In the footsteps of Mel, Baz

Matt Walker is only the third New Zealander to be accepted into an elite Sydney acting school. CATHY ARONSON reports.

Matt Walker took his first steps on the stage in Hamilton as a monster in Where the Wild Things Are. He was 6 years old.

Next month the 22-year-old will take a giant leap into the scarier world of professional acting after being accepted into the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.

The world-renowned, three-year course boasts a string of famous graduates, including Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann.

It is no easy task to become part of the elite accepted into the course. Walker is only the third New Zealander to be accepted in the school's 43-year history.

He was chosen last November after a tough two-day audition in Melbourne, part of a process that ruthlessly cut about 5000 hopefuls to 26 entrants.

"On the first day I was shoulder to shoulder with 75 other people and the next minute there were only four of us left. It was gruelling. They kept pushing and pushing and feeding and feeding you to see what you could handle. A few people just lost it and started crying."

But not Walker. He takes his work seriously. Last year, as he was nearing the end of his bachelor of commerce and bachelor of arts from Victoria University, he had to choose between pursuing the business side of entertainment or the creative.

He decided to take the long road of part-time jobs and full-time commitment to his passion, acting.

"I wasn't going to sacrifice everything and go all the way to Melbourne just to crack up under pressure. That's why they push you - it's only a small reality of life as an actor."

Walker spent 25 hours preparing each of the three monologues he had to perform at the audition.

He chose Sebastian, from Twelfth Night by Shakespeare; The Player, from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard; and Biff, from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

Walker believes Biff's emotional dialogue was his winning performance. "I just let it fly. You can't just walk and talk like someone else - you have to think and feel like someone else."

Walker had a head start from the age of 5 at his stepfather Marc Shaw's theatre production company and drama school, Theatrevue, where his mother was a tutor.

Last year he wrote, directed and performed his own play Terrace at Victoria University and co-directed and performed The Loaf, which won Best Play at the 2001 Fringe Festival. He also played the lead role of Marius in Hamilton Operatic Society's production of Les Miserables.

He has had lead roles in Hercules and Ivanhoe.