EXCLUSIVE: Tammin Sursok on keeping her kids safe after a close call with a school shooting in America
"I ended up buying bulletproof backpacks for my kids"
In March 2023, Australian actress Tammin Surok experienced one of every parent’s worst nightmares. Her nine-year-old daughter’s school was in lockdown after a 28-year-old female shooter opened fire at a nearby primary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killing six people including three children.
Tammin, 39, lives in Nashville with her husband Sean McEwen and their two daughters, Phoenix and four-year-old, Lennon.
In the weeks since the devastating shooting, Tammin has attended gun safety protests and used her voice across her social media platforms, which includes 1.3 million Instagram followers, to evoke change for gun laws in America.
In an exclusive chat with Bounty Parents, Tammin opens up about her family life in Nashville, her new film, Blood, Sweat and Cheer and her plans to return to Australia.
Tammin with her daughters, Phoenix, nine, and Lennon, four.
After a shooting so close to your daughter’s school, the past few weeks must have been tough for you…
Unfortunately, it is the reality of living in America. It’s almost a weekly, if not daily occurrence in the news. The problem is we become so desensitised to it because you feel like it’s not close to your home, it’s in another state or across the country. But, this was so close to us. It was literally walking distance from my daughter’s school to where it happened.
I ended up buying bulletproof backpacks for my kids and their shoes don’t have laces in them so they won’t trip over. It’s a really sad reality.
I’ve been at the protests and for a lot of people the narrative is really confusing. I think you see someone at a protest and you think they’re taking away the right to own a gun and here’s the thing, in America that will never happen but things can be done. In many other countries you can buy a gun, but you don’t see violence like this. You don’t see mass shootings and you see almost zero gun violence.
In New Zealand you can buy a gun and in Japan you can and there’s like no gun violence, so something is wrong. People need to appoint the right people in government to make choices based in safety. The positive effect is that people are now speaking up.
After the Nashville shooting, Tammin purchased bulletproof backpacks her daughters.
Are you planning to come back to Australia to live?
We were always going to school our kids, for high school in Australia. That was always the case. It’s just whether or not we do it sooner.
We split our time to spend half our time in Australia. The problem is school does dictate a lot because you don’t want to be pulling your kid out of school every couple of months. I have an American husband, my kids love America and they love Australia as well. It’s trying to figure out what the plan looks like and how to do it.
How is your daughter feeling about school after the shooting scare?
We try not to go over it ever day. We let her live her life and we will do the worrying for her.
Tammin and her family split their time between living in America and Australia.
Nashville was also on tornado watch the other week and you made a makeshift tornado shelter in your bathroom.
It was scary but we’re not in tornado alley which is the path a tornado will usually follow. My husband has been in ‘tornado world’ for his whole life. You’ll see videos on Tik Tok and a tornado will be coming and someone’s videoing it on their phone. The more you have exposure to something, the less you’re afraid. In Los Angeles, it was earthquakes. In the 12 years I was there I probably went through, 20 to 30 earthquakes, so you get used to it. I feel natural disasters are kind of everywhere, Australia has them too. I was in Brisbane when everything flooded. It doesn’t matter where you live, there’s always going to be something.
You’ve moved around a lot. How easy is it to meet people and make new friends?
You find the best community when you’re doing something you love. Whether you love playing soccer or going to an exercise classes, you meet people there, or for me, it’s acting in theatre companies. There’s always the opportunity to meet new people that are like-minded but you can’t do that at home, sitting on your couch.
Tell us about your new film, Blood, Sweat and Cheer and the character you play?
My character would do anything to live her life again – including taking over her daughter’s life. She had a child when she was very young and because of that she never got to achieve her dreams, which was to be a cheerleader. She feels invisible and she goes to an extreme extent to relive her life.
I think some mothers would feel like they never got to where they wanted to go and that they sacrificed so much and it would be hard to see their children doing what they always wanted to do.
In Blood, Sweat and Cheer, Tammin plays a suburban divorcée who pretends to be her teenage daughter in a twisted attempt to make the cheer squad at a local high school.
What else is coming up for you?
My podcast, Woman On Top is in its fourth season and we’ve just hit four million downloads. Rachel Bilson is on next week; Alicia Silverstone was just on. The tagline for the podcast is two best friends who talk about things that you think, but don’t say out loud. There’s no subject that’s off the table.
I have another movie coming out soon called, Stolen Memories and I will be shooting two movies in New Zealand around June/July.
Tammin’s new film, Blood, Sweat and Cheer is streaming now on Tubi.
