| What was your
first role on television? |
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I did a television show on the ABC back
in the early 90s - 'Phoenix'- a cop show and that was my
first ever role on television. I played a bad drug dealer
and in the next town I was robbing a bank- oh sorry, robbing
a chemist. Then I did a guest role on 'Breakers', which
was set on Bondi Beach. I was with Ada- who plays Leah-
I was her ex-boyfriend and then I started out on Home and
Away. |
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| Do you enjoy
playing Jude and do you miss working with Kylie? |
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Yes, Jude is quite interactive. He comes
from a hard background. His mam raised him and his little
brother to a certain point but was very heavily religious.
So he reached the point he couldn't handle any more and
shortly his brother joined him. So he comes from quite a
hard background.
But he has managed to hold onto some kind of neighbourly
abilities where he can portray a nice guy.
From my own back-story in my head the writers did not
write it for me and I came up with the actor having a strong
male role model because the dad was not around. So I thought
this guy is going to have a mentor that he could look back
to. So I created a little character in my own head called
Morris and he owned a pub around the corner where I used
to live and he was kind of like missing a father figure
and that was a character that I just made up in my head
to make Jude a more likeable guy, em because you've got
to be pretty likeable to take on your little brother and
raise him from like 16 when he moved in with Jude to 19.
You've got to be pretty likeable to put your life on hold
for your little brother. So I like that about Jude. He has
a bit of a temper sometimes and has quite noble and true
and quite a genuine character and a nice guy. And there
is a sensitive side to him as well that comes out in his
relationships so yeah, I do like playing Jude just for his
complexities.
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| Do you miss
Kylie? |
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Yes, Kylie and I have a really beautiful
relationship, but also naturally we just seemed to click,
just gelled even from the beginning. Even in the beginning
of the story when Jude and Shauna were not really getting
on, like she didn't want a party with Jude. There is stuff
there that you could probably say there is chemistry that
has kid of developed between the Shauna and Jude characters
and it is still strong to this day and some people even
say that it is not as strong as chemistry that Charlotte
and Jude have. But I don't really want to comment on that
because I think I'm not in a position to but a lot of people
have said that the chemistry that Jude has with Shauna is
a lot better than the chemistry with Charlotte. So I don't
know what that means, I don't know whether Charlotte and
Jude break up.
But I do miss Kylie. I've been emailing her since when
she went over to the UK for Christmas. So I've been in contact
with her since she left.
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| What are the
hours like? |
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The hours of work totally depends on what
your character is doing. Like if your character has a really
good storyline like between Kylie and I, when Jude and Shauna
broke up, I had a really heavy workload. I would have been
there 5 days a week- very early starts and working quite
late into the night, however when a character who is not
involved in a story, maybe tagged - like I'm tagged (Jude)
in a side story with Noah. Then I might have a day off here
and there. But it totally depends on what your character
is doing and how their work is scheduled. But work 5 days
a week, sometimes 6 days. Every now and again you work on
a Saturday like you do a Saturday rehearsal to catch up
or you shoot on a Saturday like we're shooting this Saturday.
I'm not involved but the rest of the guys are. So it totally
depends on what is going on in the stories.
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| Is there a
lot of work? |
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It is a lot of work - also because I do
a lot of stuff outside of Home and Away - like running my
website - that takes probably takes about 20 hours a week
- just answering emails and coming up with concepts for
stories and writing articles and working with the website
people in it. That takes about 20 hours a week. I also go
to acting classes at least twice a week and that's 3 hours
a night. So that's 6 hours a week. So it kind of just adds
up, plus you've also got a lot of publicity shoots after
work and charity things which are good to do. So the week
is not just half an hour's work is what the audience sees
at the end of the day. We're there all day shooting and
there is other stuff on top of that. Then you get to go
to openings of plays, like premieres of plays and movies
and stuff which is cool which you don't have to go to. But
it's kind of cool to go to see the films and go to the parties.
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| How similar
or different are you to Jude? |
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Well obviously physically looks wide. I'm
pretty similar to Jude and the only difference is that he
has got dark hair and I've got blonde hair. That's the only
difference physically we kind of have. Character wise, I
surf and Jude surfs. Jude rides a motorbike, I don't. Jude
has got a little brother, I don't. I've got two older sisters.
Both my parents live together; Jude's parents are separated.
Jude lives in an apartment, I live in an apartment. Mine's
probably a bit classier than Jude's (laughs) and a little
tidier.
Jude has a girl friend; I don't have one at the moment.
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| It is Valentines
Day! |
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So I'm a bit lonely today. So that's probably
the similarities and differences as far as characteristics
and stuff. He is quite a responsible guy. He is being forced
into responsibility. I left home when I was 18 to pursue
acting and work in Sydney. I'm from Melbourne. So I guess
we've got a similarity there as far as we are quite independent
people and have been. However Jude has the responsibility
of looking after his brother and looking after Seb - his
foster child, whereas I don't have that responsibility.
Basically I can do what ever I want to, I can come home
late, eat junk food, I can do that where Jude has to be
more responsible.
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| Do you have
any embarrassing moments? |
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Not really huge ones that stand out. Every
now and again you forget your lines and it is a little bit
embarrassing but you stop take and just do it again, so
it is not too bad. Nothing really stands out that has been
embarrassing.
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| If you leave
Home and Away, what would you like to do? |
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It would be great if Jude was still alive,
it one day, it was time for me to go and leave and his character
had come to the end. It would be more dramatic if he died
and there might be a few more tears shed because he won't
ever come back. It would be nice for him to be alive and
for him to come back at some point. In Home and Away I reckon
they need someone to be rich. It would be kind of cool if
Jude won the Lotto or started investing in shares or something
and became really wealthy and maybe had a house in Summer
Bay and maybe if he decided to set up a law practice or
something like that in the city and he moved off to do that.
So every now and again if anyone needed any legal help he
could come back to the Bay. That would be kind of cool.
It would be good to come back and visit my friends and leave
my options open. |
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| What is the
longest period of acting you have done? |
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Home and Away is the longest acting role
I've ever had. I've been here over one and a half years;
I've been here quite a while. Before that the longest I've
done is probably 2 weeks on 'Breakers'. I've been in plays,
but I haven't done a play in ages since I was a kid.
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| Who is actor/actress
you would most like to work with? |
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Well Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Edward
Norton. Brad Pitt I reckon is underrated. He puts so much
into his work, like you see it on screen, it is brilliant.
Because he is like a pretty boy everyone kind think of thinks
that's all he can do but I think now he is slowly getting
more respected that he is a quite good and talented actor.
Female-wise I think Heather Graham is a bit of a hottie
so I would love to actually meet her 1 day and maybe do
a love scene! (laughs). Kate Blanchett, I think is an amazing
Aussie actress. I worked with her on "Oscar Simler" when
I was in Brighton. Nicole Kidman.
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| Would you
like to work in another country? |
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I'm a bit of an Aussie boy and I'd love
to stay in Australia as long as I can. But sometimes just
because of the amount of work that gets done overseas, certain
opportunities may arise in other countries whether that's
the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, USA, Canada who all have
very expanded filming industries overseas. I'd like to have
all those opportunities here but sometimes there are not
so many opportunities in Australia. So basically I would
go overseas to follow the work or projects. I haven't been
overseas at all yet to travel. Not for fun or anything,
but I'm really excited it is time but if work can get me
over seas that will be even better.
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| Would you
come over to Ireland? |
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Yes I want to come over to Ireland; I do
definitely want to go to Ireland.
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| There is a
lot of movies coming out in Ireland. You never know. |
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You never know. I might see you there.
Are you in Northern Ireland or the southern?
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| South is the
Republic. |
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South is the Republic and how far behind
in story lines are you over there?
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| I'm not sure,
I think about five months. |
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What channel is it on?
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| S: 'RTE 1'
and 'Network 2'. 'RTE 1' in the afternoon and 'Network 2'
in the afternoon. |
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Cool, I might get you to write those down
because I might look at going over there. I want to get
to different countries, but if work can get me there, the
better. I want to go to see everybody and meet everybody. |
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| Would you
like to take a break from work and go travelling? |
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I've always wanted to go to Egypt and studies
a bit at high school. I did a play in drama in school. I've
always wanted to go to Egypt, it is completely contrasting
to what Australia is. It is so unique. I want to go by myself.
I don't know if that will happen. Maybe go to more commercial
western country like USA, UK. I've been thinking of going
to Thailand and it is so close and cheap. While Egypt is
a bit unstable at the moment- terrorists and an unstable
government. Thailand is so close to Australian and does
not cost so much and we do not get a lot of time off on
Home and Away. Relaxing on island, partying and going out
to clubs and stuff. I'd probably go to islands rather than
go to Bangkok. Other than that UK, USA, Ireland and we'll
have some Guinness!
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| How is your
website doing? |
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It is going really well, we launched it
last April. It started off with 2000 hits in the first week.
I was happy with that but over the last 10 months we have
being slowly building it and we've actually made it to more
than 96,000 hits a week, which is huge. I'm very excited
about that. There is a place where people can go. We have
been praised that it is quite interactive. People can type
in questions and I'll get back to them in the questions
and answers section. They can send me an email which I'll
get back to them eventually. I've got a bit of a backlog,
but I try and get back to them as quick as I can. There
is updated news which gets updated about once a week or
when ever I get a chance to go in there. So they can actually
get quite close to what is going on in my life and read
what is happening in Home and Away or what I am doing on
my holiday. So it takes me about twenty hours a week, which
I don't mind doing because the way I figure it, the fans
out there are putting a lot of work into contacting me via
letters/emails and they are interested to know what I'm
up to so I think its only fair that I make a commitment
back to try and keep them updated with as much information
as I can. Obviously I cannot give away storylines and what
is going to happen on Home and Away.
Very happy with it, has a few hitches, but working on
it, trying to give a product that everyone is really interested
in. It is based on teenagers at the moment but we are trying
to broaden the audience into older people. Because I am
older myself, quite a lot of my fans are 20s to 30s rather
than teen based. They're not necessarily as active on the
Internet that age group, but there is still a demand for
that. So we are looking at ways to open the audience a bit
so it is not just based on teenagers. But it is nice being
involved. I have meetings with the people that run the website
quite often, in correspondence all the time, via email about
new ideas that are coming up. Most of the content that goes
onto the site- photo, interviews, competitions, and ideas
come from me. Design and programming is done by the website
people. I don't know very much about computers, so I leave
that up to them.
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| If you had
three wishes, what would they be? |
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Only three. I guess the first would be
for my family and my closest friends to have everything
they could ever want. Be happy and healthy. They are the
people that mean the most to me.
The second would be to change a lot of world inaccuracies
and wrong doings, possible from the past or from what is
happening at the moment. To make the work you know a more
fair place and better off.
My 3rd wish would be probably be for my fans and to get
them whatever they wanted and have all the happiness in
the world and to have me working as long as possible (laughs).
Bit of a selfish one. Maybe a huge party where there is
no cost, so whoever wanted to come from Ireland, the UK,
together we have like a big website party that would be
pretty cool. Yes give something back to those guys, that
would be the best one.
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