Vince Colosimo fired up about Underbelly return

UNDERBELLYstar Vince Colosimo tells of the year he would rather forget and how he hopes his return to his most famous role — Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano — will take him “onwards and upwards”

UNDERBELLY star Vince Colosimo is hoping his return to his most famous role, that of Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano, will take him “onwards and upwards”.

One of Australia’s most charismatic actors, Colosimo found himself on the wrong side of the law last year after being caught driving on a suspended licence while under the influence of ice.

It is an experience he regrets and is eager to put in his past.

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“I am human, we are all human, we all do things,” he said.

“That is OK, that’s fine, I’ll get through it. All I really care about are my family and friends and how they feel. I can deal with it. It is more about my mother and father and the kids and my friends.

“What’s done is done.

“There are a lot of regrettable things, there are regrettable things every year.

“It is onwards and upwards. I don’t want to even think about it anymore.”

Debra Byrne, Vince Colosimo and Kevin Harrington pose up as the Moran family for the Chopper Underbelly series. Picture: Tony Gough

Focused and determined, Colosimo is enthusiastic about the soon-to-be screened Channel 9 telemovie Underbelly Files: Chopper, in which he reprises his role of the standover man.

It is a role he made famous in the original Underbelly 10 years ago.

“There has never been a character (he has played) that has been talked about more than Alphonse, considering we did it 10 years ago and I was only in the first two episodes before I was killed off,” Colosimo said.

“When this (Underbelly Files) came up I felt like I could not just hand it over. I didn’t even know how many scenes I was going to be in, I just said, ‘OK, I will do it’. I couldn’t hand him over to someone else.”

While it is a role he is very proud of he believes that it has also made it difficult for him to be cast as characters without a tough or dark side.

“Here’s the thing, sometimes those kind of things can be fantastic and it was in a lot of ways,” he said.

“I got nominated, we got a lot of accolades and Underbelly won lots of awards, and it was great to be part of that ensemble, but then there were times when roles were coming up and you weren’t getting looked at because when you are good at something people think maybe you can’t do anything but that.

“You would be thought about for criminal roles, the bad guys, and they were all different and good to play, but not other things because there was a thought, give people what they want, he is Alphonse Gangitano.

“But first and foremost you are an actor and you want to be doing as many diverse things as possible.”

Debra Byrne and Vince Colosimo ahead of the launch of the Chopper Underbelly series. Picture: Supplied

Colosimo worked on a variety of shows last year including The Warriors, Sunshine, The Ex-PM and Offspring, and has a film, The Second, which he stars in alongside Rachel Blake, Susie Porter and Martin Sacks, due for release this year.

His hope for the year ahead is that challenging and interesting roles come his way. “I want to do different stuff, hopefully (be) getting more scripts,” he said.

“We need drama, we need people to roll the dice and do more drama.”

A proud father of Lucia, his 14-year-old daughter with actor Jane Hall, and Massimo, his almost four-year-old son from his relationship with Diana Glen, Colosimo said his children meant the world to him.

He is, however, coming to terms with the fact that not all teenage daughters consider their dad to be cool.

“I am a cool dad, until I am not and, believe me, she tells me,” he said.