Richard’s solution was to turn up in character and convince Jan Russ that he was Sam. ‘I really had the attitude of that character when I went in there,’ he continues. ‘I had a broader Australian accent than my own, and I tried to dress the part.’‘ She did recognise me from before, but it was like we had never met. I think I had managed to convince her that I was someone else.’ The strategy worked and the day after his screen test Richard was offered the part.
It’s a moment he remembers vividly. ‘I was totally freaked out!’ he exclaims. ‘I had just got out of drama school and it was my first big break.’Richard was initially signed up for one month on the show, but ended up staying for two years. ‘I realised that I had to do good work and not make them regret putting me in there,’ he says. ‘They did make a decision pretty quickly, after two or three weeks, that I could stick around. That was before I had even been seen on screen.’
It was an opportunity that Richard readily acknowledges changed his life and shaped his future. ‘It was a really great opportunity at that early age, especially as the industry in Australia is so much smaller than it is in the UK. There are less opportunities to make it – being able to support yourself from work, being able to act full-time and pay your rent from that work, not from odd jobs. That was a huge thing to be able to have a steady income like that.'
'And to build up a profile for myself, that was invaluable – I had a profile in England and no-one can take that away from you, you have that forever. People don’t forget. That’s been fantastic for me. People ask me how I cope with being recognised - isn’t it annoying - but absolutely not, that’s how I get my work. I’m not saying I totally rest on my laurels and having worked on Neighbours you get more work but any actor knows that if you have a profile it increases your chance of getting work.'
'For me financially it gave me a really good start and professionally it taught me a lot, as much as I had studied at drama school. I had learned how to act on stage, but not about the television industry, which was different and so informative.'
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