What a year it has been for Geraldine Viswanathan.
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The 25-year-old from Whitebridge is the talk of the town in Hollywood. Her face is everywhere, from The New York Times to Vogue and Vanity Fair, and her story is being told far and wide.
Rumours that she could be cast as Ms Marvel remain just that, rumours, but also prove her star power.
Viswanathan plays the lead role - her first - in romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery and her performance cements her reputation as a scene-stealer. Her love interest in the film is fellow Australian Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things). The Selena Gomez-produced film is one of the first US theatrical releases in the COVID-19 era, another being blockbuster Tenet starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh.
Read more: La La land lures Newcastle talent
Viswanathan's comedic timing and screen presence first made waves in Seth Rogen's Blockers (2018) which is regarded as her "breakout" role. She has worked with Hollywood heavyweights like Hugh Jackman (Bad Education), as well as Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi in Stan series Miracle Workers, and proved in Hala that she could handle drama as adeptly as comedy.
Earlier this year, Viswanathan had just received the keys to a new apartment in Brooklyn when New York went into a strict lockdown. She ended up spending consecutive months with Miles Robbins at his mother Susan Sarandon's country home in upstate New York.
Robbins, whose father Tim Robbins is also an Academy Award winner, and Viswanathan met while filming Blockers.
And, just last week, Bad Education won an Emmy Award for best television movie. Viswanathan was thrilled.
"It feels amazing. I'm really proud to be a part of that movie," she tells Weekender.
"I wish I could have gone to the actual Emmys but my friends and I had a little Emmys party at home that ended up being probably more fun than the real Emmys."
She says she "fell in love with Lucy's infectious energy and open heart" when reading the script for The Broken Hearts Gallery.
"She's such a friend to the world," she says.
"She's very outgoing and extroverted whereas I'm a little bit more introverted so I wanted to experience what it would be like to be that person. It's the great joy of doing what I get to do - I get to explore parts of myself through a character."
She also enjoyed working with director Natalie Krinsky, describing it as a "team effort".
"It was a real collaboration - we'd be re-writing scenes together in rehearsals or on set," she explains.
"She really opened the floor for us all to bring our own thoughts and ideas to the movie and our characters. It was one of the most creatively satisfying projects I've worked on.
"She also has an infectious, unwavering energy and the whole cast and crew had the best time because of the tone she set.
"She was always playing music and she even did a weekly competition with the crew where everyone would write down a story of heartbreak or something they would submit to the gallery, then she would go through them each week and pick winners who would get prizes.
"She's the best."
Did playing her first leading role add extra stress?
"We made the movie as an indie, then Sony bought and distributed it so I didn't really feel the pressure of being the lead in a major studio movie while making it," Viswanathan replies.
"It's now incredibly exciting that Sony is distributing and believes in it. This one will always be special to me because of the fun we had making it.
"At first there was a lot of uncertainty about when it would come out, which was a little nerve-wracking, but I'm happy that it's coming out now because it's such a positive and uplifting thing to be putting out into the world at this time.
"It's definitely been a light in the darkness for me."
Viswanathan is returning home to Australia "for some much-needed family time" before returning to the US to film season three of Miracle Workers.
Her mother, Anja Viswanathan-Raith, is counting down the days.
"We are just so excited to spend time together and we might even go on a little local holiday," she says.
"It has made Suresh [her husband and Viswanathan's father] and I very happy to see Geraldine shine in The Broken Hearts Gallery. I mean, she is our baby and to see her do such an amazing job and see how skilled and talented she is in triggering emotions in people is very precious.
"Both our girls give us so much pride and joy."
The Viswanathans hosted a private screening of The Broken Hearts Gallery last week at Reading Cinemas in Charlestown, attended by family and friends.
"It was such a special moment watching Geraldine in such a significant role - she literally is in every single scene," Anja says.
"To share this moment with very special friends who have known Geraldine for a long time was fun, and to do it on the big screen in a real cinema with a glass of bubbly was great.
"Unfortunately my family from Switzerland couldn't be there but they do their own private screenings of Geraldine's movies in my Dad's film studio in Basel. When I was growing up we used to have private screenings for my Dad's movies so it reminds me of my childhood when I'm able to do that here.
"Friends are very important to me and I love sharing my excitement with them. It gives me a sense of belonging."
