Five kids, a blissful Byron Bay bolthole and a lead role in a major US series – Australia’s Teresa Palmer has got it all going on. Luckily, she thrives on chaos
Insight gleaned from raising boys. (Teresa’s brood also includes 18-year-old stepson Isaac, who lives in Los Angeles.) At least this was an audition the two youngest happily helped her prep for. “They’re not allowed to play violent video games, so I told them if I booked this job, I’d let them play,” she says, laughing. Teresa initially auditioned for the role via self-tape, roping in Bodhi to read opposite her. When the director heard him, he offered both Bodhi and Forest parts too. “We actually had a giggle when this part came up,” says Teresa. “Sif is the goddess of fertility, so I wondered if casting thought, ‘Hmm, let’s get that actress from Australia with five children.’” Everything pours out of the 40-year-old with a startling degree of candour, whether she’s joking about her fertility or revisiting the less-glossy chapters of her past. Growing up in Adelaide with a single mother who struggled with bipolar and schizoaffective disorders and relied on a disability pension meant there were stints in public housing. At 16, Teresa convinced her dad to pay for acting lessons, which led to extra work and student films. Three years later, she moved to LA to pursue acting. Rejection had her contemplating a return to Adelaide and a career as a teacher, before she landed the lead in zombie-romance film Warm Bodies in 2013. While in the US, she met Australian producer Bruna Papandrea, who recalls Teresa telling her she’d be a birth doula if acting didn’t work out. “She didn’t choose, she did both,” Bruna tells me later. “Teresa is living proof: don’t ever put limits on yourself.” Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning Hacksaw Ridge followed in 2016, then Cate Shortland’s Berlin Syndrome and the Rachel Griffiths-directed Ride Like a Girl, based on Michelle Payne’s historic Melbourne Cup victory, alongside three seasons of A Discovery of Witches.
EDITOR Georgie McCourt
Creative Director Rebecca Rhodes
photographY Bec Parsons/Artist Group
STYLING Aileen Marr
HAIR Chris Coonrod
MAKEUP Isabella Schimid
Production Robyn Fay-Perkins
wearing Cartier and Acler
“You’d think the impostor syndrome would quieten, but it never does,” Teresa confesses. “I’m still a real swinging pendulum. Sometimes I feel proud of all the work I’ve done and think, ‘I deserve to be on something like God of War.’ But most of the time, when I’m there it just feels surreal. I’m on this huge set, looking around at the people, taking in the scale of the thing, and the gratitude pours out of me. Post-Covid I started working a lot in Australia again and did a lot of compelling television that was so nourishing to my artistry. My agents were encouraging me to get back to America and book a job, but I’d convinced myself those doors had closed.”
Finally dipping her toe in Hollywood’s waters again last year, Teresa auditioned for a string of roles that didn’t go her way. “I felt that self-critical voice, ‘Nobody wants me.’ But with God of War, I feel I can quieten that. I pull myself down all the time,” she laments. “I don’t want to be that way, especially as I have daughters.”
Bondi Born dress, $620; Cartier bracelets (from top), $10,500 and $34,100, and earrings, $13,900.
Acler top, $450; Cartier earrings (from top), $13,900 and $14,700, necklace, $19,300, bracelet, $34,100, and rings (from left), $13,000 and $3450.
Above: St. Agni top, $499; Cartier earrings, $14,700, and bracelets (Teresa’s right arm), $34,100 and $10,500.
Above right: (from left) Forest wears Country Road shirt, $79.95, and shorts, $55.95. Poet wears Uniqlo top, $19.90; Grown pants, $59. Teresa wears Lee Mathews dress, $2199; Cartier bracelet, $34,100, and ring, $13,000. Bodhi wears Cotton On shirt, $49.99; H&M top, $19.99; Country Road pants, $149. Lotus wears Seed romper, $54.95. Prairie wears H&M top, $12.99; Grown skirt, $65.
Hermès jacket, $47,250, top, $4725, and shorts, $4515; Michael Hill earrings, $2299 each, necklace, $16,999, and ring, $2499.
Aje dress, $599; Cartier earrings, $3850, necklace, $34,700, and bracelets, $34,100 and $10,500.
Left: Bondi Born dress, $620; Cartier earrings, $13,900, necklace, $19,300, bracelets (from top), $10,500 and $34,100, and rings (Teresa’s right hand), $13,000 and $3450.
She lists inviting girlfriends over for champagne while the kids jump in and out of the pool as one of her favourite activities. Her close circle of Byron gal pals straddles film and fashion: fellow actor Elsa Pataky, who designed the Spell jacket she is wearing today; Jes Saddington, founder of bedding and loungewear label Dazed but Amazed (“we’re working on a prototype for a reversible jacket together that has vintage Isabel Marant vibes. The plan is to launch it by Christmas”); Rowie Moore, founder and designer of Rowie the Label, whose clothes she champions on social media; Laura May Gibbs, co-founder of Nagnata (“I’d never wear a structured jean – their slouchy style is the best”); and models Jessica Gomes and Gemma Ward.
photographY bec parsons STYLING aileen marr WORDS Eugenie Kelly
“Sorry,” she apologises in between mouthfuls. “I was downstairs with the babysitter trying to do today’s puzzle piece. When you’ve got five kids, of course they’re all going to need to be picked up at the same time. ‘I’ll go here, you go there, Mum can walk here,’” she recites, replaying the conversation. “Nope, that won’t work!”
Managing the diaries of Bodhi, 12, Forest, nine, Poet, seven, Prairie, five, and 12-month-old Lotus chez Palmer sounds a considerably more complex production than what we’re here to talk about today: perhaps Teresa’s biggest role yet, playing Sif, the Norse goddess, in Amazon Prime’s upcoming God of War. Currently on a break from filming seasons one and two in Vancouver, the mega-series is on a scale more akin to The Lord of the Rings, based on the blockbuster PlayStation franchise that has sold tens of millions of games since its 2005 debut.
Given the level of fandom surrounding the games, Teresa was understandably nervous the night before her casting was announced. “I thought, ‘Maybe I better stay offline tomorrow, in case I see things that make me wobble.’ It’s a dedicated fanbase who immerse themselves in the mythology and feel a real deep connection to it,” she says.
“I’m in the season of little children. And I’m the primary breadwinner. I drop balls all the time”
– Teresa Palmer
Right: Aje top and skirt, $999 each; Cartier bracelet, $10,500, earrings, $13,900, and ring, $13,000.
Below: Teresa wears Matin shirt, $690; C.Design swimsuit, $365; Cartier earrings, $14,700, necklace, $34,700, bracelet, $10,500, and ring, $13,000. Lotus wears Grown jumpsuit, $69.
It’s also made it easier for her children to meet others whose lives look like theirs. “In Adelaide we stuck out like a sore thumb because you’re surrounded by people with a lot of traditional nine-to-five jobs. But here there are lots of entrepreneurs with a similar travelling-circus lifestyle to ours, so that’s been helpful for the kids to see. We always want to have a safe place to land, where the kids can transition back to ‘normal’ life.”
Teresa’s perfect Byron day starts early, grabbing paddleboards and heading out with the kids to the waves in front of their house – and, on occasion, to literally frolic with humpbacks. “We’re also a big bike-riding family,” she says. “So we’ll head to The Book Room at Byron and pick out something to read, grab a bubble tea or head to Bayleaf for lunch.” Exploring the vegan dining scene is an activity the whole family loves; Teresa, Mark and their kids all follow plant-based diets. “We really left it up to them; there was never any pressure [to be plant-based]. The older boys made that choice for themselves, and then all of the siblings ended up doing the same,” she says. “Now it’s just such an easy, natural part of our family life.” Teresa keeps vegan treats on hand for birthday parties, but otherwise says, “there’s nothing difficult about raising plant-based kids. Most of our friends know our kids are plant-based and are really accommodating. It’s quite similar to having a child who’s gluten-free or lactose intolerant.”
(From left) Poet wears Uniqlo top, $19.90. Forest wears Country Road shirt, $79.95. Lotus wears Grown jumpsuit, $69. Teresa wears Zimmermann dress, $1150; Cartier bracelet, $34,100, and ring, $13,000. Prairie wears H&M top, $12.99. Bodhi wears Cotton On shirt, $49.99; H&M top, $19.99.
She makes it sound as if she has been sitting around twiddling her thumbs. Quite the opposite. Alongside The Mother Daze, the popular podcast she co-hosts with LA-based best friend Sarah Wright Olsen, and Lovewell, the wellness supplement brand she runs with Kate Clarke, Teresa’s film output in the past 18 months has been prolific. There was 4 Kids Walk into a Bank (out 2027) with Liam Neeson, shot in Ireland. Then The Get Out with Russell Crowe (out September 25, on Amazon Prime), with Russell calling her “the definition of a great actress. She just brought such a beautiful energy to the set every day. She’s fun but also serious about the job at the same time.” Then there was the submarine thriller Subversion (due in 2027) with Chris Hemsworth, who Teresa amusingly refers to “as one of the dads from school”.
Both Subversion and The Get Out were filmed on the Gold Coast, a location that offered a rare novelty: “I could drive to work,” she declares, adding that the family’s decision to make Byron Bay their base, after moving from Adelaide, has been a positive one. “Mark [Webber, Teresa’s husband and a fellow actor] has connected with a lot of creatives here. The community embraced us in a way I wasn’t expecting, and my older kids are forging friendships I know they’ll come back to.”
S
o much for the chilled-out Byron lifestyle. Teresa Palmer bursts into the empty bedroom, making a beeline for her laptop and our Zoom meeting where I’m already waiting. Clutched in one hand is an oversized yellow-and-white striped bucket of microwave popcorn. “Lunch!” she says, laughing. She’s all translucent skin and enormous blue eyes; an ethereal diminutive blonde swallowed by an oversized T-shirt and hooded camo jacket – a skater-style look that suggests she might offer to show you her kickflip.
DIVINE BEING
It might sound like a celebrity girl gang, but to Teresa, it’s a village. She’s a natural nurturer, although that instinct to look after everyone surely comes with its own weight? “When I really reflect on things, if there’s anything missing for me, it’s that I crave an unhurried life,” she admits. “But I’m not sure that will ever be available to me. I’m in the season of little children. And I’m the primary breadwinner. I drop balls all the time because I’m so time-poor. When my friends moan to me that they’re feeling bored … I can’t even imagine that feeling! I’ve talked about this with my husband … and he’s like, ‘Do you really want that? Stay in Byron, barefoot, pregnant … running into the ocean every day in your floaty dress? You’d be so bored.’ Maybe I’ll stop when I get really tired. In my sixties. That’s when I get to retire to the RV!”
“Teresa is living proof: don’t ever put limits on yourself”
– Bruna Papandrea, Australian producer
Aje dress, $599; Cartier earrings, $3850, necklace, $34,700, and bracelets, $34,100 and $10,500.
Zimmermann dress, $1150; Cartier necklace, $19,300.