A-list Confidential: Home and Away newcomer Nick Cartwright reveals on-set blunder
Former army rifleman Nick Cartwright landed his first acting gig on Home and Away, but his first few days on set didn’t go to plan, crashing the police car during a scene.
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Home and Away newcomer Nick Cartwright had somewhat of a crash landing in Summer Bay.
The former Townsville-based rifleman, who first appeared on the Channel 7 soapie during the week, landed the role as senior constable Cash Newman after graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in what was his first acting gig.
But things didn’t go to plan during his first few days on set, leading to a new nickname for his character.
“I crashed the cop car really badly,” Cartwright, 33, told Confidential.
“In the scene I jump out of the car I’ve got my hand on my pistol and there’s a scenario inside the building. But I hear the crew start to freak out.”
“I got out of the car and left the thing in drive. I’ve completely spaced it. I’ve jumped back in through the window with my legs dangling out to crank the handbrake, but it’s one of those fancy new cars with the button handbrake, so I sat there with my legs flailing out the window until we hit the wall.”
He added: “the crew have not forgotten it for a day. They nicknamed me ‘Crash Newman’.”
He clarified the car was “sort of OK” after a bit of a “bash and bump”.
Cartwright confessed he was “terrified” when he first arrived at the Summer Bay set, filming his first scene with long-time Home and Away star James Stewart.
“You roll up and to get to the set you have to walk through three other sets. I had just been watching the show so it was a bizarre feeling,” he said.
“James, he was a real mentor. He pulled me aside.”
Cartwright had grown up singing in a high school rock band before enrolling in the army, spending six years as an infantryman based in Townsville and touring East Timor and Afghanistan.
He left his army career in 2014 and shortly after decided to return to the arts by studying at NIDA.
“The creative industries is more at home for me. The military service is an anomaly. It was me rebelling against my own nature and finding something different,” he said, adding the role on Home And Away came at the perfect time.
“2020 had been so rough for every single person. I’d just finished a very expensive bachelor’s degree and I wasn’t sure where the industry would land, so to spend twelve months like that and just pick up a job like this was one of the best feelings of my entire life.”
With his first episodes airing during the week, Cartwright gained thousands of Instagram followers overnight and tried to heed the advice given to him by his new co-stars.
“(They say) just to put your phone away from time to time, which I’m guilty of not doing the past few days and not to read into negativity, because it’s going to be out there,” he said.
“You can go down the rabbit hole. Everyone has said that … but it’s been overwhelmingly positive so far. I’m waiting for them to turn on me.”
HAIR RAISING
Queensland hair stylists were among the big winners at the Australian Hair Industry Awards this week.
Amy Gaudie from Urban Chic in Ashgrove took out Queensland hairdresser of the year at the ceremony in Sydney on Tuesday night, while Elle Shoemaker of Toowong’s Cobelle Creative was named 2021 master cutter and the salon’s Paige Cameron was apprentice of the year.
James Graham of Paul and Paul Salon in Southport on the Gold Coast took out both avant-garde hairdresser of the year and people’s choice for his hair creation series, FLAiR.
Graham spent ten months planning and creating each look in the series, which used 25 doll hair wefts, each three metres long, and thousands of resin crystals including 700 for just one look.
Other materials included wire, synthetic flowers cut into shapes, beads and spray paint.
The series was inspired by cult favourite fashion brand ShuShu/Tong and Graham styled the looks himself using a mix of high end and street style including Gucci glasses and Jacquemus bag.
TAKEN BY SURPRISE
Musician Pete Murray has celebrated the birth of his fourth child.
The Queensland singer-songwriter, 51, who is now based in Byron Bay, welcomed a baby girl shortly after 3am on June 11, later sharing the news to social media.
“Baby number 4 arrived this morning at 3.04am 7Ib 9oz. She is a beautiful chilled out little girl. No name yet. Mum was amazing and made birth look easy,” Murray wrote to Instagram alongside a photo of himself holding his newborn daughter.
Murray and wife Mira Eady, who also share a daughter Saachi, three, had kept the sex of their child a surprise, as he has done with all his children.
He is also the father to two sons, Charlie and Pedro, from his previous marriage.
“I just like that surprise,” Murray said while promoting his new EP, The Night, in March.
“It’s exciting having another child and we’re all excited about it.”
On having four children in the house, he added: “I think I have a tour booked in at the end of the year so that might be time for me to have a break and hire a nanny.”
The singer will also appear on the next season of SAS Australia on Channel 7.
KING OF HEARTS
Shane Warne was on the Gold Coast recently for a series of poker tournaments, but it seems the business trip might have been part pleasure.
Confidential spies spotted the eligible former cricket star active on celebrity dating app Raya throughout his stay on the Gold Coast over the last few weeks.
Warne, 51, who was previously engaged to actor Elizabeth Hurley, confessed to being on the invite-only dating app back in 2019.
He also visited local hot spot Burleigh Pavilion, alongside former AFL player Campbell Brown, during his time in the city, where he competed in World Poker Tour competitions at The Star.
ALL DRESSED UP
A former Married At First Sight contestant is giving away her wedding dress for free to a budding bride.
Gold Coast’s Alana Lister, who split from her on-screen husband back in April, wore an off-shoulder gown from Queensland Grace Loves Lace for her reality TV wedding.
She is now giving it away via Instagram to an Aussie bride.
“I know there’s a lot of ladies out there planning their big day and also know that a wedding dress can be a big hit to the budget so I’m giving mine away to someone who really wants/needs it,” Lister said.
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