Former Home and Away star Indiana Evans has opened up about her time playing Matilda Hunter, describing the experience as a defining chapter in her life.
Evans, who portrayed Matilda from 2004 to 2008, joined the show at just 14 years old. Reflecting on her years in Summer Bay, she told TV Week that while it feels like a distant memory, it still holds a significant place in her heart.
“It feels like it was so long ago, yet at the same time, it doesn’t,” Evans shared. “Looking back, it almost feels like a different version of me lived through it, but it meant everything to me at the time.
“It was kind of everything. I was doing home-school and they [her co-stars] were my peers and friends. So it really holds a big place in my heart. [Acting] jobs come and go, but I think about it all the time; everything I learned from that show I still use today.”
Evans later worked with her co-star Chris Hemsworth, who played Kim Hyde, again when she made a brief appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder, in which Hemsworth plays superhero Thor – and she revealed that “Chris was exactly the same”.
The actor also spoke about her experiences with acting, explaining that while she loves the job, she has “moments” where she considers “switching careers”.
“The auditioning over and over can get you down,” she explained. “It’s a kind of constant rejection. You have to check in with yourself and ask, ‘Is this really what I want to do?'”
Matilda first arrived in Summer Bay with her twin brother, Henry, as they moved in with their mum, Beth, and stepdad, Rhys Sutherland.
She had her romantic advances to Kim and Ric Dalby rejected, although she later started an on-off relationship with Ric which continued after she left the Bay. Matilda also experienced bulimia after she received burns in an explosion caused by villain Eve Jacobsen.
Matilda made her exit when she got a place at a university in Perth, choosing to leave as she was the only member of her family left in Summer Bay.
