Alumni Spotlight: Kaila Ferrelli
In Home Economics, I made a cushion cover for the first time. Now, this might not be my ‘favourite’ memory but, it is definitely the first to pop into my brain when I think about high school. I had just finished sewing the last panel of this cover I had been working on for weeks, picked it up to admire my work in its full glory, only to realise it was attached to James Di Giulio’s masterpiece.
Safe to say, he was not impressed and I spent the rest of the class unpicking (a sewist’s recurring nightmare). The next week, I sat down with my solo cushion cover, ready to sew the final panel on for the second time. I was so ready to finish, so incredibly ready to finish, that I sewed straight through the nail of my middle finger.
Poor Mrs Baker, she kept telling me not to panic but, she was kind of.. screaming? Incredibly, years later I went on to create a business solely using a sewing machine, to make yoga bolsters and eye pillows!
After recovering from being the most chaotic sewing student in Servite’s history, I graduated in 2008. With the help of Mrs Green, the drama teacher dreams are made of, I was in theatre at the time but, having never been overseas, all I really wanted to do was travel. So, for the better part of the next seven years, I travelled my little heart out, saw so many incredible things, visited the most ridiculous places and yet, I have somehow, still never been to Rottnest.
In late 2015, I was in Perth and working as a DJ at Amplifier Bar. I had one goal – make money and figure out where I wanted to go next. This is when I met Matt. A touring guitarist and the most incredible person I’ve ever known. He’s now my husband and we live in Perth with ‘our son’, Nimbus, a very talkative Indian Ringneck Parrot.
A few years later, I shared how much I missed being an actor. While being so nomadic for such a long period of time, it was something I had grown away from and even if it was only to meet people in the industry and use the creative part of my brain again, I wanted to do it.
Matt said, ‘you should’. And, I did.
This decision well and truly changed my life and over the past few years, I have been so lucky to meet and work with so many of the most amazing people, on a number of television, film and advertisement projects. I’ve had the opportunity to create versions of myself, each with their own lives, histories, dreams and ambitions while stepping into make believe worlds on sets built, lit and filmed by some of the most talented in the industry.
Overall, I’m so grateful. I have learnt so much, still have so much more to learn and have been a part of much more than I could have ever expected. Being an actor has been the most rewarding surprise and I hope I get to do it forever.
Matt and Kaila are going to Rottnest in December, they both love to travel.
