Ayesha Madon, the star of Netflix’s global hit Heartbreak High, believes the local industry is finally starting to showcase the country’s diversity on screen.
The Sydney-born actress and musician leads the show in its third and final season, out today, as Amerie Wadia, an Indian-Australian high school student from a working-class family.
Given the show’s global reach and the first two seasons hitting Netflix’s top 10 shows in over 40 countries, Madon is primed to be Australia’s next big export, following the likes of Geraldine Viswanathan – who featured in Will Ferrell film You’re Cordially Invited and Marvel’s Thunderbolts last year – and Charlotte Nicdao who stars in Apple TV+ show Mythic Quest alongside Rob McElhenney.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast, Madon agreed that we are seeing more diversity on Australian screens, but there is still work to be done.
“I’m so grateful for how far we’ve come, [but] I think we can push it,” Madon said.
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“I think colour is a massive thing [in Australia]. Now, we need to see dark-skinned people on screen… I want to see dark-skinned Indians, I want to see dark-skinned black people, I want to see dark-skinned First Nations people on screen now. Overseas, we see so many incredible women of colour popping off in the States… Australia takes a while to actually catch on to those people.
“Something like Heartbreak coming into the zeitgeist hopefully will show people that we can make really popular television and can make money. Like, if it’s a business decision, we can make money off stories of colour. So I think that’s really cool.”
Speaking on the success of Heartbreak High, which racked up 50 million viewing hours within a month of season 2’s release in 2024, Madon said that the show writers do a great job of challenging a number of stereotypes from lived experience.
“We really challenge a lot of the tropes, like being an Indian-Australian. Amerie is absolutely batshit crazy. You never see women of colour in Australia as romantic leads or people of colour as romantic leads,” she said.
“You never get to see the tropes kind of being broken. I think we need to see more of that, especially in Australia.”
Heartbreak High is out on Netflix at 6pm AEDT on Wednesday, March 25th.
