june-2012

star struck
“You need to be a bit more circumspect
in Los Angeles because it’s a town built
around show business so you’re often not
sure if someone wants to be around you for
who you are or what you are.”
And in Kwanten’s case, that means an
actor whose star is on the rise thanks to the
exposure granted him by True Blood and an
ever-expanding film roster which includes
Red Hill and the upcoming Hands of Stone
opposite Robert De Niro.
After cutting his impeccably white
teeth on such Australian television fare
as A Country Practice, Hey Dad and most
notably an eight-year stint on Home And
Away, Kwanten made the move to Los
Angeles in 2002. He quickly learned that,
“If you want the vacuous one-dimensional
experience, this city can give it to you but
it was important to me to create a support
036
RYAN KWANTEN’S
fAvouRiTE JETSTAR
dESTiNATioNS
Manly Beach, Sydney: "Because
you always love the area in which
you grew up."
Byron Bay: "The quintessential
australian beach town."
cape TriBulaTion, cairnS:
"There's nowhere else in the
world like this combination of
rainforest and reef in Far north
Queensland."
“it was important to
me to create a support
network of people”
A scene from Not
Suitable for Children
network of people who, in most
cases, are not involved in show
business. My mates over here
would skin me alive if I lost my
accent and my mates back home
wouldn’t let me back in Australia
if I no longer sounded like I came
from there. ”
Certain consistencies have
remained in Kwanten’s life since
that fateful day when as a 15-yearold
tired of waiting in his mum’s
car, he sauntered into a casting
and was rewarded with a role
that one of his younger brothers
was auditioning for. One of these
omnipresents is the ocean. Reared
in the beachside Sydney suburb
of Manly, Kwanten won the Santa
Monica Pier Paddle Race in 2010
and is an avid surfer. Which is all
the more surprising considering
he was attacked by a shark at the
age of 12.
His outer balance is
complemented by an inner one.
Which must come in handy when
you consider the constant public
speculation about Kwanten’s
private life: everything from his