Mish Kerley

Mish Dearne Kerley was born in Sandringham, Melbourne, Australia to parents Judith Ann (Grange), a nurse and Graham Pickering, a Sales Rep and is the youngest of 3 children by almost 14 years. She has a sister Debra Ann Pickering and a brother Mark Anthony Pickering. She grew up in Cheltenham but moved to Redcliffs and Mildura for a short time at the young age of 16 before returning home to settle back in Melbourne. Mish's love of stage started at the age of 3 when her mother Judy joined her up to the local calisthenics club. Song and dance were obviously in the blood as this led to a grander love of music. She started playing the violin at the age of 6, progressing to the flute and drums but singing and performing remained her 1st love. Mish was known to put on a performance in front of the whole primary school every Monday morning at assembly with a routine she choreographed during the week. This was the start of something that would become bigger as Mish began to seek something more rewarding. She sang in Christmas Choirs, played in an Orchestra and was a member in an alternative band that would play at Southland Shopping Centre on centre stage on Fridays. During her teenage years Mish was lucky enough to be cast in commercials for Toyota and P&O. Who knew this would be the start of a new love? Mish was also very good at sport in her adolescence. She had ambitions to play at Wimbledon one day and competed in the McDonalds Junior Tournaments but unfortunately she was introduced to the game of Squash and very quickly found she couldn't play the two sports and one had to go. She won a Squash club tournament at the age of 12 in her 1st year, competing against adults that played pennant and she figured squash was much more fast paced and fun. She didn't have the right disposition for tennis as her perfectionist nature would often lead her to get angry and frustrated with herself and she would throw her racquet around the court. At aged 18, Mish joined the Australian Army Reserves before becoming a full time soldier. She wanted to be a police officer but decided to get some knowledge in marksmanship and discipline by joining the Australian Defence Force. She thought this was the best way of getting into the Victorian Police Force but after ten years she came to the realization that music and theatre was her true love. Mish's love of theatre grew and she performed in plays like 'Annie' and 'Oliver' which to this day are still her favourite musicals. Combining her love of singing and acting seemed like a dream too good to be true, this was until she met her husband, Glenn. They randomly met at karaoke one night and hit it off. Who knew her love of music would lead to another true love.......? As it turned out Glenn is also a musician and together they play as a duo called 'Naturally Kerley'. After a romance that is generally only seen in the movies Glenn asked Mish to marry him by making a karaoke track especially for her and after an unexpected proposal at her 40th birthday they married a matter of months later and the rest, they say, is history. Since Mish and Glenn started 'Naturally Kerley', Mish was fulfilled with the singing side of life but was now missing the acting side so she decided to join a casting agency and hopefully start acting again. It wasn't very long before she was cast as 'Jenny', the Lassiters receptionist on Neighbours and this has led to many other roles in TV shows and movies.