February 2009

The Dancing Detective

All eyes will be on their TV screens this month when Daniel MacPherson returns as Detective Senior Constable Simon Joyner in City Homicide

WORDS CARRIE HUTCHINSON

He first appeared on our screens in Neighbours a decade ago and now fronts two of Australia’s most popular television programs. For Daniel MacPherson, it means a full but exciting dance card.

“I’m a man who thrives on challenges,” MacPherson pauses and chuckles. He could be talking about one of the many aspects of his well-rounded life or about 2008 in particular, when he went from respected actor to national superstar. What he is referring to, however, was taking over the hosting responsibilities of Dancing with the Stars, Channel Seven’s hugely popular variety program. “The deciding factor was that it’s live,” the Melbourne-based actor explains. “If it had been pre-recorded, there might not have been the same attraction, but I think live television is the pinnacle of light entertainment and that’s what drew me to it. The fact that it was taking over from Daryl made it an even bigger challenge.”

Daryl Somers and Daniel MacPherson couldn’t be more different. Love him or not, the former has been a staple of Australia’s entertainment industry since the 1970s.

The latter is just 28 years old and an actor who confesses to having two left feet. MacPherson, however, had some definite ideas about how to make the role his own when he took over the program in August last year. “The first one was that I didn’t want the show to be about the host,” he explains. “You’ve got so many wonderful characters on the show — the judges, Sonia [Kruger], the celebrities and dancers themselves — that you don’t need the host battling for attention. I never for a second signed up to be the star of the show.”

While there were those who wondered how MacPherson would cope with the format, the reviews were good. He was fresh, fun and, it has to be said, very easy to look at.

“Luckily a lot of the feedback was positive,” he says. “That was lovely because coming into season eight of a show that has been so successful you don’t want to, well... kill someone’s favourite show.”

The experience he’d gained as host of the music talent show The X Factor provided MacPherson with some valuable experience, although his usual modus operandi is quite different. When the Dancing call came, he was deeply entrenched in season two of City Homicide, one of the country’s most popular drama shows. MacPherson plays Simon Joyner, an intuitive, idealistic young detective. For all involved, he says, it’s a rewarding but exhausting experience. “Homicide is a very intense job. It’s governed by a small main cast, the stories are dark, and you’re dealing with grief, murder and loss on a daily basis. You’ve got to be on five days a week, from six in the morning to seven at night, and you’ve got to be totally prepared.”

The cast, consisting five principal members, became close from the first day of shooting. “You see each other all day and there’s only a handful of you who understand the effect that this job has on you. There are only five people in the world you can turn to and go, 'You know what, I’m finding this scene really hard,’ or 'This is my fifth day on set at six in the morning and I’m knackered’. If I ring my mum and tell her that she says, 'You’ll be right, love. Have an early night.’”

By midway through the year, weekends spent at the Dancing studio provided light relief, but it also meant MacPherson was spending all week on set. Not only did it leave him little time for catching up with his much-loved family and friends, most of whom are based in Sydney or further afield, but he also had to be extraordinarily disciplined in the way he looked after himself. Luckily, one of his first loves is keeping fit. “Some people do yoga and some people meditate. Some people drink. After a day dealing with murder on set at City Homicide you can’t go straight home and go to sleep. For me, to clear my head, I go running or I go to the gym. It’s my version of meditation.”

Famously, MacPherson was discovered on the beach at Kurnell, Sydney, when he was a young triathlete. A manager approached him and asked if he’d ever considered acting or modelling. “To be honest, I thought he was just trying to pick me up,” he says with a laugh. “But it turned out that he was legit and it went from there.” First up was a role as Joel Samuels on Neighbours. It was February 1998 and MacPherson was just 17 when he packed up the car and moved from Sydney to Melbourne. “I’m not ashamed to say I bawled my eyes out that night going, 'What the hell am I doing? I’ve never acted, I’ve never lived out of home, I’ve never been to Melbourne, I’ve never been on a TV set. What the hell am I thinking?’” Eighteen months later he was on stage at the Logies collecting the statue for Most Popular New Male Talent.

Since then, he’s travelled to the UK to star in the stage musical Godspell, and scored a coveted role in the long-running British series The Bill. Returning home, he starred in local productions Tripping Over and Blackjack.

In between, he continues to compete in triathlons and in 2008 took part in the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a 250km charity adventure race. MacPherson even partnered the Formula One champion, until Webber crashed his bike into a four-wheel drive (he is on his way to a full recovery). “Mark was a great partner because we’re both very competitive and not afraid to push each other pretty hard,” says MacPherson. “I count Mark as a mate now.”

In 2009 he’s returning for another series of City Homicide and Dancing, and then MacPherson is setting his sights Stateside. “I’ve been to the US two or three times in the past 12 months, and I’ve just signed with a management company and agency there. So LA is the next step for me. That’ll be in the next year or two, or basically as soon as I can get over there.”

While it might seem that Hollywood stardom is a sure thing, MacPherson is level- headed about the future and his career. A life in the spotlight, he says, is something he’d never even contemplated a decade ago. “Because I’d never wanted to be an actor and because I’d never had that desperation to be famous I never really got caught up in it,” he says of the fame game. “Of course now I’m absolutely passionate about my profession, and I love what I do, but one of my mantras is if it all ends tomorrow, I would walk away happy. That’s because the things I value most in life — my family, friends, health — are outside of my profession.”

Daniel MacPherson’s Favourite Jetstar Destinations:

Sunshine Coast: I fly to the Sunshine Coast more than anywhere else. Having grown up on the beach, I crave sun and surf. I’ve got great friends up there and it’s my escape from Melbourne.

Launceston: During the Mark Webber Challenge, we did a lot of mountain biking around Cataract Gorge and the scenery — everywhere in Tasmania really — is spectacular. I’m going to head back there to do some mountain biking and running.