THE first meeting Ryan Kwanten had with Steven Spielberg was a disaster. After five years as Vinnie the lifeguard on Home and Away, he was just another rose-cheeked wannabe trying to crack Hollywood, speeding from audition to audition on his bike. He had a big meeting with Spielberg. And Kwanten, who prides himself on never being late, was late.

“There were no poles at DreamWorks,” he recalls. “It’s a very ergonomic place. I just remember wrapping this huge bike chain around this bamboo post, then I ran inside. Two seconds later, an assistant comes running in. ‘Someone’s parked in Mr Spielberg’s spot! Is it anyone here?’ And I’m looking around the room going, ‘Wow, somebody’s really in trouble.’

“Nobody owned up. Two seconds later he runs back in and yells, ‘Who’s got a bicycle?’ I said ‘It’s me.’ He grabbed me by the wrist, ushered me outside, and who should be sitting in his big SUV but Spielberg. I’ve actually wrapped the bike chain over the top of the ‘S’ on Spielberg’s name, which is plastered on the bamboo post. Needless to say, I did not get that audition with him.”

Kwanten doesn’t lose sleep over what might have been. “I’m a believer in karma, mate,” he says. “It’ll come around at some point. What goes around, comes around.” He loves sayings like that.

On the brink of turning 34, Kwanten is at the “pinch myself” phase of his career. Surfing high on the success of HBO’s smash vampires-among-us series True Blood — he plays dim-witted womaniser Jason Stackhouse, brother of central character Sookie (Anna Paquin) — Kwanten has been filling his off-season breaks with film work, some good, some not so good.

His latest effort falls squarely into the former category. In the local action film Red Hill, Kwanten plays Shane Cooper, a young city cop whose first day in a small Victorian country town coincides with the visit of a violent criminal (Tom E. Lewis), who exacts revenge for an injustice done to him by the chief cop (Steve Bisley). The role brought Kwanten back to Australia after an eight-year absence and required him to drop his southern drawl and resume his normal Sydney-born accent.

Kwanten doesn’t lose sleep over what might have been. “I’m a believer in karma, mate,” he says. “It’ll come around at some point. What goes around, comes around.” He loves sayings like that.

On the brink of turning 34, Kwanten is at the “pinch myself” phase of his career. Surfing high on the success of HBO’s smash vampires-among-us series True Blood — he plays dim-witted womaniser Jason Stackhouse, brother of central character Sookie (Anna Paquin) — Kwanten has been filling his off-season breaks with film work, some good, some not so good.

His latest effort falls squarely into the former category. In the local action film Red Hill, Kwanten plays Shane Cooper, a young city cop whose first day in a small Victorian country town coincides with the visit of a violent criminal (Tom E. Lewis), who exacts revenge for an injustice done to him by the chief cop (Steve Bisley). The role brought Kwanten back to Australia after an eight-year absence and required him to drop his southern drawl and resume his normal Sydney-born accent.

Via: SMH.com

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I really like Ryan Kwanten. I’ve been a fan since he was on the show Summerland. And of course I watch him on True Blood.

What do you think of Ryan? Will you watch Red Hill?