admin | 
08 12th, 2008 |
ADELAIDE actor Damon Herriman had never considered working in America, but now he’s starring in one of the top rating dramas in the US. Which one?
Herriman was told the “American credit” was a big step towards getting an agent and manager in the US and landing some work in Hollywood. Then he landed a role in US shock flick House of Wax.
So he packed his bags, headed to Los Angeles for a short stay, and started auditioning.
It took three more visits, which were made when he had a break between roles in Australia, before he started getting work, but his tenacity paid off when he was asked to play the bad guy in an episode of Cold Case.
“It had been in the back of my mind, and I had often wondered what it would be like to work over there (the US), but I knew how hard it was to crack it,” Herriman says.
“But when I had that American credit I thought I would give it a go so I went over for the premiere of House of Wax and got an American agent from that.
“I did four trips without getting any work at all, but it’s such a slow process because you are starting from scratch.
“I was not intending to go over at all this year, because the writers’ strike happened early in the year and I didn’t think anything would be happening, I thought that was a good excuse to stay in Australia.
“But my manager called and said I needed to get over there and I only had a seven-week window . . . I didn’t figure I would get any work in seven weeks.
“When I read the script (for Cold Case) I was immediately excited about it, by the idea of it, because it was a good guest role.
“It was a meaty, strong character so I was excited and I wanted to put a lot of work into it.”
Herriman will play John Smith in this week’s episode of Cold Case which is called “The Road”.
“This episode of Cold Case is slightly different,” Herriman says.
“They knew (my character) did it from the start and they are trying to crack him to give up the information to see if there are any lives to be saved.
“(The character) is a conniving, creepy guy, and a lot of the episode is him playing mind games with Kathryn Morris’s character. So most of my scenes were with Kathryn and Danny Pino.
“A lot of the episode takes place in a car, when they are driving him from one state to another, and they are trying to break me and I am trying to break them.”
While Herriman has worked with many established actors in Australia - including Claudia Karvan in Love My Way - he says he learnt a lot from his Cold Case experience.
“You get a real sense of what it is like for someone who is the lead in a series,” he says.
“Kathryn Morris has been doing Cold Case for five years, she has been coming in and playing that character every day but she has to inject that with some new energy each episode, and that’s something to be admired.
“Coming in and doing the guest role, the excitement and energy is automatically there, but someone like her has to do it every episode for five years, and I can’t get my head around how you keep up the motivation to do that.
“She and Danny really still care about it.”
