Though not particularly well known in the West, Anna McGahan is a prolific and celebrated actor in her native Australia. Her most famous role is that of real-life sex worker Nellie Cameron in the crime anthology series “Underbelly.” More specifically, McGahan appeared in the show’s fourth season — subtitled “Razor” — which focuses on the razor gangs that terrorized Sydney in the 1920s.
McGahan was nominated for two Australian television awards for her performance, and it led to main roles in several more series. But despite “Underbelly” seeming to be a boon for her career, McGahan wishes so much of it didn’t require her to be naked. In a blog post about the experience and her journey into acting, McGahan wrote, “I had been told that if I wanted to work as an actress, I had to be prepared to get my breasts out.” She says that she had initially come to terms with the nudity and sex scenes she had to do for the show, but soon realized one of the downsides to crossing that line.
During a promotional photo shoot, McGahan was topless but wanted to keep her back to the camera. The photographer got frustrated with her, and McGahan says he barked at her, “You’re playing a prostitute and you can’t be f***ing sexy?” That’s when McGahan realized that some people were going to see her differently now that she’d been naked on screen, and she made the decision to never do that again.
