George Houvardas is one busy boy. Even with this interview, he is taking time out from working at the family run restaurant to have a chat with me. We had to lock in the interview at 3:00 pm, when hospitality rush hour is over. So from the courtyard of Piato Cafe in Sydney’s McMahons Point, George takes my call.
His energetic nature and lust for life can be heard all the way from Sydney as we start talking first about his acting career, a career that nearly didn’t happen.
George was studying and working as a builder when, at the age of 25, he packed it all in to become an actor.
“I do everything on a whim but not half-arsed,” George explains, “that’s why I did acting, I knew I had to give it a go because if I didn’t I would regret it.”
But it wasn’t just a one-off career change, from an early age George wanted to be an actor. A chance meeting with his year one principal confirmed this.
“I bumped into my principal from year one at All Saints, Greek Orthodox Grammar School,” he starts.
“He said ‘George, do you remember the first thing you said to me when we met?’ Apparently he had asked me what do I want to do when I grow up and I said that I wanted to be an actor. So it’s been in my blood for a long time, but when I turned 25, it just came to the surface and I decided to give it a go.”
He started acting classes and with that, meeting people in the industry. He found out about an audition for a pilot show called Packed to the Rafters. He auditioned, got the part, shot the series, six years later, he’s still there.
Even though he is best known for his role as Nick “Carbo” Karandonis, George is ready and willing for the next challenge.
“I think I would get more enjoyment playing someone who is a bit darker and get away with things a lot more… Naughty sometimes can be a lot more satisfying,” he says with a cheeky giggle.
He tells me that the character of Carbo couldn’t be further from him. Carbo is a lovable larrikin, with a charger and perfectly constructed hairstyle. As a television show, Packed to the Rafters were always going to have the Greek neighbour, but George says although they revert to a few stereotypes, he has calmed them down and made Carbo more mainstream Australian.
“He’s adorable but not the brightest spark so we definitely have a lot of differences… I work a lot more than Carbo, and I am not always in stubbies and thongs.
“He’s a fun character,” George tells Neos Kosmos, “he is quite funny, but they probably had in mind an even more stereotypical Greek guy but I have pulled him back a bit because I think Greeks have come a lot further than the Acropolis Now days.”
As far as Australian television and film is concerned, George says we are going in “the right direction” to be rid of cultural cringes, and stereotypical characters. But at the same time, he tells me that everything has it’s place as he compares the film Wog Boy to the TV series Housos, a send up of Australian bogans.
“I could never play a guy called Gary Smith because I don’t look like someone called Gary Smith, so I am always going to play a role with an ethnic background.
“Shows like East West 101 are ground breaking, Don Hany played a cop with an Arabic background but they never played the Arabic up, he was just Australian.
“Australian TV is becoming quite culturally diverse.”
Born and bred in Sydney, George’s father migrated from the village of Xidera, Lesvos. His mum, also born in Australia, also has a Lesvos background hailing from Plomari – famous for some of Greece’s best ouzo. Some of his earlier friends are Greek having attended a Greek Orthodox Grammar School, but by living on the northern side of Sydney, he says there weren’t a lot of people of Greek background so as he puts it “he had the best of both worlds”.
George works seven days a week, and has been working in family restaurants since he was 12. That strong work ethic he credits to his Greek background. Even from the courtyard of the cafe, you can hear by the tone of his voice that he is observing his customers.
“I love hospitality,” he quips, “because to be honest you see so many different characters that it’s like research for me.
“And it’s a great grounding too, you don’t get lost in all the hoo-ha of being someone in television. At the end of it all, being an actor is just a job, it doesn’t make you any more special than anyone, we don’t save lives; we get put on a pedestal. So it’s good to come here and work around your mates and get treated as anyone else.”
He is the first to admit that his journey with acting has been incredibly fortunate, but is also quick to point out that he put all his energy into making it in acting.
“It is luck and timing, but at the same time you have to put yourself out there and when that time arises you have to be there.”
And he credits the station that he works for, Channel 7, for being courageous enough to cast up-and-coming talent in new shows over big names and veterans of Australian television.
About to start up again for a sixth season, George says Packed to the Rafters, a show that has made him a household name, is set for more roller coaster drama’s this year, but he is not about to give anything away. And it’s a big year for the show. In 2013 Packed to the Rafters will be celebrating their 100th episode.
Even though George is happy with his role, and the cast and crew he works with – his surrogate family – he knows that one day it will come to an end, and he will need to find that elusive next challenge.
“For me my next challenge is where I go after? I have dabbled in radio and that’s looking promising and overseas is also tempting and there is so much great drama and film in Australia and film is something I’ve always wanted to end up in.”
He adds that Carbo is ingrained in people’s psyche so it’s important for him as an actor to break the mould so he doesn’t get typecast as the same character again and again.
“That’s my biggest challenge to prove to people I can do something else,” he says.
He was challenged on the SBS show East West 101; even in the small role he played, he had a chance to venture to the dark side, something he wants to keep up. Following an acting class with fellow Greek Australian, director Peter Andrikidis, George was cast.
It’s nearly time to finish our chat, for George to get back to, well, more work, but I end with an overview of a serendipitous career, one that seems to be definitely heading in the right track.
He tells me, “if you really want to do something, you should just go and do it!
“As long as you are fit and healthy, there’s no excuse, you should get out there and just do it, just like Nike says.”
Packed To The Rafters returns Tuesday, January 29 at 8.45pm on Channel Seven.