Callum Mcgowan - Revisited

I never really planned on being an actor. My older brother was always the actor in the family. I enjoyed it but didn’t think about it seriously. Then college came around and I was thinking about going to art school, but then I wasn’t really any good for art school and then acting became a possibility. But my teacher at the time said that I wouldn’t get into any drama school. That kind of pissed me off, so I tried to get to drama school, and I got very lucky and got in. Even then, acting didn’t go smoothly and I was challenged by my head of year who said, “This is it, you are the worst actor in class, so I’m going to give you this extra work and going to test you.” Thankfully through that testing, I fell in love with the work in my own way. So I pulled my trousers up and gave it a go.

I graduated in 2012 so for six years.

I don’t have a favourite director. As one night you want to watch this movie and then another one the next and you love the work for what it is. So, in short, I’m always changing.

It’ll have to be, The Big Lebowski. I watched that film at Drama School at least a hundred times. We had no Internet and only a small collection of DVDs and The Big Lebowski was the film always chosen. Every time I see it, I see something new to enjoy. There aren’t too many films like that.

You need to see the true identity of the subject. Something personal.

Anything that tests you, I don’t have anything in particular. But I love to play a drag queen or something like that. I’m up for anything, I’ll try anything. I think that an actor has to have a go at everything. If they can.

I’d love to own a ranch in South Dakota. To go there for two months in a year. Ride horses and chew straw, that kinda thing. Oh and to be able to go to Starbucks, get a coffee and not worry about my card getting rejected.

None, I don’t think that there is anything I can offer. I think it is a very personal journey. We’re all different.

In the earlier days, I took myself in acting very seriously. Then I realised it’s the work you take seriously. Never take yourself too seriously, you’ll always disappoint.

No, I get mistaken for other people though. One day, maybe.

My family give me a lot of notes, so there were notes after. (laugh) But they were very happy, very proud.

I think it was my first TV role, appearing in Jamestown for Sky One. Acting is playing, so when I walked into a set they built, this 17th-century town, and they gave me a gun, and they gave me a knife, and they gave me big leather boots, and there were horses, sheep and pigs. It was every actor's dream. Being a big kid.

I write, I read and watch too many documentaries.

Most probably. You might see me on the tube, big headphones, bobby along. I’m not listening to anything “cool,” it’s mostly Les Mis in concert.

Surviving being an actor this long.

My brother. We’re both actors and I’ve never worked with him. I think it would be very exciting to work with him. My sister too, she’s not an actor but why not?