TV Soap, Vol 2 No5

Ready … Aim … Burn!

When Totti Goldsmith jumped out of the nursery into the Fire it nearly broke her heart.

Not even having her eyebrows and eyelashes singed off and coming home each night covered in cuts and bruises while training for, and shooting, the latest series of Fire can compare with the heartache of leaving her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Layla Rose, behind in Melbourne, says Totti Goldsmith, who plays firefighter Tex. "It's only the second time I'd had to leave her since she was born," says the actor-singer - who is Olivia Newton-John's niece.

"But I decided that for the first few weeks it's be better if she didn't come up here to Brisbane because I'd be very busy. But I missed her so much."

When Layla finally arrived after about a month, Totti spent every available moment with her. "I'd bring her onto the set at lunchtimes and we'd spend shooting breaks together. The rest of the cast was just beautiful with her. She's a well-adjusted little girl and knows what it means when I tell her I have to work."

Although she hasn't seen her mum on TV yet, Totti says she saw a picture of her on the cover of a magazine recently and instantly recognised her. "She started saying: 'There's Mummy!' It was so cute. And my husband Steve, is camera-mad and has been making videos of Layla since she was born, so she's used to seeing herself and the family on screen." Being the only woman in the cast has also been a change for Totti, who says she's more a girl's girl than a woman who likes to hang around with the blokes.

"I love being with women, so when I came to Brisbane and found out there were only three women in the whole cast and crew I got a bit of a shock. One day I just grabbed the makeup girl and the other woman working here and told them we had to go out by ourselves or I'd go crazy - without the boys, a girls' night out."

With Olivia Newton-John for her aunt it's no surprise that Totti is well-known for her own musical talent. She sings with the well-known all-girl band Chantoozies and says that when shooting on Fire finishes this month, the 'best friends' will go on tour again.

"We're not interested in recording any more. We just love going out as a group."