Yahoo Lifestyle Guy Pearce 'Wanted to Punch' a 'Snobby Actress' Who Had a 'Horrible Attitude' About Him Starring in a Soap
"Obviously, I didn’t punch her," the actor noted, adding that he saw the actress in question "on some s--- ad on TV" five years later
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Guy Pearce in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 5, 2025Guy Pearce is not ashamed of his soap-opera past.
In fact, after the 57-year-old actor got his start on the Australian soap Neighbours in the 1980s, he later reprised his character Mike Young on the original series' 2022 finale and in its 2023 return.
But in an interview with U.K. outlet The Times, published Friday, Jan. 31, Pearce recalled that while "it really was frowned upon" to star in a soap, he still took offense to comments a colleague once made about his time on the show.
“I did a play a year after I left [Neighbors] and this snobby actress said, ‘How could you even do that?’ I wanted to punch her!” The Brutalist star said, adding, “Now, obviously, I didn’t punch her. But it was such a horrible attitude."
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Guy Pearce on Neighbours in the 1980sRelated: Before They Were Famous: Stars Who Got Their Starts on Soap Operas
“Then, five years later, I saw her on some s--- ad on TV. I so wanted to go and find her and say, 'Okay ... ' " added the Australian actor.
Pearce played Mike Young on Neighbours from 1986 to 1989, marking his first screen role, before reprising the character for the 2022 finale and in its return from 2023 to 2024.
In his interview with The Times, the actor admitted he has "many feelings about that show."
“In the old days you were either a theatre actor or a film actor, and if you got stuck in a soap you were the lowest of the low — but what an opportunity," Pearce said. "I had no clue what I was doing but learnt a lot. When young actors ask me for advice, I shrug and say, ‘Get lucky?’ Because I got lucky."
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Guy Pearce in New York City on Jan. 8, 2025Pearce is now vying for an Academy Award from his first-ever nomination, as he competes for the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his performance in The Brutalist.
Adrien Brody leads the period drama as László Tóth, a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who emigrates to the U.S. to flee the Holocaust. Pearce plays wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren while Joe Alwyn costars as Harrison's son, with Felicity Jones as László's wife.
Pearce — who previously appeared in hit films like L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2001) and The Hurt Locker (2008) — told The Times he has "an instinctual response" to choosing his projects.
“For story, character, director," he said. "But I probably only do 5% of what I read — I start every script hoping it will be another LA Confidential, that feeling you’ve been sucked into a vortex. But a lot of times, by page 20, I think, ‘Ah, damn.' "
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