You might not know his name, but Offspring’s Matthew Le Nevez is finally stepping into the spotlight, needle in hand. It takes talent to make an epidural look enticing. But Matthew Le Nevez, who stars as Dr Patrick Reid in Channel Ten’s hit show Offspring, may have women lining up for a sharp jab. Over the past three weeks, close to a million fans have tuned in each Wednesday night to see Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) choose between hot anaesthetist Patrick and last season’s love interest Chris Havel (Don Hany). The Twitterverse lit up as hashtag “Team Patrick” began trending across the country. And while it seems half the world is in love with his on screen persona, I’m pleased to report that Le Nevez is every bit as charming in person.
Yet despite having graced our screens, big and small, for several years now, the 32-year-old actor has somehow managed to remain incognito. He won a Logie for his portrayal of convicted killer Matthew Wales, in telemovie The Society Murders and worked with Rose Byrne and Hugo Weaving in the 2008 Australian film The Tender Hook. He has also appeared in a roll-call of Australian television dramas including Marking Time, Love My Way and Blue Heelers.
He cringes when recalling some of his more unfortunate roles. “I did the live Blue Heelers – remember that?” He pulls a bemused face. “In that one, I killed a baby. I remember walking into a chemist after it aired and I think these people thought I actually did it.’’
Le Nevez is anything but nonchalant about the dark characters he’s portrayed. “I didn’t want to be involved in any of the publicity for The Society Murders,” he reveals, “because there was a true family involved.”
Perhaps his sensitivity stems from the fact that he is so close to his own family. Le Nevez grew up in Canberra with younger brother Tim, now a professional rugby player. Their’s was an idyllic childhood of camping, fishing, motorbike riding and sports, and the two remain close – Matthew recently attended Tim’s wedding in Hawaii.
In fact, Le Nevez has his brother to thank for his serendipitous fall into acting, after Tim entered a competition to meet his hero – Rugby League great Wayne Pearce – and the prize included a chance to play a young Pearce in his retirement video. Le Nevez tagged along to the audition with his parents and brother. “I hit up the producer, asking, ‘Did he get the job, did he get the job?’. And the producer said, ‘Well, why don’t you audition?’.”
Le Nevez got the gig. Luckily, he says, there was no sibling rivalry; Tim was just happy to meet his hero on the day of filming.
Since then, the actor’s journey has been a fairly turbulent one. “There’s been some incredibly testing times,” he admits. Despite studying at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art and scoring the occasional Logie and AFI award, he has endured difficult spells without work. He spent several frustrating years in the US, passing up a role on season one of Underbelly for a role in LA that never eventuated. “I found out that I didn’t get a role in Prison Break at 5pm and I found out I didn’t get Underbelly at 6pm. So I went straight to a tequila bar and decided to stay in LA,” he says.
It took the attention-grabbing Offspring script to lure Le Nevez back to Australia. He says it’s a delight to work with Keddie and the rest of the cast in a comedy drama, “because usually I play killers and nasty bastards.”
In real life, Le Nevez might not be a nasty bastard, but he’s certainly a daredevil. Many of his characters’ physical qualities are a direct result of his misadventures. Fans may have noticed a small scar on his eyebrow. It looks innocent enough but is the result of a drunken run-in with a fence. “I still can’t feel it today,” he says. “Often when I’m acting one eyebrow goes up and the other one stays down.”
Throw in a surfing accident, being mauled by a dog, skydiving and a totalled motorbike, and you begin to suspect the actor has lived a life nearly as compelling as his characters.
Another obvious physical attribute Le Nevez lends to Dr Patrick is his conspicuous Japanese cherry blossom tattoo, which climbs from his stomach to his chest, and features in many racy Offspring scenes. Le Nevez designed the tattoo six years ago with a tattooist in Berlin. When he shot The Tender Hook, playing a 1920s boxer, he had it covered with makeup every day. But he didn’t want to hide it when it came to Offspring. “It’s mine, it’s not Patrick’s,” he says protectively, and explains it away as something to do with his brother. He says the tattoo suits the character and adds an appropriately indelible layer to the doctor.
Le Nevez and his tattoo are on board for season three of Offspring and, after parking himself in Melbourne this year to film season two, he’s now keen to make our city his permanent Australian base. “Melbourne’s really blossomed from the inside out. There’s so much richness and culture when you scratch at the surface – unlike Sydney which is so pretty from the outside, but when you scratch you start to see its cracks.”
He’s yet to choose a home in the city, but loves the communities north of the river. You might spot him having a beer at the Grace Darling in Collingwood, enjoying a meal in Chinatown or gunning his motorbike along the coast to the Mornington Peninsula, where he loves playing golf and drinking wine.
But he still has to pack up his life in the US. He reveals there are some question marks around whether he’ll bring his real-life leading lady, Michelle, a Texan, back to Australia with him. “We almost broke up about 35 times this year,” he admits.
Le Nevez also enjoys connecting with his audience and monitors Twitter for comments about his performance. “It’s nice to get in touch with people and see what they think, but I don’t want to get obsessive about it,” he says.
Where there are fans, there are detractors but Le Nevez says the mainly positive feedback is warmly received. “That’s why people like Offspring. It’s not tits and guns. I don’t want to do tits and guns.”
Season two of Offspring will be released on DVD on September 14. Catch Le Nevez in season three on Channel 10 in early 2012.
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