Shorty's city slicker Aidan - 'I'MA COUNTRY BOY AT HEART'

Behind the scenes, he has a very different passion

- Elise Cacace

On screen, Shortland Street actor Aidan O'Malley keeps busy saving lives as registrar Parker Dawson, but when the cameras stop rolling, his heart is in the quietness of the countryside. Although he's always had a passion for performing studying theatre at the University of Otago, graduating from the Auckland Actors' Program in 2019 and promptly landing a few roles - the twist of Covid fate quickly stopped all rehearsals, leaving him without a job.

"I had to find something else to do," he says. "A family friend of mine is a builder in Rotorua and took me on. It was funny being a 24-year-old and working with stoic Kiwi men far older than me. It was always fun talking to them, and in some ways, it was like the best acting class ever!"

Aidan continued working as a builder for the next two years, enjoying the outdoors and toiling physically. When he was offered an opportunity to help the construction of an avocado orchard in Mount Maunganui, he jumped at the chance.