Pictures: Robert Trathen
Jane Wills’ love life is more than a little complicated. At least it is on Shortland Street, where the bubbly actor plays the polyamorous Dr Phil Grayson, who is currently driving a wedge between fellow doctors Harper and Drew.
Happily, though, Woman’s Day can report that in real life, Jane’s romantic situation isn’t at all problematic – she’s found her happy-ever-after with fellow actor Leo Maggs, who stars in the Netflix series Sweet Tooth.
“I first met Leo when we were auditioning for drama school in Wellington, at Toi Whakaari. We were both 19 at the time,” tells Jane, her eyes sparkling. “It was during the recall weekend, when we’d got down to the final stages. I remember my first impression of Leo was thinking he was cute, with a cute face, but I didn’t think anything of it beyond that.”
Still clearly besotted, Leo adds, “I think we both found each other really funny, which is how it started. I found Jane hilarious and we just kept joking around.”
Recalls Jane, “And I found you hilarious. But during that first year, we were all just getting to know each other. Leo and I had become good friends. We’d also worked closely doing a play called The Glass Menagerie and we had so much fun doing that.
“Then one day, I’m in a car with my friend Hannah and she says, ‘Jane, you do realise that you love Leo, eh?’ And I’m like, ‘What? No, I don’t. I like Leo. He’s nice, but I don’t love him.’ Then a minute later, I realised, ‘Oh, my gosh, I do love him.’”
Jane still sounds astonished that it took a friend to point out that she was smitten.
“I literally had no idea, even though everyone else around us could see it. So I told Leo that I really liked him and he said, ‘I really like you too.’”
It was during their final year of study at Toi Whakaari that the starstruck lovers, who are now both 28 and have just celebrated eight years together, took their relationship to the next level.
“My parents moved from Eastbourne to Auckland when we were in our last year, so we just started flatting together,” remembers Leo. “We didn’t even question it.”
Crinkling her nose, Jane continues, “It was a classic Wellington flat. It was freezing and the communal areas were really gross. But it was at the top of Mt Vic, just before the bus tunnel, so it also had amazing views and we made our room really nice.”
Asked if they ever find it challenging to manage the inevitable ups and downs of their creative careers, the upbeat lovebirds explain that they make it work because they absolutely have each other’s backs.
“If Jane wins, I win and if I win, Jane wins, so it’s not like we’re competitive,” says Leo. “We also know how to help each other, which we did a lot of in drama school when we worked on various projects together.”
They have since worked together professionally, last year starring in a comedy show called Castaway Airlines at Auckland’s Basement Theatre. They created the show with some of their drama-school buddies.
“We really want to make more stuff like that. We’re currently writing a TV show, a mysterious dark comedy, because that sort of thing is so popular right now,” says Jane.
Careful not to give too much away, Leo adds, “Think Big Little Lies meets Bad Sisters. But that’s all we can tell you.”
The couple is clearly ambitious, with Jane expressing gratitude to her partner for helping her win the part of Dr Phil on Shorty.
“Full credit to Leo for helping me get the role,” Jane explains. “I was first asked to audition when we were travelling around Europe last year. Because I love Shortland Street and I’d been watching it since I was a kid, auditioning meant so much to me. But, it also meant I put a lot of pressure on myself.”
The pair smile when they cast their minds back to how peculiar it was to be in Italy, filming an audition set in a Ferndale bar, while sitting in the kitchen of an Airbnb in glamorous Lake Como.
Jane wanted the role so badly, she came down with a bad case of nerves. Wincing at the memory, she shares, “I was doing the doctor audition and then suddenly just decided I couldn’t do it. I threw my toys out of the cot.”
But Leo persuaded her to carry on, saying, “Come on, just do one more take, then one more.” Afterwards, they put the whole thing out of their minds. Jane was convinced it was a longshot to win a coveted core-cast role on the iconic TVNZ 2 soap.
The lovebirds went on to make plans to move to Melbourne at the end of their European break. Leo, who works in the construction industry when not acting, reveals, “I’d even got a job over there. We’d pretty much just landed when Jane finds out the producers wanted to meet her.”
She adds, “I’d been in Melbourne for one week, when I heard they wanted me to fly back to do a screen test. Then I was back in Melbourne when I found out I had the job. So I spent a week in Melbourne on cloud nine, only the timing wasn’t great as Leo had just started his new job.”
Leo tells, “I stayed in Melbourne for four months because I didn’t feel I could leave so soon after starting. Then, I called my boss in Auckland to ask if I could come back to my old job. They said yes.”
“And the rest,” Jane grins, “is history.”
As for the future, Leo is philosophical. “This time last year, we thought we’d be living in Melbourne and now we’re back in Auckland, so who knows?”
But it’s safe to say a wedding and kids are on the cards. Both of the stars are clearly on the same page of the script.
“We definitely want kids because I love children and we’re godparents to my cousin Christina’s five-month-old baby Freddy,” Jane smiles. “Recently, we babysat him and it was a raging success. We pulled faces and made funny noises, which totally tired him out.”
Nodding, Leo confirms, “We definitely both want marriage and children – it’s just a matter of getting the timing right.”
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