Aussie Callan McAuliffe is a talented actor and writer

Australian actor Callan McAuliffe is not only a star on The Walking Dead, he is also a talented writer having written more than a dozen books in his 23 years.

The Walking Dead actor Callan McAuliffe has written more than a dozen books in his 23 years.

His first novel — The Hill Ghost — was published before Christmas and tells the story of a talking animals with the main characters being a Tibetan mastiff and a seagull.

“I grew up in love with the Lord of the Rings books so for a couple of years there I was trying to write a sweeping high fantasy,” the actor told Confidential.

Callan McAuliffe is a talented actor and author. Picture: Dylan Robinson

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“Only once I read it through recently did I realise that it was pretty egregious plagiarism so I shelved that project. I have such little patience and I get bored very quickly that I decided to write something that was comparatively simple. This is a simple story.”

McAuliffe, who studied at Scots College in Sydney before moving to the US, is a regular character on The Walking Dead, that will continue on Foxtel this year.

He’s also known for his work on films The Great Gatsby, I Am Number Four and Flipped.

The Walking Dead is the Aussie’s first major US television job. Picture: Supplied/FX

At 300 pages, McAuliffe took about six months to write The Hill Ghost, and a further two years to edit the work.

“This book was for shits and giggles, I realised that about half way through it,” he said. “It is kind of nonsense, making fun of English literature. I always thought that I’d write Milne and I prefer to write in the Winnie the Pooh style. It was a lot of fun.”

The Walking Dead, on which McAuliffe plays the character of Alden, is his first major US television gig.

McAuliffe’s book The Hill Ghost.

Details about future episodes in season nine are kept secret and McAuliffe dare not divulge any storylines.

“The next part of the season is going to be pretty crazy. I am in it, that is all I can say,” he said.

“I was bouncing from project to project and sometimes they settle with audiences and sometimes they don’t. But The Walking Dead has been going on for a while so I have joined a party that has been going on for a while so I am grateful to be a part of that.”