He’s famously portrayed everyone from late Aussie rock legend Michael Hutchence in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart to Long John Silver in the hit series Black Sails.
WATCH: Home And Away 2020 Season Finale Teaser
And now, rising star Luke Arnold moves into Summer Bay in this week’s season finale as nurse Lewis Hayes – a role that the 36-year-old concedes came as a challenging but welcome change of pace.
“After making a career out of playing pirates and rock stars, there’s always something daunting about playing raw, real people,” he says, adding, “and especially on a show where the relationships take centre stage. There’s nowhere to hide on a show like Home and Away. And Lewis as a character has definitely offered me a lot to sink my teeth into.”
What’s more, we can reveal that a red-hot romance is on the cards for Lewis with fellow nurse Jasmine (Sam Frost).
“Very quickly you get a sense that they’re two people who have a great, warm and beautiful connection,” Luke says. “They knew each other at uni, and there is a little electricity between them.
“Lewis has gone through a recent tragedy, as has Jasmine. For both of them to find someone who not only do they have an affinity with, but also deeply understands what they’ve been going through – in a way no-one else can – is really important.”
Luke reveals that sharing scenes with Sam has simply been a joy.
“Sam’s just the greatest,” he enthuses, “so lovely, so bubbly and so hardworking. She’s someone who perfectly balances her energy between being welcoming, warm and kind to everyone with being very prepared and passionate about the show and her work.”
Indeed, Luke couldn’t have been happier to have received the call from the show’s producers.
“I was in lockdown working, but I was so ready to be welcomed onto a set with great, talented people on something that involves collaboration and fun,” he says.
“There’s something amazing about doing a show that everyone knows its name and that’s being beamed free onto the TVs of everyone in the country. To be in something that iconic and accessible is really beautiful.”
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