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Is the acting in Australian soaps better than Brittish soaps?
chloedancer
Posts: 6,486 Forum Member
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The reason i ask is because a fair few actors from home and away/neighbours even some from shortland street(nz) seem to go on to have Hollywood careers.Way more than the British soap actors do.
What do you think?
What do you think?
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As you said, I'm glad you're not one to generalise.
In regards to Australian soapstars making it big Hollywood - I think that possibly has more to do with them fitting the bill for the Hollywood profile. There's not many EastEnders or Corrie actors you could imagine in Hollywood.
Charlie Hunam is fairly successful in Hollywood now, but his acting is God awful in Queer as Folk.
I think Neighbours have some good actors as well.. Eg: Stefan Dennis, Morgana O'Reilly, Eve Morey, Ryan Moloney, Jackie Woodburne, Kate Kendall, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Ariel Kaplan, Tim Phillipps, Olympia Valance, Colette Mann, etc...
Neighbours can't claim Rebekah ;-)
Paul Robinson and Susan and Karl Kennedy I EXPECT to be good so just presume they are (in this case I think they have earned that rep.)
haa
do you mean,blonde/good looking etc.
The most recent is Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) who played Donna Freedman/Brown in Neighbours and Eliza Taylor (TV Series The 100) who played Janae Timmins also in Neighbours.
Well Steve Peacocke who is currently in Home and Away was given time off to star in a new blockbuster.
Even the younger actors on Neighbours, they have bigger storylines but I find them to be far better than the most of the actors (young or old) on Corrie.
I think the only reason so many Australian soap stars do well in Hollywood is because you really have to head overseas as an actor to make it, the industry is *so* small here. You are watching the only 2 Australian TV shows that are not daily serials. We do have once-a-week dramas and comedies but H&A and Neighbours are it. In Britain you can still have a good career locally. You have the 4 big soaps plus Doctors, plus loads of weekly shows. I've lived in the UK and you have so much more local content than we do. It's a shame but we're only a small population of 23 million so it's to be expected really.
It was when Charlie joined H&A that I stopped watching. She only had 3 bloody acting faces… she was awful to watch but because she's gorgeous she was front and centre and I just found it embarrassing watching her try to be an actress.
But that blockbuster might not become a huge hit. Very little people in the US have heard of him.
Yet.
Yes, Charlie was a low point but in general the acting in Home and Away is very good. I stopped watching Neighbours when the new families joined so can't comment anymore, but I'd always say the standard was lower in the past than H&A.
The Hollywood thing has a lot more to do with looks in my opinion. Neighbours and Home and Away don't necessarily cast on looks alone but for many younger characters it's definitely a big factor, whereas good looks getting you the job is far less commonplace over here (though not unheard of obviously). So when the Aussie casting departments find someone with movie star looks and competent acting skills, it stands to reason they'll probably do quite well afterwards in a land where that counts for everything.
A good example is the guy who played Jim Robinson, America took to him and he's a brilliant actor (and not someone who would have been cast on looks).
The UK equivalent of say Phil Mitchell, is just a World away from that so I do think Neighbours has some great actors.
But it also has some shockingly bad acting, there was a scene recently with Mark and Sienna and it was like watching two 7 year olds acting for their parents, it was horrific and it was especially bad because they had to show Mark's grief over Kate being shot so it was mean to be dramatic but it was just so wooden. Eugh.
It might be something to do with Australians being a bit more positive, they're quite similar to Americans were as British people are generally more sarcastic and a little negative especially Eastenders, it's the most depressing show on TV. Not sure if I was an actor I'd be that proud of having 'I played a depressive alcoholic who never smiled' on my CV.
But I do think the Aussie soaps are similar to Hollyoaks in the acting stakes, in that there's some brilliant ones, but then some that are so bad and hammy that you could never imagine them ever being considered for EastEnders, Corrie or Emmerdale. Mark, Sienna and Bailey in Neighbours spring to mind.