TVNZWhen Shortland Street's Cece King called the cops on pyromaniac daughter Sophia she shocked her family and probably a lot of viewers too. After all, who calls the police on their own child? "I found it quite difficult to put myself in that position," confesses Nicole Whippy who plays Cece. "But I have a 10 year old and a four year old so, so I am sure when my daughter is 18 and, if you ask me the same thing, I might agree with Cece." READ MORE: * Shortland Street tackles the issue of rape head on * Shortland Street actor expects backlash after sexual violation storyline * Meet Shortland Street's newest family from Byron Bay * Kiwi actress Nicole Whippy lands role on Shortland Street Sophia's preference for settling scores with those she dislikes by torching things came to a head this week when she sends Dr Esther Samuels' (Ngahuia Piripi) car up in flames after she discovered Esther had slept – albeit unwillingly - with her dad Ben (Jamie Irvine). When Dr Harper Whitley (Ria Vandervis) insists that she must do something before Sophia goes beyond the point of no return, Cece reluctantly calls the police and, even in the face Sophia's terror, refuses to back down. Whippy had no trouble summoning up tears for the harrowing scene. "I just have to look at her. I just have to look into her beautiful big eyes when she says 'mum' at me and it's like hearing my daughter say it," she says. "She's met my own daughter and they've had a really lovely little relationship. She pretty much feels like a part of my own family to the point where my husband even met her, my actual real husband Tom, and he was like 'Oh my god, she's so much like Pearl', our daughter." Whippy and partner Tom Holden have two daughters, Pearl 10, and Vida, four, and she says she has quickly come to consider Grace a daughter, too. When the King family – Ben, Cece, Iana and Louis (Henry Rolleston) moved to Ferndale, Whippy took the young actress under her wing. "We often begin the day together and finish the day together and I'll drop her off home and that's really important in building that active relationship so it really sells on screen," she says. "She looks like my daughter, she feels like my daughter. It's very easy to play across from her. She does a fantastic job." Even Whippy's mother, a mental health professional, has become interested in Iana's mental health problems. "My mother's a maternal mental health nurse and she's become quite addicted to Shortland Street and it was just amazing talk the language around it," she says. "There was a scene where a fire is happening in the house and Sophia is just hypnotised by the flames and my mother's response to that, knowing nothing, was 'wow, look at her. She has disassociative disorder. I wonder what trauma has happened to her when she's a kid'. And I thought 'oh, I should take that to the writers. This good." It is storylines like this that attracted the 41-year-old – already a household name for her roles as Stacey in Outrageo
Shortland Street: Nicole Whippy's tough predicament
TVNZWhen Shortland Street's Cece King called the cops on pyromaniac daughter Sophia she shocked her family and probably a lot of viewers too. After all, who calls the police on their own child? "I found it quite difficult to put myself in that position," confesses Nicole Whippy who plays Cece. "But I have a 10 year old and a four year old so, so I am sure when my daughter is 18 and, if you ask me the same thing, I might agree with Cece." READ MORE: * Shortland Street tackles the issue of rape head on * Shortland Street actor expects backlash after sexual violation storyline * Meet Shortland Street's newest family from Byron Bay * Kiwi actress Nicole Whippy lands role on Shortland Street Sophia's preference for settling scores with those she dislikes by torching things came to a head this week when she sends Dr Esther Samuels' (Ngahuia Piripi) car up in flames after she discovered Esther had slept – albeit unwillingly - with her dad Ben (Jamie Irvine). When Dr Harper Whitley (Ria Vandervis) insists that she must do something before Sophia goes beyond the point of no return, Cece reluctantly calls the police and, even in the face Sophia's terror, refuses to back down. Whippy had no trouble summoning up tears for the harrowing scene. "I just have to look at her. I just have to look into her beautiful big eyes when she says 'mum' at me and it's like hearing my daughter say it," she says. "She's met my own daughter and they've had a really lovely little relationship. She pretty much feels like a part of my own family to the point where my husband even met her, my actual real husband Tom, and he was like 'Oh my god, she's so much like Pearl', our daughter." Whippy and partner Tom Holden have two daughters, Pearl 10, and Vida, four, and she says she has quickly come to consider Grace a daughter, too. When the King family – Ben, Cece, Iana and Louis (Henry Rolleston) moved to Ferndale, Whippy took the young actress under her wing. "We often begin the day together and finish the day together and I'll drop her off home and that's really important in building that active relationship so it really sells on screen," she says. "She looks like my daughter, she feels like my daughter. It's very easy to play across from her. She does a fantastic job." Even Whippy's mother, a mental health professional, has become interested in Iana's mental health problems. "My mother's a maternal mental health nurse and she's become quite addicted to Shortland Street and it was just amazing talk the language around it," she says. "There was a scene where a fire is happening in the house and Sophia is just hypnotised by the flames and my mother's response to that, knowing nothing, was 'wow, look at her. She has disassociative disorder. I wonder what trauma has happened to her when she's a kid'. And I thought 'oh, I should take that to the writers. This good." It is storylines like this that attracted the 41-year-old – already a household name for her roles as Stacey in Outrageo
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