Alex O’Loughlin is Set to Steal Hearts in Australia

On the eve of Australia’s premiere of Three Rivers, Brisbane’s The Courier-Mail published an open-hearted article about Alex O’Loughlin. Looking back on the run-up to filming the show, Alex shares his initial uncertainty at being able to play the role of Andy Yablonski, M.D.

Luckily for us, speaking — and bonding — with Dr. Gonzo Gonzalez-Stawinski put him at ease.

“We spoke on the phone for hours and then he asked me to come and stay at his house,” O’Loughlin says. “I saw nine open heart procedures with him. We got on straight away and now he’s a friend for life.”

O’Loughlin’s mother is a nurse and he can remember following her on her hospital rounds but he readily admits he did not know anything about medicine before Three Rivers.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Gonzalez-Stawinski was a life changing experience for the actor.

“After I spent my first 10 hours in an operating room watching a man being brought back to life, I sat in my hotel room for three hours and felt this deep sense of regret that I was watching my calling (medicine) before me and that I’d taken the wrong direction (acting) in my career,” he says.

“I got to know people who were sick through no fault of their own and now they are dead and all they wanted was a bit more of life – simple stuff like the chance to water the garden.

“I also realised that physicians have the capacity to love the unloveable. The most awful person you can imagine could be lying on the hospital bed and the physician will say to them ‘everything will be OK’.

“Learning to get in touch with that part of me as a young alpha Aussie male has been a struggle and one of the greatest experiences so far in my career.”

Ultimately, it’s Alex’s optimism, faith and sheer determination that got him this far. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person.

“It’s been a long journey but I’ve maintained a positive outlook and it has paid off,” he says.

“There was a point four years ago when I was living on my mate Sam Gould’s couch for over a year – so long that my back went out. I had my swag with me and I had to move on to the floor.

“At that point I’d run out of money. A Ducati motorcycle, the only thing I owned, had been stolen and the insurance money had run out and I couldn’t get arrested in this town (Los Angeles).”

Three Rivers premieres on Channel Ten, October 14th @ 9:30 PM.

Read the full article: Alpha Alex O’Loughlin Finally Makes the Cut.

[tags]alex o’loughlin, alex o’lachlan, three rivers, andy yablonski[/tags]