Home and Away star: I still take acting classes

Isabella Giovinazzo plays Phoebe on Home and Away.

Home and Away starlet Isabella Giovinazzo still takes acting classes despite having made it on one of Australia's most successful TV soapies.

The 23-year-old has been working on the Seven Network series for more than year although her on-screen anniversary, playing Kyle's ex-girlfriend Phoebe, is still a month away.

She said she had trouble delving deep into her emotions so she decided to start attending weekly acting classes to improve her performances.

Giovinazzo said issues arose when she had to act out emotional scenes in front of the crew.

"I did have a lot of trouble with emotional scenes at work for a very long time," Giovinazzo said.

"I found it really hard in front of the crew to be vulnerable.

"In acting class, I have some really nurturing teachers and they are intuitive and found out why I wasn't opening up and totally opened me up."

Acting is just one facet to Giovinazzo's TV career.

She wrote and acted in the short film Swim which was entered in the St Kilda Film Festival and is expected to air on opposing TV network SBS later this year.

Giovinazzo co-wrote a documentary with Sydney filmmaker Ella Carey called Chong World in 2011 and she has also appeared in a few more short films before landing the role on Home and Away.

Short films have basically been her career because she was continually overlooked for everything auditioned for, from commercials to guest roles on TV dramas.

"I didn't get a a single job before this," she said.

"I auditioned for guesties and commercials but I didn't get hung up on it too much.

"So it was a bit strange getting this role."

Giovinazzo had to leave Melbourne and move to Sydney, where Home and Away is filmed, in what essentially, she says, is her "first job".

She lives with a couple of friends from her university days within close proximity to Coogee and Bondi Beaches.

"I've been shooting for over a year and been on air for 11 months and I'm definitely starting to feel comfortable," she said.

"It was a big change coming up here and it took a while to get used to but the beaches make up for any loss."

* Home and Away screens weeknights at 5.30pm on TV2.