When you work in show business long enough, you start to hear people trotting out lines such as, “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been!” or “This feels like my time”, but they don’t always ring true.
But sitting opposite Amanda Keller, as she enthuses about her second consecutive TV WEEK Gold Logie Award nomination, even the most cynical soul would buy every word.
“I was just so over the moon,” Amanda says in a break from our busy photo shoot. “Last year came completely out of the blue, and this year I’d been trying not to think about it, but it’s an extraordinary accolade.”
While Amanda may have been trying to push Logie talk to the recesses of her mind, by her own admission she’s in the form of her career.
“To be hitting my straps now is an amazing thing; I’m very grateful,” she says. “If someone had told me when I was younger that I’d have this happen when I was 57, I would have pictured myself looking like Mrs Mangle from Neighbours.
“That’s what I thought older women were when I was younger, so maybe my nomination is a shot in the arm for women who never had older women on TV.”
“To be hitting my straps now is an amazing thing!”
The TV personality is also up for Most Popular Presenter, and her dual nomination comes after another bumper year on the box. As well as her usual duties on radio and Network 10’s lifestyle hit The Living Room, Amanda doubled down, teaming up with 2018 Gold Logie winner Grant Denyer for the rebooted series of reality show Dancing With The Stars.
“This is the busiest I’ve ever been,” Amanda declares.
Luckily, a balanced routine allows for ample family time for the mum of two boys (Liam, 18, and Jack, 16).
“My life is far more regular than it looks, I think,” Amanda says. “I’m home far more than people would imagine – as a family, we sit down and have dinner together pretty much every night.”
If work does pop up that has the potential to interfere, the decision is made as a family.
“With Dancing With The Stars, I said to the whole family, ‘I’ve been offered this; this is what it means time-wise, how do you all feel about it?’ and off we went,” Amanda recalls.
It turned out to be the right decision, as the high-profile gig no doubt helped her land yet another Gold Logie nomination.
Amanda with her fellow Gold nominees.
So, given she’s in the prime of her career, has the wonderful Ms Keller thought about her next move?
“I just intend to go with it,” she says. “When I was young, I was always jealous of people who had a plan.
LOGIES 2019: Cast your vote in the 2019 TV WEEK Logie Awards
“But I think not having a plan has given me the width and longevity of a career because I’ve never really known – you just see which door opens when the time comes and walk through it.”
Sounds like a good plan to us!
The 61st TV WEEK Logie Awards, with all its glitz and glamour, will take place on Sunday, June 30, 2019 at The Star Gold Coast in Queensland. All the action from the red-carpet arrivals and awards-show celebrations will be telecast on the Nine Network and 9Now.
