After acting in a few short films and working as a TV extra throughout her university days before taking a long break, the 52-year-old has made her way onto the small screen.
“I left my run a bit late, but I think it's actually worked out for the best,” she said.
“When you're an actress in your 20s, there's so many girls going for the same role, but as you get older, there's less competition.”
Before stepping into the limelight, Ms McAsey began her acting career while growing up in Bamawm and during her school years in Rochester and Echuca.
“I was pretty involved in school theatre, but I didn't really stick to it because I would get very emotional after it was all said and done,” she said.
“After a show was over, I would almost go into mourning. You have such an amazing time with these great people and then the curtains close and that's the end.”
But her future career took a different turn when she decided to take the Public Service Test in year 12.
“I remember a teacher walking in and slapping an ad on the cork board and saying ‘For any of you with no prospects, you'd better consider taking this test’," she said.
After completing high school, she moved to Melbourne in the early 1990s and took on small roles in shows such as Round the Twist, A Country Practice and Law of the Land.
However, after finishing her studies, she made the decision to move to Canberra where she worked as a bureaucrat for 18 years.
In that time, she left her acting career for a moment and worked in a number of Federal Government departments.
While they seem like different worlds, Ms McAsey said working as a public servant and actor were more similar than people may think.
“It is a bit different, but you are on when you're in meetings and you need to have your game face on,” she said.
The world of the small screen came calling again when she decided to move back to Melbourne five years ago.
She found herself an agent at Barton Buckle agency in Bendigo, who helped her career take off again.
“I have progressively studied over the past couple of years both online through different trainers in Melbourne and now through an academy in Los Angeles,” she said.
“At the same time, I've been acting in a few short films for students and basically doing whatever I could to get back into it.”
As for making it onto Neighbours, it was a case of not what she knew, but who.
“I was lucky that the casting director for Neighbours was quite well affiliated with some of the teachers I've had in training courses,” she said.
After a successful audition, Ms McAsey was cast as Alexis Trotter, a marriage celebrant at Ned Willis (Ben Hall) and Yashvi Rebecchi's (Olivia Junkee) fake wedding.
“The set of Neighbours was very controlled when it came to COVID-19 restrictions,” she said.
“We had to wait in our cars as we arrived on set, get our temperature checked before we could even go and park.
“Once we were in there, we all had to make sure we had our masks when we weren't acting and keeping our 1.5m distance.”
But Ms McAsey said it was still a great experience.
“Everything was so professional, and all the cast and crew were so lovely,” she said.
“You would walk down the hallway through hair and make-up, everyone would yell out ‘welcome’ and ‘it's great to see you'. It was fabulous.”
As for the future, Ms McAsey has a few projects in the pipeline.
“I'm currently a producer on a show called 1901 which I'm really excited about,” she said.
“I also have roles in The Dry and Rock Sugar, which are set to come out in 2021.”
You can catch Ms McAsey on Neighbours today from 6.30pm on 10 Peach.
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