HE HAS a face that most will remember from television series, McLeod’s Daughters.
With more than 25 years of experience and a love of teaching, Aaron Jeffery is reaching out to Hawkesbury’s budding actors and drama enthusiasts.
Mr Jeffery and his partner, also a former McLeod’s Daughters actor, Zoe Naylor, have a property in the Hawkesbury and run their production company from here.
Looking to invest in local talent, Mr Jeffery is now seeking expressions of interest from those who may be interested in taking classes with him, in a bid to start up an academy at the Richmond School of Arts.
“I have a great love for teaching and I’ve taught at NIDA and a number of other institutions around Sydney,” Mr Jeffery said.
“We love the Hawkesbury; we own a property out there and run our production company from there. We see the area as being an untapped resource of talent.
“I really want to provide the opportunity to those in the community that may be interested in drama and acting, who don’t or can’t travel the one to two hours into the city for classes.
“We would love to use local talent and produce something in the Hawkesbury in the future, and foster that talent moving forward,” he said. Mr Jeffery started his career with grass-roots courses, like the one he hopes to offer in Richmond, saying acting was never his intention when starting out at age 19.
He said he hopes to pay forward the knowledge and experience he has received from the industry to Hawkesbury residents.
“I left home and school at 15 and had never studied anything more than bouncing a basketball,” Mr Jeffery said.
“I saw an ad in the newspaper for a course to assist with self-awareness, and I signed up in the hope it would help me conquer my shyness.
“Myself along with a number of frustrated professionals came together once a week and played theatre games before putting on a show at the end of it.
“I learnt so much about myself in that course that it led me take on others, before applying and getting into NIDA.”
Straight out of NIDA Mr Jeffery landed himself a spot on in the Channel Seven series ‘Fire’, before moving on to Water Rats, McLeod’s Daughters, Wentworth, Underbelly and movies such as X-Men Originals: Wolverine.
Mr Jeffery said when he would start classes would be based on how much interest he received from the local community, but hopes that with enough, he can get started right away.
To express interest in taking film and television training classes with Aaron Jeffrey contact his production company, Eagle Rose Productions, on 45670681 or email eagleroseproductions@gmail.com.