Luke Mitchell is gearing up to work on a new Aussie film
From sandy Summer Bay to busy New York, Luke Mitchell continues to find screen success with a spate of great TV roles. He now stars in new US military drama The Code, which is coming to Australian screens.
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Luke Mitchell has spent six years in the US, pursuing a career that is many a young actor’s dream — but the 34-year-old still misses a good Aussie breakfast.
“I miss a cafe breakfast because America doesn’t do it very well, they just don’t get it,” he tells BW Magazine with a laugh.
“I miss the beach, fresh air, green grass and the laid-back lifestyle. You get used to living over there but when you come back home you realise how lucky we are to be Australian.”
Since moving to America six years ago with his actor wife Rebecca Breeds — spending the first three in Los Angeles and the last three in New York — Mitchell has landed a solid series of TV roles including sci-fi show The Tomorrow People, spy series Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and crime drama Blindspot.
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He has just added to the list with a lead part in military drama The Code, which premiered this month. He plays Captain John “Abe” Abraham, a former US Marine who becomes a lawyer after being wounded while serving in Afghanistan.
“It’s so different to anything that I have done before so it was a real education for me. My character is a third generation Marine (and) it’s really interesting,” he says.
“I had about a month to prep (for The Code) but I was also finishing filming Blindspot and travelling between LA and New York.
“We got gun training and it was really nice to learn about the Marine culture. They are incredible human beings.”
It’s a far cry from playing the quintessential boy-next-door Todd “Romeo” Smith on Home And Away.
“I’m so lucky with the roles I have been given, they’ve all been so different. I played a South African-born American terrorist one minute and now I’m playing a Marine,” he says.
Mitchell says that for him and Breeds, the move to America has not been a struggle, with both of them finding plenty of work.
America has treated us very well, we never expected to be over there for so long,” he says.
“Australia and Sydney will always be home and at some point we would want to move back — but we’ll see how it goes.”
On this visit home, Mitchell plans on fitting in some extra work — an Australian film he will announce next week.
The actor’s rising star comes with long hours and plenty of time apart for the couple, who began dating on the set of Home And Away and wed in 2013.
“When we are (at home) together it’s fantastic but it’s also bad because it means one of us isn’t working,” he says.
But time off isn’t all bad for the pair, who love travelling with their spaniel-cross-poodle, Alfred Hitchcockapoo Mitchell. “They call spoodles ‘cockapoos’ here,” he says of the unusual name.
“We travel a lot and we love going on road trips with our dog and showing him around. He loves to hunt for squirrels in New York and in Sydney he loves to chase crabs.”
Aside from their beloved Alfie, any plans to expand the family are currently on the backburner — with the couple both focusing on their work.
“We’re riding this wave of our career at the moment and then we will see but never say never,” he says.
The Code is now streaming on 10 All Access.
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