Take One Press

For Shelley Quartermaine, creativity isn’t simply a career path. It’s a way of understanding herself.

Whether she’s acting, writing music, or developing new projects, Quartermaine approaches storytelling with a rare level of introspection. She isn’t interested in easy answers or comfortable narratives. Instead, she’s drawn to the emotional spaces most people spend their lives trying to avoid.

“I think I’m most drawn to stories that make me feel a little uncomfortable,” she tells Take One Press. “Stories that remind me of difficult places I’ve been in my own life, or emotional places I’ve avoided or distracted myself from.”

It’s a perspective that has shaped not only the work she chooses, but the way she views creativity itself.

A Human Experiment

When asked how she would describe herself to audiences discovering her work for the first time, Quartermaine doesn’t reach for industry labels.

Instead, she offers something far more revealing.

“I’d probably describe myself as someone who uses myself as a bit of a human experiment.”

It’s a fascinating philosophy. She speaks openly about constantly questioning herself, changing routines, and examining which parts of her identity are authentic versus constructed.

For Quartermaine, acting becomes an exercise in empathy.

Rather than judging characters, she inhabits them.

“Acting gives me a way to sit in empathy instead of judgment,” she explains. “It’s almost like a therapeutic release.”

That desire to understand rather than judge runs throughout her creative process, allowing her to explore perspectives that challenge her own worldview.

Growing Up Far From Hollywood

Quartermaine’s journey into entertainment began about as far from the industry as possible.

Raised on a sheep and cropping farm in rural Western Australia, she spent her childhood surrounded by farmers, teachers, and small-town life.

While she speaks fondly of her upbringing, she remembers feeling from a very young age that something larger was calling her.

“I remember looking at that life very young and thinking, ‘That can’t be the whole thing for me.’”

It wasn’t ambition in the traditional sense. It was curiosity.

A desire to create.

A desire to explore.

Most importantly, a desire to pursue something that made her feel fully awake.

“Performing, music, films, making things. That was always the excitement.”

Even when it wasn’t practical.

Even when it didn’t make sense.

She followed that feeling anyway.

Turning Fire Into Art

Quartermaine’s work spans both acting and music, but she sees them less as separate disciplines and more as different expressions of the same creative impulse.

For her, inspiration often emerges during life’s most uncertain moments.

“I find that inspiration usually comes when I’m in a challenging or uncertain part of my life.”

Music, she says, is instinctive.

She notices melodies in everyday interactions, frequencies in conversations, and emotional rhythms hidden inside ordinary moments.

A passing argument between strangers might become the foundation of a song.

A lingering emotion might become a character.

Both art forms allow her to transform unresolved feelings into something tangible.

“I think both music and acting are ways for me to use the fire inside of me and turn it into something.”

Learning Freedom Through Performance

One of the defining moments in Quartermaine’s career came when she landed the lead role in 1 Million Followers, a project that required her to leave Australia and fully immerse herself in an American character.

For months before filming, she trained her accent alone in her bedroom for hours every day.

Once production began, she remained in the accent throughout the entire shoot.

What surprised her wasn’t the technical challenge.

It was the freedom.

“What was strange was that I felt more free in another accent than I did in my own.”

The experience taught her something profound about both acting and identity.

Sometimes stepping outside of yourself allows you to discover parts of yourself you never knew existed.

Privacy as a Superpower

In an era where visibility often feels synonymous with success, Quartermaine takes a different view.

“Privacy is a superpower.”

It’s one of the most memorable statements from our conversation and speaks to her broader philosophy on creativity.

She believes some dreams need protection while they’re still taking shape.

Not secrecy.

Protection.

When every idea is immediately shared, critiqued, and analyzed, it becomes harder to nurture something before it’s ready.

“Sometimes when you’re working toward a big goal, you have to keep parts of it private.”

The statement feels increasingly rare in a culture built around constant visibility.

Yet for Quartermaine, preserving parts of herself isn’t about hiding.

It’s about creating honestly.

Looking Ahead

Quartermaine remains busy on multiple fronts.

While she can’t yet discuss several upcoming acting projects, she’s also developing film and television ideas with collaborators she’s met throughout her career.

At the same time, she’s writing a pop-country album that reconnects her with the music and memories of her childhood.

The farm.

The records she grew up listening to.

The stories she still carries with her.

It’s fitting for someone whose career has been defined by exploration.

Someone willing to embrace uncertainty.

Someone unafraid of discomfort.

And someone who continues to believe that the most interesting stories are often found in the places we’re afraid to look.

For Shelley Quartermaine, creativity isn’t about having all the answers.

It’s about having the courage to keep asking the questions.