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If you watch TV, you’ll probably have seen actor and comedian Kimberley Crossman on your screen at some point – perhaps on The Project or Funny Girls. The Dio Old Girl and former Deputy Head Prefect in 2006 is one of New Zealand’s successful comedy exports and now splits her time between the United States and New Zealand. “I’m very nomadic in this chapter of my life,” she says. “I spend about half my time in LA [where her cat, Powder, and pet tarantula, Prince Harry, live] and the other half in New Zealand. But I’ve also spent a significant amount of the last year in New York City and Boston.” It was during her final year at school that Kimberley got her first big break, a role on Shortland Street playing teenager Sophie McKay until 2012. “I started working full time at Shortland Street halfway through my final year at school so I had to balance that with not getting behind in my studies,” she says. “I was always so appreciative for all the teaching staff helping me with any work I missed. A lot of the skills I learnt at Dio have continued to help me through my adult life – specifically, the importance of time management and putting 110% into all I do.” At Dio from Year 4 to Year 13, Kimberley was heavily involved in the arts, particularly dance and drama. She studied ballet from a very young age, and also did contemporary dance, hip hop and cheerleading (including competing in the World Cheerleading Championships). “I love performing and really feel like being at Dio helped me hone my skills and desire to pursue an artistic career path. Mrs Reynolds in the Drama Department was a real dream 80
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and taught us so much about running productions and not being afraid to give things a go.” Trying out for Shortland Street was Kimberley’s first formal audition, and she loved every minute of the seven years she spent on New Zealand’s longest-running soap. Plus, it was a fantastic springboard to even bigger things. “I knew I wanted to pursue a career in America and it helped so much having a large body of work behind me when I first started making trips to LA. I was doing trips back and forth to the US for Nickelodeon and the dream felt like it could actually be a reality, so I decided to make the move.” In recent years, Kimberley has starred in films including Strangers in a Strange Land, Get You Back and comedy The 60 Yard Line, as well as the 2019 short film Stalled. She’s appeared on numerous US network shows, such as the comedy series SMILF, The Great Indoors with Stephen Fry and Joel McHale, and has had regular roles in New Zealand shows Step Dave, Terry Teo, The Almightly Johnsons and sketch comedy show Funny Girls as well as Family Feud and TVNZ’s Have You Been Paying Attention? As a US correspondent for TV3’s The Project, Kimberley’s been lucky enough to meet and interview many famous
people, from Jason Statham, Milu Kunis and Denzel Washington to Kiss, Shania Twain and Shawn Mendes. “My role on The Project in New Zealand means I get to travel a lot and interview big stars. I think The Rock has been the most impressive and enjoyable person to interview.” Kimberley has just wrapped up a new Netflix show called Happy Merry Whatever (with Dennis Quaid) due out in November and a second season of her show Golden Boy has been confirmed. But one of her proudest accomplishments dates back to 2012 when her book Love You: Be Your Best and Live Your Dreams was published. She wrote it mainly for young women aged 16 to 24 to help them build their confidence and achieve their goals. “I think I’m most proud of writing my book. It was a massive task and I had no idea what I was doing, so to have it all come together felt like a huge achievement.” Despite the success she’s enjoyed to date, Kimberley’s seen her share of ups and downs – like everyone working in the entertainment industry, she’s missed out on plenty of roles she really wanted. “It’s a difficult career to be an artist of any kind,” she says. “You’re always working hard, never really switching off and have no guarantee of employment. The disappointments can be heart breaking, but there really is nothing else to do but to have a cry then get back to it.” But the work she does off camera helps put things into perspective. Kimberley is an official ambassador for two charities that are very dear to her heart: World Vision and the SPCA. “I’ve been a World Vision Ambassador for about four years – I was always active in the 40-Hour Famine, so it felt like a great fit. In 2016, I went to Jordan with World Vision and it was life changing for me. The heart-breaking stories from families in refugee camps who had to run through the night to safety and who have been split up from other family members were hard to
