Thursday Morning Man: Andy Whitfield!

Good morning everyone! Sorry for the last start today but rest assured, plenty of posts to come.

Let’s start out with Andy Whitfield who plays the title role in the new Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand which debuts tomorrow. It’s got all kinds of bloody violence if you’re into that kind of thing which I can take or leave. But it’s also got a lot of nudity and sex which I don’t mind so much.

Anyway, at the center of things is Whitfield, the Australian actor and former model who had to whip himself into incredible shape to film the series in New Zealand. I got to chat with Andy for a minute last weekend at the Television Critics Association press tour where he and other cast members including Lucy Lawless and John Hannah were talking up the series.

It has already been renewed for a second season and they will resume production in April. I wondered if Andy had anything planned in between professionally.

I’m going to rest,” he said. “I’m tired physically, obviously. You get to a certain point and you get injuries and you have to carry on around those injuries. But also emotionally it was very draining as the series progresses you’ll really what happens with these characters.”

He describes Spartacus as having a dangerous edge, being “a beast with a heart” and a fire that burns within. He won the role after what executive producer Rob Tapert describes as a worldwide search for a talented actor who has so far flown under Hollywood’s radar, but who after Spartacus will be highly sought after.

Andy grew up in Wales and studied at Sheffield University in England. He then spent five years working in the construction industry in London before moving to Australia a decade ago. Once there, he attended drama school in Sydney and started to land acting roles while still working as a diagnostic engineer – a job that required him to rappel down tall buildings!

Andy, who is married and has one child, got his first lead in a theatrical movie in the Australian supernatural flick Gabriel and has a role in the upcoming theatrical thriller The Clinic.