The idea that everything happens for a reason is comforting, but not something that’s easy to hold onto. But for Somali-Australian actor Edyll Ismail, it’s a mantra she’s embraced the abundance of, seeking out opportunities as well as carving out a path for others alongside her. While forging a career on stage and screen, the graduate of the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) launched the Tell Your Story initiative and podcast, determined to champion the arts for culturally and linguistically diverse youth.

Her early career has spanned intense stage performances in Perth Festival’s Whistleblower and compelling screen roles in the short Forever, as well as Ghosts Australia and Button Pusher. But she ultimately found her LA launchpad as Leyla on sci-fi series La Brea. For SIDE-NOTE, Ismail sits down with Charlee Fraser, Australia’s most prominent First Nations model and with a growing on-screen presence of her own, to reflect on identity, creative resilience and the winding journey towards self-expression.

CHARLEE FRASER: So I’m going to dot my Is and cross my Ts – you’re second-generation Somalian, born in Melbourne, but you left at the age of five to go to Perth?

EDYLL ISMAIL: This is so funny that there is information about this, but yes, correct.

CF: What was it like moving to and growing up in Perth?

EI: I always tell anyone who asks me about Perth that it was a very beautiful place to grow up. It’s very slow paced. The people who I grew up with were amazing. It’s just really far away from all the fun stuff.

CF: Did it have an impact on your creative self growing up?

EI: I think I was always creative in some form and made it happen no matter what. I was a big chatterbox and made my mum watch me do random High School Musical dances that I could remember. I didn’t know much about performing arts until I was in high school when I did a drama class or a school play. I was like, “Okay, wait, this is something that I can do?” It was very eye opening for me, and the moment I found something I finally felt like I was good at.

CF: In your podcast Tell Your Story, you spoke about what you’ve just said – how you’ve always been a performer – but then shifted to academics after school. What reignited your creativity?

EI: I went straight into university to study psychology, moving to archaeology and Korean language studies, which I know is random, but at the time I thought, “What the hell am I going to do?” The one interest that I loved from high school was ancient history and I was obsessed with Korean dramas at the time. But I wasn’t feeling completely satisfied, and I was modelling at the time, too. Actually, it was during a modelling show that I met one of my closest friends and she was doing a monologue. Immediately I was like, “How do I do that?” Around the same time, I did a music video that came from StarNow, which I’m very grateful for. It was the universe giving me a little signal.

CF: Before you graduated, you got the part of Leyla in La Brea. What was it like transitioning from local theatre to an international television production?

EI: So scary! You only get so much experience in any kind of schooling system, you don’t actually get that real life – this is how it really is, and this is the energy. I felt confident in taking on new roles at that point, but it just felt so surreal being able to do something you’ve wanted for such a long time, and I made so many amazing friends. I met actors that I used to watch when I was 13, 14 – it was like, “I’ve seen you before and now we’re colleagues.”

CF: I love that moment when you go from admiring someone to realising they’re your colleague and friend now. It’s such a beautiful part of the evolution into the industry.

EI: You had that on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, right?

CF: Definitely. It was incredible. Now, I love asking this question because I have favourite genres of movies, but what would be a dream role for you?

EI: This is ever changing, but comedy – I’d love to do more comedy-comedies and even action-comedy. I love making people laugh, so it would be nice to do next. Fingers crossed.

CF: Do you ever feel your characters teach you something about yourself?

EI: The roles that draw me in are ones that mirror something of myself that I don’t quite know what it is yet. I kind of have to discover it as I go through the role. With Leyla, I found parts of myself in her – she’s quite hot-headed and does what she wants, and I’ve been told I do that a lot. She does it to a point of fault as well, which actually hurts the people around her, and allows me to discover aspects of me and Leyla that kind of form one. I also don’t want to be the kind of person that she is, so it taught me to be able to hold the people around me and support them while still going for what I want.

CF: Yeah, definitely, you understand the similarities but then also the differences and you get a chance to explore that and grow.

EI: For sure.

CF: Okay, so to round it out today, because I mentioned the podcast earlier, what I really loved is that it felt like I was a part of the conversation. Tell us a little about what inspired you to create it.

EI: I guess Tell Your Story came from this initiative I was doing at WAAPA exploring the gap of accessibility in the arts, for people of colour, migrants and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. It was about understanding that they belong in those spaces and they are open to them. It’s been interesting doing these podcasts because the people I’ve done it with all had different experiences of being a part of our communities and then wanting to step foot into a place where there’s not a lot of us. Like, I’m second generation, my family came here and wanted me to do jobs that will help me be financially stable. The arts are never something that comes into conversation because it’s never something that can help you be comfortable. Being able to create these stories helps them know that they can be expressive in their creativity in a safe space, and I feel like it’s great to hear from people who have had successes in certain places so they know it’s possible.

CF: It was really cool listening and hearing the conversations you were having with people from different corners of the world. Final question – what are you currently manifesting or working towards?

EI: There’s a production I did recently that is still in post – I’m pretty sure I can say it was directed by Sam Raimi. I’m also engaging in my own short film, which I’m in pre-production for, and I’ve never done something like that. It’s scary, but it’s really close to my heart.

CF: I’m so excited to see the next thing that’s on its way. And I’m super excited to see your journey into producing – that’s huge.

EI: Thank you. It’s a lot of work. But I’m so excited for it.