Ask an actor why they first ventured into the spotlight and you might expect a response along the lines of ‘self-development’ or to ‘follow the call of the artist’. Not so for Chris Sadrinna: "A mate of mine convinced me," he says with a cheeky grin. "He said it was a good thing to do to meet girls."
Now as Chris fills the shoes of Brad Armstrong - brother to Rachel Armstrong - it seems his expectations of mild flirtations have been well and truly surpassed.
Chris is no stranger to picturesque sea-side towns like Summer Bay. Born on February 26, 1975 (making him an emotional Pisces), Chris grew up on the Northern Beaches where he still lives today. After graduating from High School, his afore-mentioned pal picked Chris up in his beat-up old Kombi twice a week to head into the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) to do classes. "We ended up auditioning for their yearly production and we both got it," recalls Chris. "It was ‘All Stops Out’, we did the NSW regional tour as well and had a ball. So it was a good idea". And did he met any girls? Chris chuckles. "Made a lot of good friends," he replies.
From here he secured himself an agent and started working properly. "I started doing commercials, theatre pieces, short films," he explains. “They ended up getting bigger and bigger - got 50 worders and some juicer commercials, got some bit parts in films and then worked my way up to lead roles."
Home and Away viewers might recognise Chris’ chiselled jaw and twinkling blue-green eyes from any number of TV appearances, such as Heartbreak High, Water Rats, All Saints and Blue Heelers to name a few. In fact his role on Blue Heelers kept Chris in the country – he was about to embark on a world tour when he got the call! "In my old valiant I was going to drive to Perth then fly to India and do the whole Buddhist, Dalai Lama trekking thing," he says. “I got to Melbourne and my agent called and said, ‘You’ve got an audition for Blue Heelers’ and I got the job. I had to wait for a month before the shoot, got into a bit of a routine and thought, ‘Hey, this is alright here…’"
He’s no stranger to film either, having starred in Ivan Sen’s evocative debut feature Beneath Clouds ("it was a little role, but it was a great film – my proudest film") and as drummer Lucy in Alex Proyas’ grungy tale of inner-city musos struggling to hit it big in Garage Days, which also starred Home and Away’s Amanda, Holly Brisley!
Like most Australians, Chris grew up with Home and Away. "Of course, who hasn’t? You know all the main characters – Alf and Sally and Pippa…" Now as Brad Armstrong joins the list that future generations will be listing as characters they grew up with, we asked Chris who he drew on to create the easy-going if emotionally tortured man. "My uncle," Chris explains. "He’s an artist, and he’s gentle and really caring but he also has a protective attitude about his feelings. He’s being really nice, but you can tell there’s something else going on..."
In his spare time Chris likes mucking around on the drums, spending time with his family and catching shows like Prison Break. He loves the Stars Wars movies and admires the work of actors Brando, Pacino and De Niro, and is especially a fan of Aussie Cate Blanchett. "I like how she’s always slightly different - even though her characters could be similar, she’s always got this little bit of magic which is not learnt, it’s like a reflex."
We caught up with Chris only three weeks after he’d first stepped foot into the Channel Seven studios and his head was still spinning. "It’s like jumping onto a speeding train," he admits. "The workload, and the paperwork and the working out where your scenes are takes up 80% of the time. And then walking around and getting your stuff sorted and schedules and hair and make-up, and then you do get on set and you do all these rehearsals and so 5% of the time you’re being ‘the artist’ and the rest of the time it’s all the behind the scenes stuff! But it’s a job, man. It’s good. One of the best jobs I’ve had."
