Guy Pearce: 'I got lucky after Neighbours'

Guy Pearce: 'I got lucky after Neighbours' (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Photos)

Former Neighbours star Guy Pearce insists his career only took off in Hollywood because he 'got lucky'. The actor played Mike Young in the Australian soap opera two decades ago and has gone on to become a major player in Tinseltown. Whilst promoting his new movie Death Defying Acts, he speculated about some of the stars who've emerged from the soap over the years, saying: "I don't know what it is, some people just get lucky. "Other people are exceptionally talented and it doesn't matter what they do they're just going to succeed at it. Some people are just in the right place at the right time." Guy added he hadn't desperately sought out a career in Hollywood. "I had no intention of going to LA, I wasn't hugely secure in what I could do at home and I thought why go to LA and be out of work when I can be out of work at home?" he said. "I really just went there initially to do publicity on the back of Priscilla (1994 film The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert) but I really made an effort to audition for loads of stuff and got lucky, I got LA Confidential." And the actor, 40, insists anyone could have had his big break. He said: "There are plenty of actors who could have played that role, so I just think I was fortunate."