All Home and Away star Emily Symons has ever wanted to do is act. Her mother told her that she had already declared her ambition when she was just four years old – and now she’s up for a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress at this year’s 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Home and Away star Emily Symons on an explosive Home and Away moment.
Watch Home & Away on Channel 7 and stream it for free on 7plus >>
Emily has played the beloved Home and Away character Marilyn Chambers on and off since the late 1980s. Like Ray Meagher’s Alf Stewart, Marilyn is an iconic Aussie character, winding her way into viewers’ hearts with her big personality and even bigger earrings.
“Delighted! Very, very happy. Over the moon! Thrilled to be nominated,” Emily answers gleefully when asked how it feels to be a Logie nominee.
Home and Away star Emily Symons. Credit: Getty/Instagram (Emily Symons)
And if she wins?
“There will be partying involved, definitely,” she tells 7Entertainment. “I’d probably have a heart attack and have to be taken to hospital if I won.
But no, I would be dancing the night away with my lovely friends and cast members, most likely.”
The actress is up against two of her Home and Away colleagues, Ada Nicodemou and Lynne McGranger, but that doesn’t worry her too much.
“I think it’s wonderful, actually. A win for any of us is a win for the show,” she says. “I’m delighted for all my colleagues and I honestly don’t care who wins.
We have a good team spirit in the Home and Away family!”
Ray Meagher, Emily Symons, Ada Nicodemou, Lynne McGranger and James Stewart attend the TV WEEK Logie Award Nominations Event on June 19, 2023. Credit: Hanna Lassen/Getty Images for TV Week
Emily first played Marilyn Chambers from 1989 to 1992, before heading to the UK for some adventure. At that stage, she had no idea Summer Bay would eventually pull her back.
“I was in my 20s, so I was travelling through Europe, skiing, doing all the things that young people should be doing,” she explains.
“And then I came back and lived in Perth for a little while, then Home and Away asked me to come back.
Both times I’ve left the show it’s been to go off and do some mad adventure, and then they ask me to come back, which is lovely.
I’ve been very lucky.”
Emily Symons in a scene from Home and Away. Credit: Seven
Emily says it’s always been relatively easy to step back into the character of Marilyn – and that has a lot to do with her character’s trademark look.
“At first, you think, ‘Ooooh, am I going to be able to remember it?’,” she says.
“And then as soon as you step into the hair and makeup and costume, you’re on.
Marilyn is such a divine character. I think once I’ve got the heels on and the stupid earrings, everything’s fine!”
Musical theatre
Emily’s first love was musical theatre, sparked by the ubiquitous plays and musicals during her school years.
“I did endless concerts for (mum) at home and I was always involved in the shows at school,” she recalls.
“That’s all I ever really wanted to do – there was never any doubt about it.
My mother was very creative, but she was a nurse.
But she always took us to the theatre and I think that’s where it started.
I love a bit of Disney magic and I love a bit of stage magic.”
Emily Symons filming Home and Away in November 2016. Credit: Matrix/GC Images
Even now, Emily says she “drags” her son Henry, who is about to turn eight, to every bit of musical theatre she can. And while he hasn’t yet displayed a desire to follow his mum into acting, Emily says he does love music.
“He’s learning the drums and the guitar and so when we go to musicals we always go and have a look at the pit, at the musicians,” she says.
“I definitely think he will have something to do with music in his life.”
Henry was born in 2015 after Emily, then 46, had gone through several unsuccessful IVF cycles.
“I very much thought it couldn’t happen and I was too old,” she told TV Week last month.
“I thought I had tried every avenue that was available to us.
“My advice is to not give up if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole process.”
Ada Nicodemou takes a selfie with Home and Away cast mates Emily Symons and Ray Meagher. Credit: Instagram/Ada Nicodemou
Five months after Henry was born, Emily was back doing the job she loved, juggling motherhood and an acting career thanks to the help of a “really good support group”.
Looking back on her career, what has playing Marilyn Chambers meant to her?
“After my first stint as Marilyn I came back and played her from 1995 to 1999, and then I came back in 2009, so it has been a lot of my life,” she says.
“This job has been incredibly kind to me and this character has been a blessing in my life.
I’m very proud to be a member of the Home and Away family.”
How to vote for Emily Symons at the Logies
Nominated for: TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE for Most Popular Actress
Voting is now open for all popular awards categories, and remains open until the end of the red carpet telecast at 7.30pm AEST on Sunday July 30.
There is one exception, however – the coveted TV WEEK Gold Logie Award, which, for the first time, will stay open throughout the telecast and close at 10.30pm AEST.
You can vote now for your favourites from the shortlisted nominees at tvweeklogies.com.au.
Watch the 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards exclusively on Channel 7 and 7plus on Sunday, 30 July from 7pm.
If you’d like to view this content, please adjust your Cookie Settings.
To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide.
Home and Away star’s embarrassing moment: ‘I died’
Home and Away star’s revelation about daughter in candid interview