Neighbours star Ryan Moloney reflects on his accidental acting career which got him the role of ‘Toadie’ for 20 years

IT was the role he never auditioned for, for a job he never wanted. Relishing his toughest storyline yet, Ryan Moloney reflects on two decades as ‘Toadie’ on Neighbours.

HE hit Ramsey Street with a bad mullet and a ridiculous nickname for just one scene, and became one of Neighbours’ best-loved characters.

Ryan Moloney — Neighbours’ Jarrod ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi — never meant for this to happen.

With his heaviest scenes in two decades currently playing out on screens, Moloney, 35, put tongue firmly in cheek to look back on the misadventures of Toadie.

This is your captain speaking ... Moloney is a qualified pilot in real life. Picture: Norm Oorloff

BECOMING TOADIE

“I NEVER wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be a pilot but I just got this really good job and kept it,” says Moloney, 35, who now is a qualified pilot.

“I auditioned for a different role, missed out, then was called back to play Toadie, for one scene. Twenty years doesn’t feel that long. Contracts are only a year or two years, so in my mind I’m only ever here for a year or two. And I still feel so lucky. I come to work, muck around with fantastic people and then I go home.”

Doomed ... Moloney and Madeleine West. Her character Dee on the show came to a messy end on their wedding day. Picture: Supplied

TOADIE’S JOURNEY IN 80 WORDS

“HE started as a rebel with a really bad haircut, became a misunderstood genius, then a lawyer with a good heart. Unlucky in love — actually, that’s an understatement. His first wife (Dee, played by Madeleine West) died when their car went off a cliff after their wedding, he married someone that didn’t love him (Steph, played by Carla Bonner) to cover up her pregnancy to another man. Found the love of his life and a family with Sonya (Eve Morey).”

THE NEXT CHAPTER

“TOADIE being paralysed is one of his biggest storylines and I am relishing it. Being in a wheelchair really opens your eyes. It’s the simple things we don’t think about — opening doors, how to get in and out of stuff and realising how much this world is not built for wheelchairs. We have had characters in wheelchairs before but not this long — Lucas (Scott Major) had a TV soap recovery and went to rehab for a day and was walking by the end of it. I wouldn’t be adverse to my character being that forever.”

FAVOURITE STORYLINE

“THE best time I’ve had is working with Eve. It’s almost like we are a couple and we miss each other when we don’t see each other. Also there was the nudist lunch years ago — Toadie was fond of nudie runs.” Moloney shunned offers of a ‘modesty sock’ to protect his dignity: “I’m not a g-string man. I said ‘you know what? I’m just going to do it’.”

Complete ... Toadie and Sonya’s wedding. Picture: Supplied

LA NOT CALLING

“I WAS never tempted to go to Hollywood, I’m happy here. I have a fantastic job and when you look at it from that aspect there’s no real reason to leave. I don’t have grand aspirations. I enjoy acting but the reality for most actors is they spend a lot of their time struggling to work and make ends meet. There’s not a lot that appealed to me about that. “

TOADIE’S CAREER HIGHS

“BEING left a bikini shop by a client was pretty good. And he got his law degree in two-and-a-half years — that happens when you’re a genius — so you’d assume he’s pretty successful. Having said that, I don’t know how much he charges because he really just still lives on Ramsay Street, and he doesn’t drive a flash car, so he’s either not particularly good or he does a lot of free work.”

THAT NAME

“STONEFISH, my brother, was the original and then Toadie arrived, sent to Erinsborough because he got perving on his cousin, Gemfish (Gemma). Then Tadpole came in, whose character’s name was Wayne Reeves and his mother’s name was Coral Reeves and his father’s name was Barry R Reeves. After that was Stingray, then gave Callum his name — Calamari or Squid. We’re holding out for a Grouper — because the character of Lou Carpenter hasn’t been in for a while.”

Can’t be unseen ... Moloney’s infamous mullet. Picture: Supplied

THE MULLET

“I THOUGHT it was the style at the time. Unfortunately Neighbours rang up and said ‘do you still have that same haircut?’, so I actually got the job because of the haircut and then I had to keep it for a significant amount of time. Cutting it off was the happiest day of my life.”

TOADIE’S EXIT

“I’M not sure how Toadie’s story should end. I don’t whether it should be he just says he’s going to the shop to get some milk and never comes back, or if it should be something really dramatic like foiling a Ramsay Street terrorist plot and diving on the bomb. “

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Originally published as Neighbours star Ryan Moloney reflects on his accidental acting career which got him the role of ‘Toadie’ for 20 years