Jenny Wu

Former student and NIDA Graduate, Class of 2010

As I write this it is with much love and gratitude for a man who has shaped my life as an actor, artist and person, and not only for me but for many of my fellow colleagues and the Australian theatre and entertainment industry as a whole.

I don’t even know where to begin to show my appreciation of Kevin Jackson. He was a man who told you the honest truth, most of the times hard to hear, but perhaps necessary to hear. I remember first meeting him at 16 when I did work experience at NIDA. I sat in his class and watched the first year’s scene work. It was a massive deal back then. There were a lot of whispers about what Kevin Jackson was like, “Kevin Jackson this, Kevin Jackson that…”, “I don’t think you’d be allowed to watch KJ’s class”‚ “you might be able to watch if you sit quietly”, “don’t interrupt him”, “don’t ask questions” etc. etc.

Of course I asked him questions, and if anything he was delighted to have young wannabe actors watch him work. If you were an ambitious young actor, KJ would be your guide fuelling that passion of yours. He would instil in you the curiosity of what “artistic greatness” is, plant you firmly on the path as you challenge yourself to create more and better works, striving for the purity of art. Good is never good enough. There’s always room for the spontaneous and unpredictable. Nothing delighted him more than to talk about what “great” acting is. After all that’s what the core of the craft of acting is all about, to strive for “greatness”, and in the process FAIL GLORIOUSLY! A lifetime’s dedication.

He was a man to be revered, and not an easy one to impress, his bar was high, so when he praised you, you know that’s something. I remember during my NIDA audition, boy, was he impressed. He flipped through my file, and said,

“You’ve come a long way since last year” of my look he continued gleefully “…oh yes, we keep a file of everyone who has auditioned, and compare the notes, see whether you’ve improved in a year’s time or not. So don’t think we don’t know. We always know. Whatever you’ve done this year, it’s worked, keep doing it”.

In my mind I was thinking “I lived, that’s all”. And yes, engaging with life is of utter importance, because acting as Kevin would say, requires you to utilise both primary and secondary experience. During my years at NIDA, how much a rite of passage that place was, and mostly it was because of the teachers. For me in particular, Kevin played a big role. He seemed like the intimidating shark that swam the NIDA corridors, but really he was the Great White without teeth. Whatever tactics he used on his students or the brutal truth he gave you, it was all to push you beyond the limits you had set for yourself as an actor, shake off those habits and that old mindset, allow yourself to discover the potential range that exists within all of us.

So many times he introduced you to great works of art, in a way to make sure you are keeping up with the what’s out there. He always started his class asking what movies you have seen this week, whether you’ve been to the theatres, or what book you’ve read, or whether you went to the art gallery, etc etc. What I didn’t know at the time was that he was instilling in our minds that acting is not a job, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a constant engagement with the world and a constant expansion of the mind.

I remember in third year, we stood in the NIDA corridor, he looked at me sternly in the face and said, “You need to stop doubting yourself. You have so much doubt, it’s affecting your work. You know that don’t you?” Right there and then, he spoke the truth that had been plaguing me for a while. When I struggled for work as an actor after graduating, I remember catching up with KJ for coffee, telling him joyfully that I had just spent a year doing a Diploma of Languages and that it would be a shame if I didn’t become a translator. Only for him to bite back, “You know what would be a real shame? You spent three years at NIDA Jenny, it would be a shame if you didn’t act”. Often his remarks can be hurtful, but they plant you firmly right back on the path you’re meant to be on.

In the years following NIDA I leant that often I disagreed with his opinions, the harshness of them all, but behind the harshness is a love for you to fulfil the potential that he first glimpsed in you. I’m sure when I say I’ll really miss seeing KJ’s proud face on opening nights, I’m speaking for many. What a joy it was to be told that Kevin is waiting for you in the foyer, go say hello. You just know he’s so proud seeing his students on stage, even if he rips your performance apart in his reviews. I remember after one particular opening night, KJ joked to me, smiling and gleaming, “Jenny on stage twice in a year? What’s happening?” He obviously didn’t forget the comment I expressed to him a few years ago: that I have completely given up on the idea that I would ever be on the Australian stage given my ethnicity.

Kevin had always supported diverse actors, years before diversity became a buzz word. He believed actors of different cultural backgrounds bring unique interpretations to canonical and new works, enriching the arts as a whole. To say KJ is ahead of his time is an understatement.

When he was first diagnosed with his illness, I sent him a bunch of flowers at the Hub Studio, wrote a long email of thank you, only for him to write back one line. But subsequently to be told by others how his eyes was filled with tears by the gesture. This was a man who in fact is very shy with his emotions on the surface, he holds them in, but in his heart, the love for others run deep. Never one willing to receive help, but always one willing to give support. Only recently in October I corresponded with him, again he gave me some harsh grains of truth that I found myself at loss as to how to respond back. He wrote in capital letters, TIME IS FLEETING FAST, in reference to what I needed to do for myself, but in hindsight, how eerily loaded in meaning that became. To be such a force that the industry mourns, I’d say he has achieved the greatness that he encourages in others. What he has taught will live on in his students, and I am very blessed to be one of them. More than a teacher and a mentor.

Vale Kevin Jackson, legend. Thank you for being part of my life.