SUSANNAH Bayes-Morton, one of the stars in ABC TV’s coming mini-series “The Straits”, is living proof of the way the internet has changed life for people in showbiz.

I caught up with the busy Canberra-born actress while she was home in O’Connor to visit family and to prepare for her marriage later this month to her fiancé, Zahir Salie.

Bayes-Morton’s credentials are impeccable. After schooling at Lyneham High she went on to Dickson College, where inspirational drama teacher Lorena Param suggested she apply to the Victorian College of the Arts. Pretty much a novice, she says, Bayes-Morton got in to the acting course on the first round.

From then on, backed by a supportive family, it was full steam ahead, and though a car crash forced her to repeat one year, she graduated in 2005, working on TV shows in Melbourne then moving to Sydney, where she performed with Urban Theatre Projects and in Belvoir Theatre and the MTC’s production of “Man from Muckinupin.”

Itchy feet took her to Berlin, where she immersed herself in German art and theatre. Out of the blue, she received a surprise email from her Sydney agent International Casting Service about auditioning for “The Straits.”

“’I’m in Germany,’ I told them. ‘I don’t have the $3000 for flights.’”

Not to worry. The producers, Matchbox Productions, were happy to interview her by Skype and have her go through their paces by video. 48 hours later she was on standby then four days after that, she got another email saying, “we love you, we want you.”

“Luckily we’re flexible,” she told me, so she and Zahir flew to Cairns in May 2011, where she worked on the series and he got a job as a chef in a local restaurant. “It was perfect weather — 28 to 29°.” She found her self working for the top technical people in the profession, under directors like Rowan Woods, Rachel Ward and Peter Andrikidis and with co-stars like Brian Cox, Rena Owen and Rachael Blake .

It’s been a huge break for Bayes-Morton, who plays the complex role of Sissi, the youngest sister in a large criminal family headed up by actor Brian Cox as the patriarch criminal Harry Montebello.

“It’s a Torres Straits Sopranos-type story,” she tells me. You can say that again. There are drug deals with Raskols, bikie gangs and man-eating crocodiles.

“My character is the youngest sister and the most educated. She’s been to Uni. She starts out not wanting to be in the family business but she gets embroiled. By episode 10 she’s calling the shots.

Sounds familiar? Yes, a few people have noticed the similarity between Sissi and Michael Corleone.“For an actor playing the role, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted, meaty and strong…I carry the weight…It’s pretty dark, it’s comedic, it’s about the stuff that goes on.”

The lurid plot depicts a family business based on running drugs and guns from Papua New Guinea to Australia. There are three powerful brothers, a powerful Torres Strait Islander matriarch played by the famed New Zealand actress Rena Owen.

Bayes-Morton’s mixed ethnicity (her dad is from Bougainville and her mum from Manchester) has played a part in the casting.
She has mixed feelings about that: “I could wish for more colour-blind casting, but I must admit I’ve got roles because of skin colour” and she praises the ABC as a leader in cross-cultural casting.

Right now Bayes-Morton has a wedding and a world premiere to prepare for. This is  her first really big role, so she’s enjoying the experience and hopes there will be a sequel. “I really do like TV,” she says, “it suits my personality–it’s fast and trendy.”

The 2-hour feature-length premiere of “The Straits” will be screened on ABC1 at 8.30pm on February 2 and on ABC2 at 10.30pm on February 3.