Inside Sport Interview

ALMOST FAMOUS: As Kirsty Allan proves, celebrity isn’t just for squares.

Inside Sport has made a habit over the years of introducing new talent to the world – so remember where you saw Kirsty Allan first, won’t you. Because we reckon you’re going to be seeing more of her when fame catches up with her.

Having spent the last couple of years working on Sydney’s theatre circuit, as well as securing the odd commercial and even a stint on TV’s Fat Pizza, the 21-year-old is currently singing and dancing on the cabaret circuit in the Canary Islands before her big move to the Big Apple next year, where she plans to continue her drama studies.

“I was over in New York last year for a few months,” she says. “I did a couple of ads and danced in a few R’n’B film clips. There’s not a lot of work here in Australia, that’s why a lot of girls my age have to travel overseas to look for work – to London or the States. It’s hard; you have to be proactive and try a lot of different things.”

In Australia, part of Kirsty’s versatility stretches to her flexibility as a cheerleader for the Sydney Kings. For despite growing up in a family of staunch Dragons supporters – “they always seem to break our hearts” – basketball, not rugby league, is her sport of choice.

“I used to play rep basketball in Dubbo, where I grew up, back when Michael Jordan was at his peak,” she says. “I love basketball, so dancing for them is really great. I get the best seats in the house – right on the court. Luckily, my contract in Spain runs only until the end of September, so I’ll be back just in time for the new season, which will take me through to when I leave for New York.”

And if she does wake one morning in Manhattan to discover she’s king of the hill, top of the heap, she knows what to expect. For four years ago, as part of the Mast Aristocrat girl group, Kirsty was briefly world famous in India.
“I was one of six Australian girls put together into a group to launch a mix CD in India,” she says. “Other people did the singing; we were just the front, because we were all pretty and blonde. We mimed and pretended to sing in Hindi for the video clips.

“We were over there for six months living in New Delhi and travelling around promoting the CD. It was pretty amazing being famous. Just walking down the street, there’d be thousands of people rushing at you trying to get your autograph.”

Not that Kirsty didn’t also taste the downside to fame, something as bitter as a pappadum slathered in lime pickle.

“It’s a long story but, ultimately, things got nasty,” she says. “We were six girls locked up in a house in 46ºC heat with somebody watching us 24-7 and, in the end, we were just going insane. So, one night, we decided we needed a night out so we escaped. But we were caught and dragged back.

“The company that hired us said we’d broken our contracts, locked us up in the house for two weeks and said they were going to sue us for $6 million. In the end, our manager worked it all out, but it was a scary experience. And I don’t know if I’d ever want to go back.”

Hopefully, not that she will ever need to, for if all her hard work pays off, it will be the world coming to Kirsty Allan, rather than the other way around.