Andrew Lorenzo grew up in New Jersey before jumping on a plane in his 20s and making a life for himself in the western suburbs.
Now based out in Tarneit, the 32-year-old actor talks to Charlene Macaulay about moving to Australia and the roles he has played.
What’s your connection to Wyndham?
I’ve been in the Wyndham area about five years. When I moved to Australia, I was living in Keilor and it just wasn’t my cup of tea. So I decided to move to Point Cook because it was a new and up and coming area, and I loved it. I moved to Tarneit two-and-a-half years ago.
Where in America are you from, and why did you move to Australia?
East coast, New Jersey. Originally, I came here to teach ballroom and Latin dance. I learned ballroom and Latin through a theatre show I was in, and the people that taught me really liked me and they asked me to come and teach for them in Australia. Australia is very similar [to America], it was an easy change. After a couple of months being here, I started falling in love.
Were you concerned what moving to Australia could mean for your acting career?
At the time, I was teaching dance full-time and I didn’t really worry about it. I took about a two-year break from stage or TV or film and when I got here, I got the itch and I set myself up with a couple of theatres in Geelong and Melbourne and got myself an agent.
For me, it’s good to experience theatre in a different country. Now that I’m getting into TV and film, I’ve found that I’ve had to work on my Australian accent a bit more. I’ll go to LA in the next year or two.
How did you get into acting?
It was about 17 years ago, I got into it with a tiny theatre in New Jersey and an audition came up for the musical, Aladdin … and I got the role of Aladdin, which was cool. From there, I’ve done at least three or four productions per year.
I’ve played the phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men. In terms of TV, I’ve played [in various roles] … they’re filming season seven of Offspring, season seven at the moment and I was on set for that, playing the husband of a lady who’s giving birth.
Is acting your full-time gig?
I do hospitality as well. I think, as an actor, hospitality just goes hand in hand.
