When Home Won’t Hire: Why Australian Actors are Chasing Opportunities in London

Leaving home to keep her career alive

On a grey afternoon in East London, Australian actress Cassandre Girard steadies her phone on a tripod and hits record on another self-tape. Six months after arriving in London, her shared flat has become a small studio. “You’re your own business,” she says. “You have to keep your name alive”.

Outside her window, rain runs down tight rows of brick houses, a sharp contrast to the sunlit beaches she left behind in Sydney. The scenery has shifted, but so has the pace of her career. Here, the work keeps coming.

Girard moved to London in June 2025, after years of working in Australia and a brief period in Los Angeles. When her US visa expired, she faced a dilemma: either return home to Australia and risk waiting for job opportunities or move somewhere where her career could grow. London offered what her home industry no longer could: auditions that mattered, roles that paid, and a flourishing industry constantly moving forward. “I tried to be busy instead of waiting,” she says.

Actors are leaving

Girard’s story is not unique. A growing number of Australian actors are relocating overseas, particularly to London, at a time when Australia’s film industry is struggling to sustain early-career performers. While Australia still produces acclaimed work, insiders describe a lack of opportunities, limited diversity, and reliance on unpaid work.

Before leaving, Girard auditioned regularly, but most jobs were unpaid. Paid roles were reserved for those with already extensive portfolios. “You need a really strong CV to get paid work in Australia,” she explains. “Otherwise, you’re expected to work for free.”

She describes an industry that, in her view, prioritizes safety over risk. Big productions rarely take chances on new faces, and casting feels stuck. “They’re still doing what was working 20 years ago,” she says. For Girard, who is of French-Tunisian origin but long based in Australia, barriers were even clearer. She was repeatedly told her accent and appearance did not quite fit the ideal. “You’re not French enough. You’re not Australian enough,” she recalls being told.

“Because of how I look, I get cast as the slave, the Middle Eastern woman with a scarf, or the prostitute,” she says, “never the main character.” According to Girard, there’s a general lack of diversity in Australian casting, where it feels like a shallow inclusion rather than something genuine. “They don’t look at your talent, they just tick boxes.”

Fewer auditions, Smaller market

Australian actor Claudia Haines-Cappeau has worked in both countries and can relate to Girard’s frustrations.

“The biggest practical difference is the number of auditions,” she adds. In Australia, she might get one audition a week, often for unpaid commercials or small indie projects. In London, that number doubles, with access to international productions.

“The industry is smaller in Australia. In London, you’re closer to the rest of the world’s industries. There’s just more happening.”

Another obstacle is the growing influence of social media on casting. “It’s very tricky for early-career performers because big productions want a name. If you have many followers, you’re more likely to get the role,” Haines-Cappeau says.

Even established performers feel the imbalance; colleagues working on Netflix productions overseas receive multiple auditions weekly, compared to one major audition every few weeks in Australia.

Unpaid work and burnout

Lack of payment is another reason actors leave. Girard recalls working on Australian projects with multi-million-dollar budgets while being paid very little herself. “Money goes everywhere except the actors. They take advantage, because most actors are willing to work for free,” she says.

In London, she encountered a different working culture. “Not everyone gets paid the same, but everyone gets paid. Someone’s time is worth money.”

Despite the city’s high cost of living, Girard embraced the challenge. She shares rooms, takes multiple jobs, and spends hours on self-tapes and networking. Recently, a breakthrough came when she landed a lead role in Soft Tissue, a UK student short film.

The role remains a favorite, adding great experience to her career. “Student productions in the UK are high quality. You end up with great footage to use in your portfolio,” she says.

An industry under pressure

Australian film director, Arnold Carter, describes the severity of the situation: “It’s pretty bad, if I’m being honest.” He points out that independent films still offer creative space, but the broader industry increasingly prioritizes online popularity and political alignment over talent. Girard argues the problem is cultural as well as economic. Growing up in France, arts exposure came through school. In Australia, access often depends on private education and parent initiative. “Arts become something for the rich. It’s rich versus poor, that’s dangerous,” she says. Theatre tickets are expensive, creative exposure is limited, and artists are often asked to justify their career choice. “Is it a real job?” she has frequently been asked.

London feels different

“If you want to make a living from acting, don’t be in Australia,” Girard says.

Girard, Haines-Cappeau, and many others are now building their careers under grey, rainy skies rather than the Southern sun. For both actresses, London is not a rejection of Australia but a necessity to grow their careers.

Back in her East London flat, Girard sets up for another self-tape, while the rain slides down the windows; outside, the city’s film industry moves at a pace she never found at home, a contrast to the slower Australian industry she left behind. As London strives for new talent, Australia faces a hard question: What happens to a creative industry that cannot keep its own talent?