Paper Giants's Mandy McElhinney: Hello Nene!

TV’s Rhonda took leave so Mandy McElhinney could play the part of a lifetime.

When it came to nabbing the role she believed she was destined to play, actress Mandy McElhinney was determined to put her, well, best “brake foot” forward. The hugely talented Mandy – who brought to life AAMI’s beloved “hot like a sunrise” Rhonda – knew that portraying irrepressible former Woman’s Day editor Nene King in Paper Giants: Magazine Wars simply had to be the next chapter in her career. And she was willing to do whatever it took to prove she was right for the part.

“I tried to make myself look as much like Nene as I could,” Mandy reveals, her blue eyes sparkling. “I slept with pin-curls in my hair, so it would curl out for the audition. And I went to the op shop and bought some garish clothes from the 80s, with shoulder pads. I really wanted the part and so I tried hard for the audition. “I had to do a freak-out where I was overturning tables,” she says about trying out for the hotly contested role. “Then I had to just wait and wait. I was really lucky to get it.”

Seeing Mandy burst into character on screen as the feisty and fiery Nene, it quickly becomes clear it was the series’ producers who were the lucky ones. Mandy, who after 20 years on stage and screen has suddenly become something of a pop-culture phenomenon, completely inhabits the demanding role.

She spent countless hours researching Nene’s life, her time at Woman’s Day, and her infamous rivalry with then New Idea editor Dulcie Boling (played by Rachel Griffiths), and says she became “obsessed” with her latest alter ego. “There’s something larger-than-life about Nene,” she reflects.