Love blooms on Hope Street

No wonder Nicole Chamoun sounds exhilarated.

After graduating, and following a spot of travelling, the 23-year-old actress has landed her big break at almost the first attempt.

Next Saturday (9 June) she makes her television debut as Layla, a Lebanese-Australian teenager struggling with her sexuality, in the ambitious new SBS drama, Kick.

I’m still over the moon, Chamoun says excitedly. It still hasn’t hit me. I think I have to actually view it to realise it’s happening.

Kick is set on Hope Street, where the good working people of inner-city Melbourne are trying to fulfil their dreams while colliding head on with the struggles of daily life.

When people ask me to describe it, it’s so hard because there is nothing like it on television, Chamoun tells Sydney Star Observer. I want to call it a drama because of my character’s journey but it’s so bloody funny.

The show focuses on Greek-Australian woman Miki and her on-off relationship with British-Indian doctor Joe.

However, it’s Chamoun’s character Layla that Kick producers have said has the hardest story of all.

Layla comes from a very strict Lebanese family she adores and she wants to make them proud, Chamoun says.

Her life is set out for her and she’s been engaged to a family friend for years and she’s never really thought much about it.

[Then] she gets a really strong connection with Jackie and you see the journey that she goes through and finds herself falling in love with this great girl.

And where do Layla and Jackie first meet? A party? Lesbian night down the local pub?

They’re having a bout in a fencing match and they remove their masks after Layla kicks her butt and the rest is history, Chamoun laughs.

Being from a Lebanese background herself, Chamoun felt she knew something of what made Layla tick.

The things she’s gone through in her life, you know, wanting to make her parents proud and trying to find a balance between being true to her Lebanese background and also being an Aussie chick who wants to go out with her mates and have a few beers -“ that’s where I connect with the character.

However, Chamoun doesn’t see Layla’s story as just about her coming out. She says simply it’s about a girl who’s falling in love and the issues that come with that.

She’s following her heart, probably for the first time, putting aside what her family’s going to think and [instead] saying, -˜This is how I feel and I’m going to follow it and be true to myself.’

What was it like being a first-time actor and being in such an emotional role, which demanded intimate scenes with another woman?

In some ways it may have been easier.

[Romi Trower, who plays Jackie] took her time with me. Sharing that experience with a female, I felt comfortable being nervous, being shy, having giggly moments. I don’t know if I would have been as comfortable with a male actor.

And what about the obligatory kiss?

Having my first on-screen kiss with anyone was going to be a new experience.

Now all I know is having on-screen kisses with females, Chamoun exclaims.

Chamoun is clearly excited by the prospect of becoming a role model for young gay women in Australia.

But does she think she comes across as a convincing lesbian on-screen?

I don’t know about lesbian -“ I think that’ll be for the audience to decide, she says. But I think I make a good girl in love.

Kick begins Saturday 9 June at 8pm on SBS.