He became a household name starring as the original Flynn Saunders in Home And Away from 2001-2002.
But for Martin Dingle Wall, fame wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
In a new interview with The Daily Telegraph, the 45-year-old has opened up about his battle with alcoholism – and how moving to Los Angeles four years ago set him on the straight and narrow.
‘I wound up in AA,’ he admits. ‘The first real gift of LA for me was working through these demons, this stuff that was being fuelled very poorly by an emotionally negative relationship with having a drink, so I went to my first AA meeting and the penny landed instantly.’
Sober for three years now, Martin explains that his issue was never about the amount of alcohol he consumed, but rather the personality changes he suffered as a result.
‘I didn’t drink very much, but as an alpha male Australian, I had self-sabotage moments,’ he says. ‘As minor a role as it was in my life, it was massively destructive and completely unwelcome, so I made the call and went to a meeting and made a commitment to myself and got dry.’
The actor adds that in such a cut-throat town as Hollywood, ’90 per cent of your work is actually keeping a healthy psychology’.
‘My sobriety has been an absolute gold path to not wasting precious energy,’ he continues.
And he’s been reaping the rewards ever since, with steady work now flowing in – including the movie Salty with Antonio Banderas.
‘My US career started with my sobriety,’ he explains. ‘I’m working my arse off and getting some extraordinary breaks. It is nothing but blessings. It is all roses, you are ducking and weaving and training and sparring going after the dream every day, and when you land a great movie, that is landing a good punch. In between all of that, you are figuring life out.’
Starting a family with wife Peta also changed Martin’s priorities.
‘Having a little boy, I’m a living and breathing example to that guy,’ says the proud father of 20-month-old son Lakota. ‘I’ve got to be an example as to how to extrapolate something functional from everything that happens.’
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