Matt Levett: 'Doubt creeps in and you're always finding ways to push it away'

Tipped as a significant barometer for rising Australian acting talent, the 2015 Heath Ledger scholarship award was awarded to Matt Levett, at a star-filled dinner at the Sunset Marquis Hotel. Actors Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn and Vince Vaughn were among the judges who picked Levett from a competitive pool including Ashleigh Cummings, Joel Jackson and TJ Power.

The Waapa (Western Australian academy for performing arts) graduate is known for his television roles on A Place to Call Home, Home & Away and Devil’s Playground, and he recently starred in Drown, a critically acclaimed drama about homophobia in sport, which ran at the Mardi Gras film festival. He also has ambitions behind the camera as a writer and director, and recently directed Tropfest short Unwanted Friend. Here, he discusses Heath Ledger’s legacy, resisting doubt and toasting marshmallows under a sky full of stars

What does winning the scholarship mean to you?
It’s a foot in the door, it helps to establish myself in the US and it’s a validation that I’m actually on the right track.

Was there ever any doubt?
Doubt always creeps in, and you are always finding ways to push it away. You don’t know where you are going a lot of the time. It’s a rollercoaster ride that you have to embrace. Something like this is reassuring that there are other people out there that believe in you.

Part of the scholarship is two years of drama classes at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theatre. Can the ability to act be taught or is it innate?
I’ve been acting for the last 10 years and I can say when I first started out, I was pretty bad, so I think it’s something that can be taught, like a musical instrument. There are people that have it innately in them but there is always room to grow. You get better as you go along and that can be said of a lot of the great actors. The more challenging work they did, the better they got. If you look at Heath’s work, at a young age he had such a finely tuned craft, but then he took big risks and turned into the great actor that he was.

What’s your favourite Heath Ledger film?

Two Hands is one of my favourite Australian films. [Also] Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight.

Some great Australian actors have come out of Home & Away and Neighbours. Why is that?
Those kind of shows teach you how to be yourself in front of the camera. [On] something like Home & Away, you pump out so many episodes that you get used to the camera being there.

You recently made Drown, a drama about homophobia in Australian sport, which premiered at the Mardi Gras film festival. Why was it important for you to make that film?
It was an interesting take on someone fighting who they were. I call it an exorcism of sexuality. The character Lenny, that I played, has so many contradictions and is such a flawed character; but if you put anyone in a situation he was raised in, they could turn out the way he did. It’s a confronting film, and it tackles really important topics. It was a tough shoot, 50 days of shooting, 8pm to 8am, on the streets of Kings Cross and swimming off the coast of Manly at 5am in the morning. Also I was playing a sportsman so I had to keep very fit throughout, which was a challenge.

Who has had the greatest impact on you?
There have been a lot of people that have given me guidance, but my mum and my dad are important to me. They are the ones that really believe in me, and when times are tough, they reassure me it’s going to be okay.

What are your favourite places in LA?

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I’ve said to myself that every time I come out here, I need to make sure I get to know the US more. Last time I did a roadtrip with my brother. We went to Joshua Tree, the Mojave desert and the Grand Canyon. We lived in his van, my brother Jeremy and I sitting with a fire and cooking marshmallows under the sky full of stars. It was nice to spend time with my brother. He’s the adventurer, and the way he embraces life is very inspirational. When you are acting, it can be all consuming, and it’s also important to live your life fully and that’s what he does.