The Hollywood premiere of The White Lotus was one dazzling blur for Kiwi star Morgana O’Reilly. Photo / Woman's Day
After years of struggle, the acclaimed Kiwi actress has cracked Hollywood.
Between being blinded by a sea of flashes while posing for photos with her co-stars, curiously inspecting Paris Hilton and being ushered aside for A-lister Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood premiere of the third season of The White Lotus was one dazzling blur for its Kiwi star Morgana O’Reilly.
“The whole thing’s been a dream and it just really hit me,” an emotional O’Reilly, 39, tells Woman’s Day from a Los Angeles cafe. “It feels like nearly 20 years of work led to that point. I thought back to all of the fantasies I had as a teenager of doing something like that.
“The coolest thing was that I didn’t feel imposter syndrome. The cast is now friends, so I’m beyond feeling intimidated and unworthy. I was so grateful to experience that on the red carpet.”
Feeling like she belonged was a powerful moment for O’Reilly, whose first days on the The White Lotus set were filled with self-doubt. Arriving at Thailand’s Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui “sweaty, gross and bloated” from the long flight, the Mean Mums, Neighbours and Friends Like Her star struggled to find her place.
“The social side of being in the hotel, where everybody has a fair amount of waiting around and hanging out, was challenging,” she admits. “The level of fame amongst this collective group is amazing. You can’t help but go, ‘I’m not worthy of being here.’ Imposter syndrome was the hardest thing.
“In New Zealand, I’ve got some street cred, but I got there and nobody knew who I was. I had to prove it through my work. When I was bemoaning how daunting it was, Natasha Rothwell [who plays returning character Belinda Lindsay] said, ‘You’re not here by accident. HBO isn’t doing you a favour. You’ve earned it.’”
Rothwell’s words boosted O’Reilly’s confidence, which was also reinforced once she was in her happy place on set. She portrays resort “health butler” Pam, who caters to the dysfunctional Ratliff family, featuring actors Patrick Schwarzenegger and O’Reilly’s idol Parker Posey.
“Parker lived up to every expectation,” she grins. “She took me under her wing, and was funny, welcoming and playful. She saw something in me that first day that she enjoyed, so we became really good friends.
“She gave me her number and I messaged saying, ‘Thank you so much for today and being so supportive,’ and she sent a lovely message back about how I smashed it.”
O’Reilly also loved her “sweet, humble and kind” co-star Lalisa Manobal, aka Blackpink singer Lisa, who raved about O’Reilly’s portrayal of Pam on the red carpet, and she enjoyed sunset chats with the “amazing” Mission: Impossible star Michelle Monaghan, who plays ageing actress Jaclyn Lemon in the series.
Unlike in those memorable chats, O’Reilly used an Aussie accent while filming. She explains, “I said to Mike [White, the series creator], ‘Should I make her a Kiwi?’ and he went, ‘Sure,’ so I tried to bring her into a Kiwi space, but I feel like New Zealand doesn’t have super-highbrow wellness in the same way Australia does with Byron Bay. She just felt more real and funnier as an Australian.”
O’Reilly’s director husband Peter Salmon, 49, their daughter Luna, 9, and son Ziggy, 6, eventually joined her in Thailand. The proud mum laughs, “My daughter still looks at things and goes, ‘Well, it’s not the Four Seasons.’ I’m like, ‘Babe, remember the Four Seasons isn’t the real world!’
“It’s lovely they could experience it, though, but it was a film set, so we’d be swimming and some assistant would run down going, ‘Please be quiet,’ because they could hear us splashing about.”
O’Reilly also proudly represented Aotearoa at The White Lotus premiere, getting Kiwi stylist Dan Ahwa to dress her in local designers, like Harris Tapper and Paris Georgia, accessorising with Priya Patel’s jewellery.
“It’s just like you imagine – a wall of photographers telling you to look this way, that way, turn and smile, then you move down to a gauntlet of interviews,” she says. “I f**king loved it! I’d been preparing for feeling pushed aside because I’m not a huge star next to these people, but I didn’t feel that.”
Well, apart from one moment – when Patrick’s dad Arnold arrived. “Somebody came pushing past me, going, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, coming through!’ I turned around and it was Arnie’s security, then there he went!
“And my friend and I were so intoxicated seeing Paris Hilton, we devised a plan. I said, ‘I’m gonna stand with my back to her and you’re going to pretend to talk to me, but you’ll be looking over my shoulder getting a good look at her, then we’ll swap!’”
Experiencing Hollywood life as the star of a global hit was a dream, but no big feat comes without sacrifice. For O’Reilly, that’s been having a stable family life, although Peter, Luna and Ziggy often travel with her.
Luna recently penned an adorable letter sharing how inspiring her mum is and that “her career should be admired”. However, O’Reilly tearfully admits the hardest part of her success is “mum guilt”.
She explains, “The paradox of this moment is wanting to dream about what could come from it, but also just feeling terrified of what that would mean. I can see the challenge coming of figuring out whether it’s better to drag them with me or leave them behind.
“Both options have their difficulties. My daughter got very emotional dropping me at the airport for LA. She said, ‘I’d like to go on adventures, but I don’t want to go to school somewhere else again.’”
The plea came after Luna and Ziggy completed a term in Sydney, where O’Reilly recently wrapped the series Playing Gracie Darling, a thriller in which she plays Joni Gray, whose friend went missing after a seance in their teens.
“Joni’s trying to figure out her trauma while re-establishing a relationship with her daughter,” says O’Reilly. “As someone of The Craft generation, I do so love a ghost story!”
O’Reilly’s also ecstatic that her solo stage show Stories About My Body, which used her teenage diary entries to chronicle her journey to loving her body, has finally been adapted into a film.
“I can remember standing at the bottom of that mountain and it was so daunting. Now here we are going into post-production. Watch out – I’ll cry again!”
And while her next role is a top-secret Kiwi series, more Hollywood possibilities are blooming now millions have watched her on The White Lotus. After years of struggle, O’Reilly is pinching herself.
“I’ve been to LA so many times just hustling,” she says. “On this trip, I drove along Hollywood Boulevard with Shalini [Peiris, her Lotus co-star] headed to Chateau Marmont for dinner with Parker Posey, which was amazing! But I was passing restaurants and bars that were a scattered timeline of different moments in Los Angeles – places where I’d sat alone after an audition 10 years ago.
“LA’s a testing town, so to be there this time with a sense of place felt profound. I’m turning 40 this year and thought this stuff only happened in your twenties!”
The White Lotus is now streaming on Max On Neon.
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