Lost cowboy
Playing with my fascination of the wild west, my mother told me Australia, had cowboys, horses and saloons.
As I sat in my room in Rome Italy I dreamed about dismounting my Palomino, walking up to the swinging doors of a saloon, my spurs clinking and my six-shooter at the ready and demanding a whisky while eyeballing any potential bad guys.
So it was quite a shock when I arrived via boing 747, to Melbourne airport. I soon found out the cowboys were called Jackaroos and the Saloons were called Pubs and rarely did any gunfights erupt over card games or dames.
I consoled myself with the fact that at least I could still own a kangaroo.
Our first house was in North Balwyn and I attended North Balwyn primary school. I think I was the only kid whose surname ended in a vowel and felt like a fish out of water amongst these pink-skinned people. After about a year we moved to North Carlton, this was more like it!
After about a year we moved to North Carlton, this was more like it! Italians ,Greeks, Lebanese, Asians were the norm at Princes Hill primary and I slotted in nicely. It was here where I was introduced to theatre through my teacher Dianne Wells. She would mount elaborate productions and seeing my interest in performance encouraged me to take part along with another shy Italian kid, Vince Collosimo. I was bitten by the acting bug and decided I was going to be an actor.
Fast forward four decades and I’m still playing dress ups!
We have an incredible mix of cultures and for the most part co-exist in peace and harmony, I just wish our cultural diversity was reflected in our Film and Television, it`s difficult to find an actor in a lead role of ethnic origin. We have made progress but still have a way to go before a healthy balance of ethnicity is portrayed on our screens. I often wonder what I would have become if I`d have stayed in Italy….an Architect? an Accountant? I don’t think I would have found a career in the arts. Perhaps I would be a tour guide at CinneCita showing people around the old sound stages where the great spaghetti westerns were filmed.