Symons: I can't be Marilyn in flats

Home And Away star Emily Symons has confessed she can't play ditzy Marilyn Chambers without wearing high heels.

The 43-year-old actress has played Summer Bay's loveable blonde waitress on-and-off for 22 years, and revealed she can't act without her stilettos - even if it means wearing them on the beach.

Emily explained: "Sometimes the directors say, 'Take your shoes off - you know health and safety, we're along this rock path and you have to take your shoes off'. And I say 'I can't do it without my shoes on.' I have to wear them!

"It changes the way you walk, and it changes the way you stand and for me that's very much her character - she wears her high heels everywhere - including on the sand.

"There's always a director who says, 'Nobody wears high heels on the beach!' And I say, 'She does wear high heels at the beach, she always has.' So I never back down on that one.

"I can walk on sand - easy. You've got to just walk on your tippy toes, you can't put the heels in."

Emily - whose character Marilyn is about to get involved with the Braxton boys' criminal dad Danny - admitted Marilyn's distinct look helps her get into character.

She said: "For me, having the two hour make-up call - you go to work and you're freshly scrubbed and you're you and then they put the hair up and they put the eyelashes on, you've got the high heels and the lipstick and you're in work mode then and off you go. It helps."