EXCLUSIVE: Nicole da Silva destigmatising age gaps with her new role in Love Me (2024)

Ten years after she first steamed up prison drama Wentworth as Franky Doyle, Nicole da Silva is back on TV, doing the same in Love Me.

The 41-year-old actress is playing the high-powered Amy, a love interest for Aaron, the young lawyer played by 22-year-old William Lodder.

The way Nicole sees it, the older woman/younger man dynamic shouldn’t even raise an eyebrow.

“I think it’s time to normalise this dynamic between two age-appropriate adults, because we don’t ask the same questions when it’s an older man,” she tells TV WEEK.

A mum in real life, who juggled pregnancy and having a baby while filming comedy drama Doctor Doctor, Nicole’s Love Me character is also a mother. Amy runs into Aaron at the law firm where he works, and finds it funny when Aaron’s boss tells him that now he’s a dad, he’ll never have sex again.

“Amy approaches her life, work and problems with humour, so that appealed to me,” Nicole explains. “She does things her own way and she’s sharp and sometimes brutally honest.”

The attraction between Aaron and the married Amy is obvious from their first meeting, and it’s not long before they act on it. Nicole says Will was “a lovely sparring partner”.

“He’s equal parts professional and fun, so “it was great to work with him,” she says. “We had a quick Zoom before officially meeting each other on set.”

She says they did a lot of preparation with an intimacy coordinator before their sex scene, to make sure they were “safe and comfortable”.

“The actual shooting of the scene was very respectful,” she adds.

The last series Nicole starred in, Doctor Doctor, finished up in 2021, with what she describes as “a very apt ending” for her character Charlie and husband Matt (Ryan Johnson).

Last year, she didn’t appear on TV at all. But fans won’t have to wait long to see her again after Love Me. She has a starring role in One Night, the Paramount+ series co-starring Yael Stone and Jodie Whittaker, which recently wrapped filming in NSW. Nicole calls the team for One Night “very special”.

“Although we were exploring dark content, there was a strong sense of family and camaraderie as we progressed through the shoot,” she explains. “We also found a lot of humour and joy, not only as the characters, but as a team working towards a common goal.”

Nicole has also been kept busy recently working with her former Wentworth co-star Danielle Cormack. Nicole and Danielle, who played Bea Smith, acted opposite each other last year in the play Who’s Afraid, about two same-sex couples who want to have babies.

“It was fantastic treading the boards with Danielle again,” Nicole says. “We worked hard to bring that show to life, both as actors and as producers, so to play on stage together was a highlight.”

The pair are now preparing to shoot Who’s Afraid as a film.

“We’ll be tackling it as co-stars and co-directors,” Nicole explains. “So we’re very excited and look forward to taking it from stage to screen.”