A SENSITIVE GUY

Guy Pearce has never followed the Hollywood pack... and with his first Oscar nomination, that canny move has paid off. Here, he tells what attracted him to his intriguing new role

- GILL PRINGLE

In the late 1980s, you couldn't turn anywhere without seeing or hearing Neighbours' perky trio Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce.

The Aussie soap stars earned a huge part of our hearts, but if you'd asked anyone back then which of the inhabitants of Ramsay Street would stay the course and gain an Oscar nomination, chances are that Guy might not have been top of the list.

A former child actor, he achieved overnight stardom as Mike Young in Neighbours, going on to appear in 476 episodes - including the supposedly final one two years ago, which saw him reunited with Kylie and Jason.

Over the years, the soap proved a breeding ground for some of Australia's finest talent, including Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Chris Hemsworth and Ben Mendelsohn.

But Guy was keen to break away from the grind of making a daily drama, so he sought out only the most interesting scripts, as demonstrated by his 1994 breakout film role as Adam/Felicia in cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Proving that wasn't a fluke, he followed it up with compelling performances in Memento, LA Confidential, The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech.

But while his contemporaries sought their fortunes in Hollywood, Guy, now 57, always felt more comfortable back home.