EXCLUSIVE: Home and Away actor Paddy O’Connor explained what it’s like working with young children on the set of the Aussie soap and revealed things don’t always go to plan
Paddy O’Connor, a star of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, explained that it’s not always easy dealing with young children on set.
The 30-year-old actor, who has been portraying River Boy Dean Thompson since 2018, recently broke the hearts of his admirers when he revealed he was leaving the Channel 5 soap opera alongside his real-life girlfriend Sophie Dillman, who plays Dean’s partner Ziggy Astoni.
Despite recently welcoming their first child together, Dean and Ziggy have frequently worked with children as extras in their films.
When Dean found out he was Jai’s father in 2020, he spent a lot of time on set with River Jarvis, who portrays the adorable child.
Paddy explained that working with an infant on set was similar to working with his on-screen son in that the scenes were frequently driven by what the baby was doing.
The Australian performer admitted to Daily Star that at times it felt like working with River. Although he is attractive, he is a fiery young man.
“You really have to move with him because he’s a ball of energy. You follow his instructions when they ask for action and he decides to take a certain action.
Ziggy and Dean have just welcomed their first child
As she laughed, Sophie remarked, “He’s a fantastic actor and a really funny child. In scenes, he’d pick his nose and wipe it on Paddy’s pants.
The director would tell me, “You have to eat it,” after the actor spat on my broccoli and handed it to me for the scene, Paddy recalled.
The young actor “put his foot down” midway through a shoot and decided he didn’t want to continue working, the Australian star remembered.
“He made a stand one day by declaring, “I’m not working anymore. Halfway through the day of our filming, he said, “I’m not going to do it.”
Paddy added: “I said, ‘What can I do to make sure that we work?’ because I have to get this done.
“I’m an adult and I’ll get held accountable,” he laughed. “And River goes, ‘You have to hang out with me this weekend’.”
The actor continued: “He’s like six so at the end of the day I thought he would’ve forgotten about it but he was standing there and staring at me when they called cut and he’s like, ‘You going to come over?’”
“And we went over!” Sophie admitted as the couple giggled.
