With Hollywood‘s awards season officially underway and Australian stars already cleaning up, you could be forgiven for thinking the jump from amateur school productions Down Under to international box office domination is a small step, rather than a giant leap.
But don’t let the glamour and golden statuettes most recently won by the nation’s unofficial global ambassadors – Barbie‘s Margot Robbie, The Crown‘s Elizabeth Debicki and Succession‘s Sarah Snook – fool you.
The path walked by Robbie, Debicki and Snook to their Golden Globe victories was more akin to the journey to Mordor than a red carpet sashay, and it’s one Damon Herriman knows all too well.
Watch the video above.
Adelaide-born Herriman, who started acting in commercials aged eight before booking his triple Logie-nominated role in The Sullivans (Frank Errol), is no stranger to Hollywood.
Not every Australian star’s career trajectory, however, can match Jacob Elordi‘s (Saltburn, Priscilla). Herriman had been working in the industry for 25 years before taking off in America.
”It’s very easy to get caught up in the, ‘Oh, I’ll just go to Hollywood and I’ll do what I saw all them do and I’ll just copy that’, and it’s obviously a lot harder than that,” Herriman, who most recently played Captain Gaines in Disney+‘s The Artful Dodger miniseries, tells 9honey Celebrity in Sydney.
For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here
“It’s so much to do with the luck of where you are at the right time and the right place,” he continues, urging hopeful thespians to “be realistic”.
Although Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Toni Collette and Heath Ledger “opened doors” for Australian stars in Tinseltown with their breakthroughs in the ’80s and ’90s, Herriman says others need to bank on more than studio executives “[thinking] there’s something in the water [in Australia]”.
“Go on the back of something that can get you a foot in the door, that’s what makes it a little easier,” he advises.
READ MORE: The one thing that finally brought Simon Baker back to television after nine-year absence
Herriman went after a 10-minute part in the 113-minute-long slasher flick House of Wax (2005), which “wasn’t that big of a thing” – his co-star Paris Hilton, however, was a certified titan.
Shot in Queensland, House of Wax was an American film starring Chad Michael Murray and Jared Padalecki, and it saw Herriman score an American agent and manager.
He’s been straddling the Pacific Ocean ever since, notably playing Charles Manson twice in 2019 (Mindhunter, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – “just enough” for Herriman, who has since turned down a third offer) between shoots in his homeland.
Watch House of Wax on demand on Stan.
“It does make it a lot harder to go [to Hollywood] with just Aussie stuff, especially if it’s Aussie stuff [American agents and managers] haven’t heard of,” Herriman says.
“Be aware of what you’re going there with so that you don’t just fall through the cracks and have a miserable time, which is very easy to do.”
Herriman highlights peers he knows, who are “extremely talented” but haven’t had the same opportunities as him – a position he says “could easily be switched”.
READ MORE: Matildas star opens up about relationship with teammate
“There are a lot of talented actors out there that are not working, or not working to the level that they should be, but the sad fact of it is that so much of it is luck,” he says.
“What’s great now is that there are so many Australian series and films that are known in America and are being seen on streaming services over there.”
Netflix‘s International Emmy Award-winning Heartbreak High reboot is a prime example, with Herriman noting the cast “probably 10 years ago wouldn’t have been able to go [to Hollywood] off the back of [it]” but “now they could”.
READ MORE: 10,000 Swifties are singing her songs, but she’s not Taylor
It’s a trend that could very well continue, with our homegrown Hollywood heroes recently making a point to invest back into Australia’s arts scene.
With Russell Crowe‘s $440 million state-of-the-art film-making facility in Coffs Harbour taking shape, and Sydney Theatre Company alum Rebel Wilson‘s directorial debut The Deb (announced in international industry publication Deadline) being filmed in rural NSW, rising Australian stars may no longer have to rely on American productions to make it big.
There’s also the fact that joint venture projects like The Artful Dodger – filmed in Sydney with Love Actually‘s Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Harry Potter‘s David Thewlis – are increasingly becoming available on domestic and international streaming services.
That’s a good sign for Herriman, who has a soft spot for Australian productions.
READ MORE: Young Aussie star’s struggle in new Hollywood film
Although Herriman says he’s had “incredible” opportunities working abroad, there’s a “relaxed quality” on Australian sets that “you’re never gonna quite get working overseas”.
“It’s more down to earth, everyone’s a bit more real,” Herriman says.
“There’s less of a hierarchy about who’s important on a set.”
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.