Mark ready to rock

[Nathan.]

Mark ready to rock

Source: NZ TV Guide May 24-30

Home and Away's Mark Furze, 22, who plays bad boy mechanic Ric, is lapping up his time on the beach at Summer Bay. But he hints that his love of performing heavy rock music could lead him to join the wave of depature.

TV Guide: Hi, Mark. Just to clarify, how do you pronounce your last name?

Mark: Furrrrrrrz.

It's an unusual name. where does it come from?

I beleive it's actually German and I could be wrong but I think it actually means fart! But I've never been there and if it's true I probaly never will.

Closer to home, you grew up in the country with animals for company. But that doesen't really compare to life on a sandy white beach surrounded by bikini-clad hotties, does it?

[Laughs] It's little bit different, mate, it's a little bit different.

So what's it like being a young man recognised whenever you are out and about?

It's a bit weird. Some people love the externam things about the show, being invited to movie premiers and all that kind of stuff but I don't know. It's kind of hard to get used to people when people you've never met before know who you are and everything about you. i do it because of the love of acting and anything else is abit of a bonus.

Do you enjoy a celebrity profile?

I keep a low profile to be honest. I go to things that interest me but I don't go out and get photographed for the sake of it. It's not really my thing. It's funny, when you start doing something like this you soon work out who your real friends are. It's an interesting little test.

What are your plans? I heard you might be leaving this year.

I don't know to be honest. I have plans to get my band [Charger] up and running but at the moment I'm still there so I'm going to try do both.

If you could be on any other show, what would it be?

I would love to do a comedy like Friends. That would be cool.

Your Home and Away character, Ric, is a mechanic - what do you know about gaskets and master cyliner heads?

I know absolutely nothing about cars. Whenever you see me tinkering with an engine with a spanner, all I ever do is tighten things. I could be doing anything.

Have you ever blown a gasket like the fiery Ric?

No, man. I'm always the one to diffuse situations and walk away but it's quite fun to play that role, the fights and all that stuff. I couldn't be any further from him as far as temperament goes.

The other side of Ric is that he has no trouble attracting women ..Cassie, Belle, Mattie, Vic Anderson.

[Laughs] I think it's a prerequisite as soon as you come to the Bay, to be honest. It's funny because I had a scene where Ric was standing there with Cassie, Belle and Matilda and he had slept with all three.

Last year you were on a music show competition in the UK called Soap Star Superstar.

Man, that was great. It was terrifying but great fun. They did it live every night and we had to learn a new song every day. I didn't even know any of the songs and was losing sleep and not eating right because of the stress. But it was awesome, alot of fun.

Did you get to know any of the British soap stars? I see you finished third and were beaten by Antony Cotton (Sean on Coronation Street).

He's a funny guy, man. He's a very amusing person and probaly one of the rudest people I've ever met. He's hilarious. Al Fletcher (Karl Kennedy) from Neighbours was in it as well and it's quite funny that we work in the same country on similar shows but hadn't met before then.

Could you work over there?

Definately, but I'd like to go over with my music before acting. It would be great to take the hand over and use my profile from the show.