Congratulations to 2020 ACA graduate Nicola Denton, who took home the Best Actress award at the Inner West Film Fest 2025 for her bold and original short film Ophelia’s Got a Gun, which she also wrote and directed.
Read on for an interview with Nicola about her big win, why she chose to study acting at ACA, her involvement with the Accessible Acting Program, and advice for aspiring actors.
Nicola Denton is a Sydney-based actor, producer and writer. Graduating from Actor’s Centre Australia in 2020, her acting credits while training include Clytemnestra in The Oresteia (Dir. Gale Edwards), Olivia in Twelfth Night (Dir. Adam Cook) and Valerie in That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play (Dir. Troy Trilsbach-Harrison). Since graduating, her credits have included lead roles in a variety of formats such as the short film Beasts (Dir. Manul Gunaratne), the web-series pilot Crushing (Dir. Ash Dunford), the Australian premiere of Radiant Vermin by Phillip Ridley (Dir. Victor Kalka), and Irina in Victor Kalka’s adaptation of Three Sisters. As a producer, Nicola began in the role of production manager, stage manager and marketing producer for The Company Theatre’s sold out run of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore at Flow Studios, and moved on to write, produce, direct and act in the short film, Ophelia’s Got a Gun. She is currently producing and editing the An Actor Survives podcast (with 2017 ACA graduate Emily McKnight!), and is developing an original play.
ACA: Congratulations on your Best Actress win for Ophelia’s Got a Gun! What went through your mind when you heard your name announced?
Nicola: Thank you! I was a mixture of confused and surprised—I wasn’t even sure they were going to be giving out awards for acting and I know better than to assume I’m going to win, so it was definitely a happy surprise!
ACA: Will you tell us about the film, and the role you played?
Nicola: Ophelia is about an unstable young actress auditioning for Hamlet, her dream role, and being cast as Ophelia instead, leading her to unravel and take matters into her own hands. I played the role of the unstable actress (not an autobiographical role I promise!). Once it’s finished its festival run later this year it will be going up on YouTube, so keep an eye out!
ACA: How did you get the role?
Nicola: I wrote, directed and produced the short with a mind to act in it—so a bit of a nepo role, (I know the director).
ACA: Anyone you want to shout out from the production team?
Nicola: My HODs, Manul Gunaratne (Co-Producer) and Jubilee Chan (Cinematographer). This was my first time directing and I couldn’t have done it without their talent and expertise.
ACA: What was the most challenging aspect of preparing for or filming this role?
Nicola: Having written it myself I found it difficult to give the writing the authority it usually has when someone hands me a script, so I sort of had to “pretend” someone else wrote it so I didn’t blame any acting challenges I had on something being missing from the writing, which is something I never do when working on a script anyone else has written.
Surprisingly I didn’t find it too difficult to direct myself as it was very similar to working on self-tapes.
ACA: How did your training at Actors Centre Australia prepare you for this moment?
Nicola: ACA really empowers their students to be self-sufficient, so when it came to directing and producing for the first time, I really was drawing from the experience I had at ACA to knuckle down and find the answers in the resources I had around me.
ACA: Why did you choose ACA?
Nicola: I chose ACA because of the culture. From day one the school made it very clear that they were invested in our growth as actors and as people, and that they didn’t believe in sewing competition within the group to plot us against each other. Instead, our individual growth would inspire the rest of the group to work harder to reach that level alongside us.
ACA: You also help run our Accessible Acting Program here at ACA. What do you enjoy most about that Program?
Nicola: I always say to the students the Accessible Acting Program is the best part of my week. What I enjoy most by far is the massive growth the students go through and the pride they feel as a result of what they’ve achieved by the end of the program.
ACA: What advice would you give to current ACA students or aspiring actors preparing to enter the industry?
Nicola: Beyond the usual advice of work hard, be pleasant to work with and do your reading, I’d say the most important thing I went into the industry with was community and relationships in the industry. Both people who are in the same boat as you (your fellow students etc.) to empathise with and people who have been through it already (tutors) to give you that birds eye view you need when you’re in the weeds of it.
ACA: What else is on the horizon for you career-wise?
Nicola: Who knows! There are a few projects I’m getting moving, but you never really know what will turn out and when something will fall into your lap – but I’ll certainly keep you updated.
ACA: Anything else you’d like to share?
Nicola: I also produce a great podcast for aspiring actors called An Actor Survives (with 2017 ACA grad Emily McKnight) which is full of great tips for people at all stages of this bizarre career. This season will start in July, but in the meantime check it out on Spotify and have a listen!
Thank you to Nicola!
