IN THE MEDIA: Actor channels her mum

04 APR 10 @ 07:05AM BY CARLEEN FROST

SHE’S played an assassin, a Japanese schoolgirl and a ninja - but one of Maria Tran’s most challenging roles has been to portray her mother in a new children’s series.

Tran, 25, will play a 35-year-old Vietnamese mother in the new ABC series My Place.

She modelled the character on her own mother, Betty Tran.

“It was an interesting experience,” she said.

“I had to do research and follow my mother around the house jotting notes on her behavioural patterns, rummaging through her old clothing and go through her old ‘80s photos to make reference.”

My Place is based on the award-winning book by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. It will debut on Thursday, April 22; with Tran expected to appear in the series on May 10.

The Fairfield West resident is no stranger to the big screen, having already appeared in several locally-made films.

Tran starred in the independent film Maximum Choppage and was recently part of a reality documentary titled Quest for Jackie Chan.

And when she’s not in front of the camera; she’s behind it writing, producing and directing. The former Canley Heights High School student produced and acted in the ABC mini-series Downtown Rumble, and directed the Vietnamese documentary Happy Dent. On top of all her film commitments, Tran helps organise youth projects at the Information Cultural Exchange in Parramatta. She admits she’s got a lot on her plate. “I’m juggling a whole bunch of projects at the moment,” she said.

Tran, a psychology graduate from the University of Western Sydney, is well known in Fairfield for helping promote local film projects. Last year she received a Fairfield City Council Australia Day Achievement Medallion.