The life of
The following is a self-written account of Cal's life up to 1997.
the x-file
"I was born Callan
Francis Mulvey in Auckland, New Zealand on February 23, 1975.
There is a bit of dispute about my birthday. My parents swear
it's the 23rd and I celebrate that day, but my birth certificate
says the 24th. So, either they stuffed up the certificate, or I'm
an X-file! My dad, Tam, is Scottish and my mum, Chris,
is half Maori. I was named after my Scotish grandfather.
The craziest way that anyone has ever pronounced my name is Colin
Molveu.
"I lived in a suburb called New-Lynn in Auckland with my
parents, but when I was eight, we moved to Australia for a year.
Once we got here we loved it, and I grew up in Manly. It was
great because I hung out with the kids who were into surfing and
skating and stuff. I went to Manly West Primary and then on to
Balgowlah Boys High, but after repeating year 11- I thought I'd
repeat and work harder for a god HSC mark, but it didn't happen-
I changed to Beacon Hill High."
the outcast
"I was a bit of an
outcast at school because the most popular guys were big footy
types. I had a few friends, but didn't really get on with
anybody. I just did my own thing - I've always hung out by myself
a lot. I really hated school - my heart wasn't in it. I'd have
bursts of enthusiasm in order to keep myself just above water but
I got into trouble a lot. I'd be late about four times a week -
yeah, I was a real rough and tough guy. I also used to write sick
notes for my self all the time. In fact, I did it so much that
when my parents gave me a real one, I'd have to replace it with
my handwriting.
"I was the one that screwed around heaps. I'd throw things
at the teacher while she was writing on the blackboard, get the
whole class to make her cry, or just muck around with Jon
Pollard. I'd be in Maths and I'd crack Jon really hard, like a
full-on dead arm, and then shout, 'Ow, Jon1 I'm trying to do my
work!' Then the teacher would tell Jon to get out. I was always
the extreme - I'd either be totally uncontrollable, or I'd be
perfect.
"I was pretty much over school by year Six, so by year 12,
well, I was terrible at the HSC. I was out at a friend's house or
in town the night before every exam, but I ended up just passing.
I got a TER of 51, and don't even know how because I did
absolutely nothing and shouldn't have even got a mark! I had no
idea what I wanted to do with my life - I was never into drama or
school plays. I worked at McDonald's and packed bags at Franklins
for a while but all my jobs never lasted more than three months,
because I just wasn't interested. When I left school in 1993 I
still had no idea what I really wanted to do."
the reason to live
"When rollerblading first
came out, I was 16 and got right into it. The other guys in my
neighbourhood also bladed, so I did it in any spare moment I had.
If I wasn't at school or sleeping, I was skating. I even got
involved in working for a skate company and then at one stage, I
decided that I wanted to be a cinematographer. How? I met some
guys who made skate videos and I worked the video camera for
them, and they thought my stuff was cool, so I started getting
into photography and even got a part time job as an assistant
photographer, so I could learn about light and composition. But
that didin't last, so I just stuck to my scating.
"I got into a skate team and started doing demonstrations
around Sydney. We actually got to the stage where we got full-on
sponsorships from people like Coca-Cola - like verything from ear
plugs to undies! We also did two tours of America, which was
wicked. Then blading became commercial and it felt like a job, so
I got sick of it and quit pro-skating altogether.
"By that stage, I'd done a few commercials as a stunt double
and because rollerblading was the latest hip thing to do, everybody
wanted to get skaters in their ads. We were the guys best known
in Sydney for skating, so I ended up doing a cheesy Red Rooster
as, dressed up as a nun.
"The next thing I knew, I was put into an actors agency
because my mate, Jon Pollard, was with the same agent and he'd
actually done some acting, like Heartbreak High. So, his
agent has heard about me through Jo. I didn't even apply or felt
like I wanted to go that way, it just happend. Then I got this
job to appear in a corporate instruction video for Nokia and I
was absolutelly shitting myself! I was like, 'Oh, man, what am I
thinking! I can't act!' I just had to say a few lines about
technical stuff but I kept on stuffing up. However, I got through
it and also acted in a police training video, which I felt better
about. But I still wasn't sure if acting was the right thing for
me.
"I was in Byron Bay, cruising with some friends, when I
decided I was hopeless and unmotive about money and getting
things together. So, I decided to travel around Australia for a
year, get to a place to live, find a job, work for a while and
then move on. Then I got a call from my agent saying there were
auditions for Heartbreak High. I was like, 'Oh, no!, 'coz I knew
that if I went back to Sydney I was never going to travel around
Australia. It was really weird because a part of me was saying
that I was going to get the Heartbreak High role, yet another
part of me was like, 'I don't want to go that way.'
"Anyway, somehow I ended up on a train back to Sydney and I
went and saw the Heartbreak High people. The casting lady was
really cool and they called me back to see me again for a couple
of workshops with Nico Lathouris who, incidentally, is a genois
of an acting coach. I said to myself, 'I've got to make myslef
stand out," but I walked in and there were 12 other people
there, and I freaked out. I kept telling myself not to worry,
that I'd be fine, and all I've got to do is just jump in and do
it. So, we were in the middle of doing some exercises when it hit
me: 'Yes! I love this, I want to do acting!' At the end of it all
they had me, Rel Hunt and Lara Cox in the one room and they said
'Yeah, you've got the part.' I was so stocked that I had found my
purpose in life - acting."
the character - drazic
"On my first day at
Heartbreak High there were about 100 people there and I was
shaking, saying, 'I'm dead, I can't do this! What am I doing
here?' If you watchh my first few epizodes, you will notice my
voice trembling in some scenes. From then on I was like, 'Shit,
I've got to lock in here.' So for the next three months, whenever
there was an opportunity, I'd sit in the corner and just watch
what everyone was doing.
"I'm stoked to be playing Drazic because he gets to wear all
these rad clothes, do lots of fun stuff and he's definitely not a
boring character - he can be the nicest guy you've ever met, or a
real vindictive bastard.
"Essentially, I make Drazic, so there's going to be a lot of
me in him, too, but I'm his fun side - like when he can amuse
himself at any time. That's me you know, being a clown a pulling
stupid faces. The reason I do that is to relax myself and the
other actors. You see, it can get really stresfull at Heartbreak,
sometimes, so if I start screwing around, having a few laughs and
getting the others to muck about, it makes the vibe really good,
loosens everyone up and keeps it free, happy and spontaneous.
"I think what's freaked me out the most about being a
character on Heartbreak are the fans. They can be so full on.
It's a good thing, but...well, I'm just a person whose job
happens to be on TV. The fans are always like, 'It's Drazic!' I
just wish that they's just chill a bit because it's no big deal.
I'm just a guy whose face is familiar."
the girlfriend
"I had my first kiss in
Year Four when I was 10, with a girl named Catherine. We both had
our first 'pash' during sport behind the toilets and I was
terrified. Since then, I've had a bad run with girls for most of
my life - like everyone of them has drilled me. I've probably had
about 20 girlfriends and they've lasted from 2 weeks to six
months. I went out with one girl for two years, but in terms of
love it was bad - when I did, she didn't, and when she did, I
didn't. My problem is that I just keep coming back for more kicks
in the head. I've been heartbroken a million times. However, I do
have a girlfriend at the moment, who I've been seeing a few
months, but I'm not at liberty to reveal who it is. I will say,
though, she's one of the most pure and honest people I've ever
met."
(He's talking about Lara)
the prince of tv
"I was sitting at home when Lisa, the Heartbreak High publicist, called me and told me that I'd won the 1997 Dolly Prince Of TV. I just went, 'Oh, shit, did I?' I was really surprised, being a new comer and everything, and I never thought there was a chance that I'd win. It's also great for the show and that has to be a good thing."
the future
"I've met a lot of
interesting people throughout my life and I have learnt a lot
from all my experiences. My focus is to understand the world,
myself, and others, and be able to take in everything that's
going on around me and grow from that. When I finally realised
what I wanted to do, I was very passionate about it and really
determined that I could get whatever I wanted, If I was at the
right place at the right time and did whatever I had to do to get
it. I do belive that everything happens for a reason and I'd like
to tell others out there not to lose hope. You can do whatever
you want and it's only yourself that restricts you - just follow
your heart.
"My dream would be to do a movie that really made people
question themselves and confronted them as to why everyone is so
afraid of themselves. I understand change takes time and
strength, but I'm now at a point where I want to confront things
in my life that I feel I have a problem with. That's because I
know that they are limiting my ability to do things, and limiting
my outlook on myself and what I'm capable of achieving.