Australian film magazine Filmink recently featured Alex O’Loughlin in their “Actor Spotlight”, an in-depth interview in which he opens up about finding his place in the world and why he is very happy being where he is at the moment. A scan of the article – courtesy of Ozbella – can be found in the gallery!

In Conversation: Alex O’Loughlin

By Gill Pringle

There are overnight stars, and then there are those whose careers take a little longer to percolate. Enter 34-year-old Australian actor ALEX O’LOUGHLIN, a Hollywood transplant of five years, and the survivor of two high profile cancelled US TV series, Moonlight and Three Rivers. His role opposite Jennifer Lopez in the rom-com THE BACK-UP PLAN, however, might be the one to seal the deal for him in Hollywood. Raised in Sydney – the son of an astronomy teacher and a nurse – this high school dropout backpacked around the globe before following his dream to become an actor, winning his first lead role in the local hit Oyster Farmer six years ago.

Do you have to fight harder, as an Australian, for roles in Hollywood?
“No, but you have to work harder to do the accent. I’ve been working on my US accent for quite some years now, so it’s usually pretty good.”

How was your first year in Hollywood? When you were struggling to find work?
“I had nothing. I ended up sleeping on my pal’s office floor while his house was getting sand-blasted and all the floors were being done. The office was sealed off in plastic, so I was literally living in this plastic bubble while the rest of the house was being worked on. I had really dark thoughts in that time. I was very depressed, and I went through a lot of pain. I couldn’t see beyond each day. That might sound overly dramatic, but that’s what I experienced. I didn’t know what to do. I had a good friend who came by every morning and took me for coffee and worked out the plan for every day. I didn’t have the money to go home to Australia even if I’d wanted to. It was friendship that kept me strong. Eventually I just thought, “What the hell! Until you hit your knees, it’s not worth it anyway.”

Did you do crummy jobs to support yourself?
“I’ve done them my entire life. I grew up digging holes and working in construction and demolition. I’ve worked in restaurants and bars. No pun intended, but the shittiest job that I’ve ever done was working for a plumber when I was seventeen. That was shitty! But I don’t care about that. I’m not above that, but it’s good not to have to do it anymore. I’m very happy to make a living from acting.”

Who is your mentor in LA?
“Jack Thompson, for sure. I’ve had a few mentors over the years, some incredible actors have taken me under their wing and really helped me. But Jack? We’ve done a few pictures together now [Oyster Farmer, Man-Thing, Feed], and he potty-trained me! That’s a ‘Jack-ism’ – when we talk about an actor not behaving well, his response to that is, ‘Aaah mate, bad potty-training.’ He’s absolutely right. So if I behave badly at work, there’s no excuse for it, because I’ve had the best potty-training with Jack. The man has such talent, and such integrity. He and his family have become my family over here.”

You’re starring opposite Jennifer Lopez in the rom-com The Back-up Plan. One of the themes in the film is that you can never really plan your life, and that love shows up when we least expect it. Do you relate to that?
“Yes. There’s an expression: ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans,’ and it’s true to a certain extent. Especially when you’re a parent [Alex has a twelve-year-old son named Saxon], your life moves into another area, you grow up and you move into that level of living. When other people come before you, there are certain considerations that you have to make. You can plan certain things and you can plan for the future, but when it comes to affairs of the heart, you never know who you’re going to meet or when.”

Was Jennifer Lopez very different from her public persona?
“Believe it or not, I really didn’t have any preconceptions. I mean, she’s smoking hot, and she’s super famous, but I don’t read any of that gossip type stuff. I don’t allow it in my house, I don’t give a shit about it, I never have. I mean, sure, there are certain things that you can’t get away from. For a long time, I’ve had people who are being gossiped about in my life, since I was very young, so I know that it’s all bullshit. I’ve never plugged into it. I’ve never fed it, its a very dangerous part of the machine. That being said, Jennifer was a surprise to me. For someone as hugely famous and popular as she is, I never thought of her as a ‘celebrity’. I just saw her as a grounded person. She’s a terrific woman with a lot of spunk and fire. She’s my kind of person; there’s a lot of joy and a lot of humour in her. All my dearest friends from Australia have that quality – there’s a certain irreverence, and that joie de vivre. I feel totally comfortable talking to her; I don’t have to worry about censoring myself. We laugh about the same things, which only helped us even more when it came to working together.

What first attracted you to acting?
“I did a play at school when I was about nine years old. I did this skit with two Fish Fingers up my nose, lying on my back, dead. It was a funny skit, and I keenly remember the audience roaring with laughter. I realised that if I did something, there was cause and effect. So the storytelling seed was sown within me, and I loved it. It made perfect sense. I went to drama school when I was 23. I wanted  to get the best possible understanding of what I was involved in and where the story comes from and all that stuff. I wanted to learn about the history of theatre, and I wanted to learn about my voice and my body. Before that, I started at the very bottom. I washed dishes in restaurants in Kings Cross to pay for night classes in acting. I worked as an extra, just to see how a film set works. I started at the very bottom and worked my way up, which is a really good way to go. I got bits and pieces of work here and there on the other side of the camera too.”

And you left school at seventeen? Did you truant a lot?
“Umm, a bit! You know, I truanted a bit, and I’d smoke cigarettes at lunchtime. It wasn’t necessarily rebelling, it was more like, ‘Who gives a shit!’ School was such a bullshit, flawed system anyway – that was how I felt at the time. I’d ask a teacher a question, and I wouldn’t get clear answers. They weren’t actually helping me get through the system. It was a combination of my attitude and the pockets of truth that I was in, and also that ridiculous age when everything’s so important. I had a bit of a wild streak, and I didn’t want to conform. I wasn’t interested in one specific thing. What I was interested in was the world, and travelling, and seeing things and hearing different languages.”

How has fame changed you?
“I’m very private, and I keep a very low profile. I just do all my normal things. I live my life, but things are starting to change. We got chased by paparazzi the other night, who were trying to find out where we live. Just little things like that. But I’m not going to change the way that I live. I still ride my motorcycles a lot. I have a Triumph Thruxton and a friend just built a Harley for me, which was my first Harley. It’s the great American dream to own a Harley. It’s a custom chopper, built from the ground up. It’s very simple, and very cool, sort of like a Mad Max bike. I’ve been riding since I was five-years-old, so it’s like a part of me. I also love rock climbing. I’m very active; I love boxing and running too.”

What are your dreams for the future?
“It would be crazy not to say it, but one of them is to continue to work. I want to continue working because when I’m working, there’s stability in my life. As an actor, you’re either incredibly unstable or incredibly stable. We get paid well when we work, and everything’s okay, but when you’re not working – and those periods can go for years – it can be very disconcerting. I’m living my dreams, and that’s really cliché, but I’m so happy right now. I’m so happy with my work. I’m healthy, I’m fit, I’ve got a great job, and I’ve got friends. I go home and I’m just me! I am who I am, I’m Alex – I’m a son, I’m a brother, I’m a father, I’m a lover… I’m a whatever I am. But it’s just me.”

[tags]alex o’loughlin, alex o’lachlan, the back-up plan[/tags]