What shows have you been involved in?
Many shows over the last 16 years but lately Mac Beth with Bell Shakespeare and before that Melbourne Theatre Company. I also worked with Melbourne Theatre Company on the production Festen. I have also done guest roles on Neighbours, Blue Heelers and Around the Twist. Oh, yeah I was in the American production of On the Beach.
What made you realize that this was what you wanted to do?
When I was imprersonating the muppets when I was seven and then watching a production of Derek Jacobi playing hamlet when I was 19. He affected me so much that I wanted to affect people the same way. But impersonating the muppets made me realsie that I could make people laugh and entertain them.
How did you start out?
Doing amateur theatre in Perth. I played Alex in a clockwork Orange.
What do you love most about what you do?
I get to do things I wouldn't be able to do in my normal life. And I never get bored. The king of Scotland one day and a local robber in Blue heelers the next. It is always changing.
What do you find most difficult about what you do?
Long periods of unemployment. Trying to get across to an audience in one performance what I have learnt in four weeks of rehearsal.
What steps did you take to get where you are today?
Being passionately persistent. I auditioned for WAAPA three times and on the third time I got in. The first two times I was too desperate. The third time I thought, if I don't get in I'll just go to Sydney and become an actor.
What made the difference with this attitude?
I believed in myself and I wasn't relying on the institution to make me an actor. It would help me a lot but I already knew I was an actor.
What advice would you give a young person who wants to get into the industry?
Know what you want specifically and go for it. Make a plan and go for it. Create your own work don't sit back and wait for the phone to ring.
If you had a racehorse, what would you name it and why?
Shake n' Bake. Because it's a name I'm playing with for a Shakespeare Festival.
Re live your most embarrassing on-stage moment.
Jeez, there have been so many. I was doing a musical version of the comedy of errors playing Antiphilous of Syracuse, I was suppose to come in for my big musical solo, I got on stage and the music swelled to begin the song and I totally forgot the lyrics. I looked out to the audience quite intently for a moment and then slowly walked off stage.
On of the common questions asked about Mac Beth is about the curse. And we get asked has anything happened to you. I was walking up a set of steps and fell off and hurt my back. I couldn't perform for a week.
What are the perks of your job?
Variety. Having a creative outlet. You can be in a rehearsal room for a play then two months after that you're on a film set and then you are teaching. I love the variety.
If you could only teach your students one thing what would it be?
Two things, actually: self belief or self confidence and the other thing is to be relaxed.
How do you prepare young people for the harsh realities of this tough industry?
I don't know for young people if it is a harsh reality. Because a lot of the shows being produced are for a teenage market. Don't get unnecessarily negative and create your own work. Work begets work.
