Matthew Newton

Matt: (on the ups & downs of trying to make it as an actor in Australia) I don't think about it, really. When I'm working, it's the best job in the world. Any stress you get is certainly less than I imagine a mum has who is trying to feed five kids every night!

Matt: I was always going to be an actor. It was a given.

Matt: (on the appeal of the show, Thank God You're Here) There is a purity to that kind of format. You just to let go of so many things because you don't have any time for them when you're up there for three and a half minutes having been thrown into this scenario. I approach it like an actor – trying to work out the circumstances and how I can play a character within those circumstances – and that's the trick I've discovered for myself. If you approach a comedy trying to be funny, you're in a lot of trouble. My favourite comedies are the ones played absolutely straight, so that's the trick I've learnt.

Matt: (on showing his comedic talents) It's always been something I've really liked, and I've spent a lot of the formative years of this career – if you can call it that – playing characters who were kind of serious. So it's been a nice holiday to do Stupid Stupid Man and certainly Thank God You're Here. I do like the immediacy of the response with comedy; often with drama it's more of a cumulative thing. You can get huge rewards doing both, though, and I don't approach them any differently.

Matt: They (his parents) taught me a sense of honesty, particularly my mum. She's very upfront. I remember the opening night of Assassins at NIDA and I had a lead role. The show went really well and I joined the crowd afterwards and I saw Mum crossing the foyer. She'd just arrived in Sydney and she walked straight up to me and I put my arms out. And the first thing she said was, 'You don't call that an opening night outfit, look at those pants.' Then she hugged me and said, 'You were very good.' She just had to get it off her chest.

Matt: A teacher at NIDA taught me - it's about acting but it can apply to life - that you shouldn't try to control things that are outside your control because that will make you lose control of everything. You just have to get on and do it and be true to yourself.