Even this guy started in The Sullivans…

Say what you like about Australians, but when it comes to the arts, they might just have us whooped. Yes, the everyday caricatures of leather faced maniacs guffawing loudly because a girl just asked them to pull her finger probably aren’t a million miles away from the reality. And fine, one or two of their guys might talk so loudly in pub gardens that you begin fantasising about turning the bench umbrella upside down and driving it through their throats. But, for the most part, quiet sophistication reigns supreme in the Southern Hemisphere. Just look at the array of fine thespians they’ve sent over to Hollyood. You wouldn’t get a list like this from Eastenders…

1. Guy Pearce – Mike Young (Neighbours 1986-1989), David Croft (Home and Away, 1991-1992)

Whilst our best love soap actors might take to the stage, or move on to a lazy Sunday evening drama set during the war, Australian soap actors sometimes like the immerse themselves in strange and intriguing movie characters. Guy Pearce, once the cheerful Ramsey Street heart throb who got to dance his delicate fingers all over Plain Jane the Superbrain, has gone on to wonderfully dizzy heights. We like him best as the nerdy do-gooder in LA Confidential, or the obsessive maniac in Momento - a film which tells a story from end to beginning. Yep, he’s all a bit art-house, that Mike from Neighbours.

2. Melissa George – Angel Parrish (Home and Away, 1993-1996)

An edgy rebellious character in Home and Away, Angel was probably the antipodean equivalent of Bianca in Eastenders. Only, while Patsy Palmer (real name – Bianca from Eastenders) has gone a full circle, and ended up right back in the middle of Albert Square, Melissa has cut a rather impressive figure on a string of well known US TV shows – notably Friends, Alias, something popular called Charmed. And now you can catch her in the strongly-recommended HBO show In Treatment, which starts tonight, and features Angel from Home and Away playing a rather disturbed young woman who looks a little bit bedraggled. Much like Bianca from Eastenders in that sense.

3. Ryan Kwanten – Vinnie Patterson (Home and Away, 1997-2004)

Ryan spent the best part of seven years getting right up Alf‘s nose, playing a rather brainless rogue in Home and Away. And now, he’s carving out a niche as a brainless rogue on the other side of the pond in a show called True Blood - the story of vampires having sex with someone who was in The Piano. Everyone swears a lot, and Ryan spends much of the show glistening in a sheen of intercourse sweat on top of whichever actress has drawn the short/long straw. He is also due to star in a film with the barking-voiced rapper, Ja Rule. That’s always a sign that you’ve arrived.

4. Isla Fisher – Shannon Reed (Home and Away, 1994-1997)

She didn’t have the greatest post-soap start, Isla Fisher. In fact, it was pretty horrendous for a while, as she went on tour with Darren Day, doing Summer Holiday, and it wasn’t long before she was the recipient of the slobbering Day tongue, and his moist intrusive hands. Thankfully, she’s turned things around, and is now one half of a beautiful relationship with Sacha Baron Cohen, whilst making something of a name for herself in movies like Wedding Crashers, Wedding Daze, and anything else with Wedding in the title. Baron Cohen took the hint. They’re now engaged.

5. Jesse Spencer – Billy Kennedy (Neighbours, 1994-2000)

For those who don’t remember Billy, he was Karl and Susan Kennedy’s little angel, wedged somewhere on the Family Tree beneath the girl with the teeth like tombstones, and the boy who had a womanly bob cut and always seemed a little bit put out. He was also the one who had the last laugh, as Susan and Karl still struggle with their turbulent marital/relationship issues, Billy can be found swapping American impressions with Hugh Laurie, in the popular hospital show, House. He plays a doctor, which seems somewhat fitting (daddy was a doc in Neighbours).

6. Naomi Watts – Julie Gibson (Home and Away, 1997)

Naomi Watts had something of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in Home and Away. We blinked. We missed it. But, in our defence, it was 1997, which means that we were probably miming along to Bob Marley records, smoking drugs from a plastic bottle of Pepsi, and getting all excited about toast. We were students. That’s the student way. Since then, she’s gone on to iconic lesbianism in Mulholland Drive, and iconic massive gorilla romance in King Kong. We, on the other hand, just no longer inhale.

7. Russell Crowe – Kenny Larkin (Neighbours, 1987)

Whether Russell Crowe took the same brooding intensity onto the Neighbours set, we’re not sure. But we do know that Neighbours might have missed a trick by only casting him for a handful of episodes in the late-80s. He could have made a wonderful Lou Carpenter given half a chance. As things panned out, he went on to growl his way through Gladiator, make like he was a jibbering loon in A Beautiful Mind, and the word on the street is that he’s pulled on a set of tight green stockings to give us his take on Robin Hood. Our prediction: intensity.

8. Holly Valance – Felicity Scully (Neighbours, 1999-2002)

You might think that Kylie is a big deal, but has she been in CSI: Miami? No she hasn’t. Has she been in CSI: NY? No she hasn’t. Has she been in Prison Break? No she hasn’t. Has she been in Entourage? No she hasn’t. Has she been in a film called Taken, also starring Liam Neeson, who was in Schindler’s List? No she hasn’t. Has she released a song called Kiss Kiss that was a little bit Turkish or something? No she hasn’t. Is she the woman lying damn near nakedly in the picture above? No she isn’t. Are we even talking about Kylie Minogue? No we’re not. Then who are we talking about? Holly Valance. Who? Holly Valance.

9. Alan Dale – Jim Robinson (Neighbours, 1985-1993)

Alan Dale left Australia after playing Jim Robinson, because he was scared of becoming typecast. He has since gone on to play a stern, sinister businessman in The O.C. A stern, sinister businessman in Lost. A stern, sinister businessman in Ugly Betty. A stern, sinister politician in 24. And a rather stern Australian ambassador in Flight of The Conchords. He was also a stern general in the last Indiana Jones film. Good for Alan. He’s bloody everywhere.

10. Julian McMahon – Ben Lucini (Home and Away, 1990-1991)

A former model, Julian McMahon has endured a number of career highs and career lows in his time. One career high was starring in Home and Away right when it was at its early-1990s peak, one low was marrying Dannii Minogue – a woman no longer able to shed tears. They’re now divorced. Another low has been the appalling Fantastic Four franchise, in which he plays Dr Doom, but he needn’t dwell on the bad stuff, because his turn as Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck is really great. Splendid, in fact. He sleeps with lots of woman. Sexually speaking. That’s a high.