Who is Janet Anderson?
A new kind of starlet, on the rise.
What would you do differently from what you do now?
To be honest the whole reason I am an actress was a stroke of good luck. My current agent happened to see me in my year 12 play and contacted my drama teacher for a meeting. Without this, I would have gone to TAFE to study hair dressing or costume making or become a nail technician.
Who inspires you and why?
I’m endlessly inspired at the moment by Jinx Monsoon (like the rest of the world I suspect). The way that she has been able to turn a drag career into a West End debut and a Broadway sensation speaks to her raw talent and stick-to-it nature. That is what becomes of being on stage simply because you were born to do it.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
Send all current Prime Ministers, Presidents, Kings and or Queens to some sort of gulag and start again. Have a treaty with our first nations people and ask what they would like to see this country become. And channel all that money spent on the art of war into the art of live performance. Oh and free public housing for all.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
Bangkok! I have never been somewhere and been surrounded by so many beautiful and seemingly joyful trans women, able to live out loud. And the food I mean come on.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
I live 10 minutes away from Dawn Fraser Baths and I just think that place is so quintessential Sydney. It is the only remaining enclosed harbour pool in the Southern Hemisphere in its original format and looks over to Cockatoo Island (which was an early convict prison, home to captain thunderbolt) and around the corner is Goat Island (where Bennelong and Barangaroo lived before colonisation), so it’s a quick and easy history lesson. I’ve heard when that baths were first built, the water was black from all the coal mine dust from the Birchgrove mines that used to exist.
What are you currently reading?
I’m currently reading Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh – an experimental satire about the society emerging post World War I.
What are you currently listening to?
Lana Del Rey’s White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter is playing on a loop in my head.
Happiness is?
A red handbag to match my red nails. Sitting in a dark theatre and watching actors on stage make me feel something new. Laughing with friends until my head pounds. Dancing in a crowd of queers while on illicit substances. Seeing new cities and feeling small and anonymous. Meeting other artists and being astonished by their work. Driving over the Anzac Bridge at dusk as the lights of the city start to sparkle. My beautiful girlfriend and her beautiful cat. Marilyn Monroe movies.
What does the future hold for you?
I couldn’t possibly say as it hasn’t happened yet, but I hope I can continue to tell stories and do daring things that make me nervous. I would love to make a feature film one day. Shot on actual film of course. And to work on the West End. Mainly, to have my work be remembered.
Janet can be seen in Iolanthe’s SISTREN – a Green Door Theatre Company Production presented by Griffin Theatre Company at Belvoir’s Downstairs Theatre from 9 April – 3 May 2026. For more information, visit: www.griffintheatre.com.au for details.
Image: Janet Anderson (supplied)