Henwick has been working consistently since her teens, notching up credits in Game of Thrones, Star Wars, The Matrix and well-regarded indie films including backpacker thriller The Royal Hotel.
In How to Make a Killing she plays Ruth, the love interest of main character Becket (Powell) – a man who systematically kills off his filthy rich relatives to inherit their massive fortune.
Ruth, a fashion designer who quits the high-pressure world to become a teacher, acts as a contrast to the hustle culture-inspired ambitions of wannabe billionaire Becket, Henwick says.
She says one of Ruth’s lines – “no-one teaches us to dream small” – got her thinking about her own path in life.
“I realised how much I related to that as someone who has been a part of that hustle culture for, I think it’s 15 years now since I started working professionally,” she says.
“Always striving for more, bigger, better.
“It’s really easy to lose sight of why you started doing what you do.”
For her, Henwick says, Ruth represents the “slow living” movement that’s been gaining traction on social media, encouraging people to avoid burnout.
The idea resonated with her.
“I hustled for years and then I just kind of had to explode,” she says.
“It was too much. It’s too much to handle. And some of it just doesn’t matter.
“Some of the stuff that we tell ourselves to care about. Really, when you’re on your deathbed, you’re not going to be thinking about any of that.”