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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Elissa Blake

Justine Clarke: ‘New work is what I find exciting – scary exciting. I’m old enough and ugly enough to do that now’

Justine Clarke smiling at the camera
Justine Clarke discovered running in her 40s, saying ‘it clears my mind and helps me generate creative angles on things’. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Justine Clarke has already trekked from her home in Sydney’s inner-west to meet me, yet she’s still maintaining a formidable pace. Along on a 7km path for this interview she’s not remotely out of breath (unlike me) and doesn’t ask to sit on a bench once (I think about it, but crash on). The actor is as fit as a fiddle.

“I ran a half marathon just before I started rehearsal for Julia this time around,” says Clarke as we walk along the harbourside pathways of Drummoyne. It’s a mostly-flat pedestrian and cycle track known as The Bay Run. Clarke regularly runs here or walks her rescue dog, Benny. She points out the glimmering water in the coves. “It’s beautiful around here, there’s estuaries, beautiful cliffs and it has really rich Indigenous history as a significant meeting point and site for fishing.”

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