a film or a TV series because I'm really content.

With theatre, we are always trying to engage in a conversation with people and to bring people into that conversation, but I was disappointed the audiences were not as mixed as I hoped they would become.

Aotearoa is one of the most beautiful places in the world and we have to protect that.

I've never not felt Maori, ever. And because of the era I grew up in, I was never not seen as that. I would walk down the street with Mum and Dad and people would say, 'Look, there's a little Maori girl.'

The Brits make the best murder mysteries - I mean, did you see 'Broadchurch'? Wasn't it amazing? I love the mysteries and trying to put it all together.