“I spend so much time at the beach it seemed like a good idea to get paid for it!”
When Ryan Clark began starring in Home and Away as the endearing foster child Sam Marshall, he was only seven years old.
Although he has made a few cameo appearances, the job was only meant to last ten years.
Ryan became interested in acting after witnessing his pals receiving freebies for starring in advertisements.
“I just joined an agency because a couple of other Bronte locals, Gavin and David Stephenson, who are long-time friends of mine, were actually on a Cottee’s Cordial commercial,” he told The Beast.
“I wanted to follow their lead as I believed they were entitled to free cordial all day. And that concluded it,” he said.
“I did one photo shoot for Palmolive fresh soap and then Home and Away was the first audition I went to. They must’ve thought I smelled nice,” he joked.
But he really enjoyed the 10 years he spent on the Aussie soap.
“It seemed unbelievable. What child wouldn’t like it, really? It was a really excellent start in life and a lot of fun. I got to do some pretty great stuff, got to travel about a fair bit, and went to school maybe one or two days a week,” he remarked.
Ryan had the opportunity to play an Australian surfer in the Olsen Twins movie Our Lips Are Sealed before leaving Home and Away. Even though he had a good time getting to know Mary Kate and Ashley, he has the best memories of the things he did while filming.
“We filmed for about a month all around Sydney and got to do some pretty cool stuff,” Ryan said.
“They hired out the whole of the Harbour Bridge and we climbed that, and we drove jet skis all around the harbour. It was a pretty fun couple of weeks. I was only 16 or 17 at the time so it was a different experience and something I look back on with good memories.”
He quickly made an appearance as one of the lifeguards on Channel 10’s factual TV program Bondi Rescue after quitting the serial opera to pursue a career in surfing.
Ryan began lifesaving in his neighborhood’s Bronte Beach, which is close to Bondi in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, when he was twelve years old.
It sounded like a fantastic idea to get paid for all the time I spent at the beach,” he exclaimed.
Having been a part of Bondi Rescue for 17 years, and known by his nickname Whippet due to his extreme slender appearance as a teenager, he is currently a permanent member of the Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.
When he is not working as a professional lifeguard, he works as a personal trainer and spends time with his family – wife Gina and their three boys, Nixon, Jett and Marley.
And last year, he even challenged himself to swim the English Channel to raise money for Ocean Heroes!
However, he said, “It depends who is doing the recognising,” in response to the question of whether character from Home and Away or Bondi Rescue he is more recognised for these days: “Sam.”
“It would probably come from the lifeguard side of things more, but only because I didn’t really have a beard or a pube when I left Home and Away.
He continued, “Since then, I’ve changed a little.”
