Rising Star Callan McAuliffe On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Elana Cohen

Something I wish I’d known in the beginning is that an actor rarely gets to choose their roles. You audition until somebody says yes, and if that job is below your personal threshold of embarrassment, you take it. You have to fall in love with acting as a process and an experience, as much as an art or a passion for storytelling. I’ve made very little art, and told few of the stories I want to tell, but I’ve worked with some extraordinary people, and had a lot of fun — which I could’ve been having sooner.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Callan McAuliffe.

Callan McAuliffe is an Australian actor and occasional author whose commendable cinematic run includes films such as Rob Reiner’s “Flipped”, Dreamwork’s “I Am Number Four”, Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” and AMC’s “The Walking Dead”. To reasonable acclaim he published his first novel “The Hill Ghost” in 2018, and will likely — at some point — publish another. He has been an official UNICEF Australia ambassador for over a decade, and regularly donates $5 to Wikipedia. Callan is soon to be seen in “The Duel” alongside Dylan Sprouse, and can currently be seen in “About Him & Her” — available now on Amazon and across streaming platforms.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thanks for having me. I enjoyed reading your other interviews in this series.

I was raised on Vegemite and seawater in the beautiful Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia, and was indoctrinated with a deep affection for the bagpipes at the prestigious Scots College. There, despite my teacher’s best efforts to civilize me, I behaved like a little goblin, spurned all study, drew penises on everything, and decided (far too late) that I wanted to be a theoretical physicist. A perceptive friend suggested I instead audition for the school musical, Oliver, in which I ended up playing the titular role. I imagine it was there I began honing the craft enough to trick the Americans.

So, my upbringing isn’t too unusual as far as privileged Sydney kids go, but it’s the circumstances of my birth that normally surprise people.

Knowing that life would be hell after I was born, my parents decided to go on one last, easy-going vacation when my mother was 8 months pregnant. As you’ve no doubt guessed, she gave birth to me on a coastal cruise ship registered to Papua New Guinea, and as a result I had Papua New Guinean Citizenship for a few years. It — like my soprano voice — has since lapsed, but my love for the bagpipes remains.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

As a 13 year-old I vacationed in the US with my mother. At the time, I had an obsession with the American whaling era (I’d just read Moby Dick), so I was desperate to go to Nantucket. Once there, I ended up competing in an oyster shucking competition at the Egan Maritime Institute. I lost, but my mother happened to be sitting next to a Hollywood manager who thought I shucked with charm, and asked if I’d be willing to send in an audition for one of the projects on his slate. It was Rob Reiner’s “Flipped”, which became my first film.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

There have been many interesting stories, but most of them aren’t fit to print! Each filmmaking process is a story in its own right, of course, but one that stands out is the filming of the “moose safari” sequence in a film called Beneath The Harvest Sky, in which the characters stand in the back of a pickup truck as it chases a wild moose down a dirt road in northern Maine at midnight. Long story short: we stood in the back of a pickup truck as it chased a wild moose down a dirt road in northern Maine at midnight.

It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

My learning process as an actor has been an intangible, absorptive one, so I can’t pinpoint many particular lessons I learned from early mistakes. I can, however, advise against having any sort of presence on twitter (especially if you drink wine).

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

My two most recent projects are some of the most interesting I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on. About Him & Her is certainly the most experimental set I’ve known, and the filming process — during which the lead actress (Christina Spruell) and I were not allowed to know each other’s real names, nor see each other’s faces despite numerous physically intimate scenes — amounted to a kind of wild psychological experiment. We often wore blindfolds, and even when we weren’t shooting, the crew had to stay vigilant to ensure she and I never accidentally saw one-another. There were a few close calls! It’s now available on amazon, so please go and check it out! My next project, The Duel, (with Dylan Sprouse) was filmed during the height of Covid, which you can imagine made things unusually complex and stressful. I was very impressed with the way everybody handled themselves, especially my dear friends (and writer/directors) Luke and Justin. It should be hitting cinemas shortly!

I’m very proud of both films.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

If your main goal is just to share your passions with the world (and perhaps get paid for it), the future is rife with possibility, and the way new technologies are decentralizing creativity means that you can find an audience for your ideas more easily than ever before.

The “movie star”, however, is breathing its last. So, if at-home content creation lacks the grandeur and mystique you were hoping for, and you absolutely must become a traditional actor, make sure you’ve cultivated some alternate passions — as it will almost certainly not work out long-term. Hollywood is a whirlpool of insecurity, ego, and unreliable odds, and I’ve seen it break more people than it’s built. For every sated delusion of grandeur, there are thousands of enthralled subsisters (often better actors than I) who can neither succeed in nor escape the purgatory of Hollywood.

All that being said, when it does work out, it’s brilliant. Acting sometimes feels like a glitch in the matrix. I mean, being paid to play pretend in far-flung places for weeks or months at a time? Being almost guaranteed to make life-long friends in the social petri dish of a film set? Being treated like a deranged god-king because you’re a walking liability? Having an occupational excuse to explore, experience, indulge, reflect, and in many ways remain a child forever? I sometimes burst out laughing on set when I realize what I’m doing.

So basically: go for it, but have a happy backup.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

I’m a fan, too. Diversity of experience, and hence of opinion and skill, is one of the most valuable elements of the western experiment. To encourage this, modern film and television are exploring stories from a wider range of cultures than ever before, and — when not contrived or apportioned, but organic and honest — our collective experience is richer for it.

On the flipside though, one of my best friends is a red-headed actor, and years ago I noticed that ginger-erasure in the name of more popular diversity was on the rise, and it has since gotten worse. Food for thought.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

I can’t think of five, but:

1. Something I wish I’d known in the beginning is that an actor rarely gets to choose their roles. You audition until somebody says yes, and if that job is below your personal threshold of embarrassment, you take it. You have to fall in love with acting as a process and an experience, as much as an art or a passion for storytelling. I’ve made very little art, and told few of the stories I want to tell, but I’ve worked with some extraordinary people, and had a lot of fun — which I could’ve been having sooner.

2. On a related note, another thing I wish somebody had told me is “go to the parties, the video games aren’t going anywhere”.

3. I also wish somebody had warned me about the Gamestop stock short squeeze in January 2021. I could’ve made major bank.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

The most important factor in maintaining one’s sanity seems to be alternative sources of meaning, identity, friendship or income — so keep up your hobbies. Maybe start a garden?

I also think one of the most important traits to develop is the ability to stomach rejection — except where improvement is due — and understand that it’s par for the industry course. If I mourned every lost role I thought I was perfect for, I’d be wearing black the rest of my life.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

As an ambassador of Unicef, I’d want to inspire folks to donate to Unicef Australia’s Lao PDR Early Childhood Development Campaign at https://www.unicef.org.au/stories/developing-young-minds-for-the-future

Otherwise, I wish there were more glowing blue drinks, that people would wear more chrome outfits, that people with the means to do otherwise would stop pretending it’s morally or environmentally sensible to eat the flesh of animals, and that people would put their trays away at airport customs.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’m in particular debt to Rob Reiner, who gave me my break with “Flipped”. My mother I credit with keeping me alive, and my father with keeping me sane. My managers at Affirmative Entertainment I’m very grateful to for a decade of awesome work, and my mate Luke I’m very grateful to for a decade of fellowship.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I don’t remember where I heard it, but somebody once told me not to “keep score”, which is to say — don’t count the favours you’ve done for friends, or their minor offenses. It breeds resentment, and makes you a weak, transactional person.

So, yeah, “don’t keep score”.

I also really like what Master Oogway said in Kung Fu Panda: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift — that’s why it’s called the present.”

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Peter Weir, because I’ve heard rumours of a Master and Commander prequel, and I’m desperate to play a young(er) Jack Aubrey or Stephen Maturin. I dream about it sometimes.

How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram: @mcbombadil

(Where I post annual smizes)

Twitter: @callanmcauliffe

(Where I run my mouth)

Tiktok: @mcbombadil

(Where I’m at war with mosquitos)

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thanks guys — great questions.