I’d like to play an ‘every man’ role. I don’t have to play a hero with a lot of action sequences. I’d love to play a character in a film that you watch more than once because you feel like you have to watch again – because you want to relive experience. I love ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.’ I love the message, I love the acting, and by the end of the movie, I’m ready to watch it again. ‘Boogie Nights’ is another film I love to watch. I want to be a part of role that takes you on a ride, where you can totally relate to the characters and experience the conflict and the resolution.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. My mom thought I could dance because I used to dance to this Janet Jackson song she’d play when I was a baby. Then she would take me to a Saturday dance school. I used to go every week and got spotted by a scout, who suggested I audition for the role of Billy in Billy Elliot the Musical. When I first started auditioning, I was too small and I couldn’t dance. I went to an all-boys school, where I played rugby, so ballet wasn’t the coolest thing to do.
I lived in L.A. for seven or eight years, but once I had kids, it got more difficult to get around with the paparazzi being there, and I wanted a more laid-back life for my family. Although I grew up mostly in Melbourne, we live in Byron Bay, a quiet town on the country’s east coast, which is one of my favorite spots on the planet. The beach is beautiful, and we wake up every day to views of the ocean in front of us, but there’s also a big farming community with lots of farmland and tropical rain forest. My wife and I went on a holiday there and fell in love with the area and chose to make it our home. Now, we have a chilled-out existence.
