My life's so different to that of Brody. I am really close to my parents and they are super proud of me

Rejected by not one but two fathers, teenage tearaway Brody Michaelis has been putting Coronation Street fans through the emotional wringer.

- CHRISTINE SMITH

And the young actor playing him, Ryan Mulvey, 19, has brilliantly captured Brody's transition from bullying young offender to a hurt and confused teenager when he discovers his real dad is Detective Kit Green.

Luckily Ryan, who lives with his family in Altrincham, Cheshire, says his character's traumatic upbringing is the polar opposite of his own home life.

Speaking in his first newspaper interview, he says: "My life is so different to that of Brody's. I am really close to both my parents and my sister, Freya.

They are super proud of me.

"Mum and Dad have always been so incredibly supportive of me being an actor. I remember around the age of six being at a swimming lesson and everyone was asked what they wanted to do when they grew up.

"Some said join the army or be a footballer, but I said 'an actor'. It is lovely now to be waking up every day doing something you dreamt of when you were six years old!"

After studying Performing Arts at Manchester College, Ryan went on to land the role of JJ Osborne in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks in January last year, before leaving a year later.

Then came his big break as the tearaway child of neighbours from hell, Mick and Lou Michaelis.

Brody was torn apart when Mick called from his jail cell where he is languishing after killing PC Craig Tinker, escaping and stabbing Detective Kit Green - to tell him he is Kit's kid.

He was conceived after an affair and Mick wants nothing to do with him.

"Brody is absolutely heartbroken," says actor Ryan, who blazed onto our screens in February when he joined the hit ITV soap.

"He has loved this man - Mick - all his life, even though he was a bully himself, and for him to say he doesn't want anything to do with him, it is shattering. He looks for love and a security blanket from Kit, but he has told Brody he does not want anything to do with him either." But Kit then has a change of heart.