Three things with Helen Thomson: ‘Barbie as a Salem witch has pride of place in my office’

‘I was the flatmate who could be counted on to get pictures on walls, curtain rods in place and to tighten a wobbly chair’: actor Helen Thomson on a toolbox with essential DIY items, gifted by her late father. Photograph: Joanna Shuen

Helen Thomson’s acting credits for Australian screens, big and small, include time on Blue Heelers, Rake, the 00s crime caper Gettin’ Square and most recently, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic playing the crooner’s mother, Gladys Presley.

But the Queensland-bred actor is just as busy performing live as she is on camera. Her next theatre role is as Lady Bracknell in a new production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and she credits one of her earliest stage appearances in classic play The Crucible in the 90s as a launchpad for her career.