Luke Mitchell’s rise to fame on the American network show The Tomorrow People has been so quick that he’s having trouble adjusting to it himself. We’re posting this interview on his birthday, although he says he was in Ireland for his birthday last year, he admits that he doesn’t really make too many plans for this birthday usually … not like the typical stars we know who have a whole week of festivities. We asked him if he got his wish from last year and he admitted that ‘I don’t even know what I wished for’ although ‘it probably would have been something along the lines of what I’ve been living’. We’d say that’s pretty accurate, given that Luke’s only been in LA a little over a year and he’s already landed a lead role in one of the most appreciated shows on TV.
As a teenager, Luke was a keen tennis player but didn’t see himself cutting it as a professional and, as he said ‘I didn’t have anything else in my life’ … it says something about Luke’s bold personality that he thought acting would be a nice stable back up. It turns out that prior to being cast as John in Tomorrow People, this was the one audition that he actually thought he’d bombed. He was amazed that he even got a call back – ‘I just burst out laughing because it was my worst audition. I had to pull the script out of the bin because I had chucked it in there out of disgust.‘ Well, we’re very happy that he pulled the script out of the bin or else we wouldn’t have much to write about today.
We invited Luke to dish a little dirt on his costars, but he opted to keep it classy. He did reveal that Aaron Yoo (who plays Russell) is somebody that he jives particularly well with on set. ‘He’s always up for a laugh and telling a joke or making fun of my accent or whatever’ (Luke is Australian). He says that the physical aspects of the show have been particularly challenging, as the Tomorrow People are constantly having to fight with Ultra agents and ‘they’ve (the producers) already filmed the choreography with your stunt doubles. You watch the video and you just think how am I going to do this?’ although again, we’d imagine his tennis playing past has afforded him a certain lightness on his feet.
What no amount of sports training could prepare him for is the amount of on screen smooching he has to do with Peyton List, who plays Cara. Luke says of his wife (and former Home and Away co star) Rebecca Breeds ‘She knows what its like when you’re on set and when there is a sex scene or kissing scene. It is one of the most unsexy things possible because you have cameras and lights and 50 people standing around. Its just one of those things. But it is interesting sitting and watching the episode with my wife. She just sits and covers her eyes.’ We can’t blame her, if Luke was our husband we’d be madly jealous too!
Of the future, Luke takes the pragmatic line that he’d love to see Tomorrow People get picked up for another round but if not, ‘there’s always opportunity in Hollywood.’ He did an indie film last year called Seven Minutes with newby director Jay Martin, a crime thriller which we’ll be looking out for later this year.
Young Adult Mag wouldn’t be Young Adult Mag if we didn’t finish up by asking him which character in film or TV throughout history he’d like to play, and Luke obliged us – he seems to particularly gravitate towards fellow Australians. ‘I love things like Warrior with Joel Edgertion. I love the Dark Knight with Heath Ledger. I like anything that’s a little darker and a little grittier and I would probably lean more towards drama.’ What can we say, as well as being a throughly good guy, Luke’s a man of impeccable taste.